Kevin Kline proves you can go home again, if only to school

In Michael Hoffman's new release The Emperor's Club, Academy Award winner, Kevin Kline plays a well-intentioned teacher of Greek and Roman classics at a boarding school for rich boys, St. Benedict's. The story is a work of fiction based on the 1994 short story, The Palace Thief, by Ethan Canin

Kline, a native of St. Louis, Mo, attended the St. Louis Priory School there and said that when he read the manuscript, "it reminded him of the Benedictine values" of his alma mater. He added that choosing to do The Emperor's Club "was an homage to my school." The St. Louis Priory School was founded in 1955 by Benedictine monks from Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire, England.

Several of Kevin Kline's movies, such as Grand Canyon, Cry Freedom, Sophie's Choice, Ice Storm, Life as a House and even the more lightweight Princess Caraboo and French Kiss deal with more transcendent human issues than some of his other films. He describes The Emperor's Club as a timely movie about "Virtue and values vs. expediency" and that the hero is not a hero at all. Instead, he is a teacher by vocation who tries to expose the students to wisdom but does not quite live up to his own expectations. In a recent interview, Kline spoke about his character, William Hundert, and quoted the adage, "To not know what came before you is to remain a child forever" as the teacher's guiding ideal.

The Emperor's Club takes place in 1972. It is a time of social and cultural chaos, when values were being publicly questioned and jettisoned by American youth. For others, however, like politicians, the ends continued to justify the means. Consequences for the chaos were for the future, as we now know. What would the small almost cloistered world of St. Benedict's of twenty-five years ago have to do with any of this? As Mr. Hundert rows on the river morning after morning, what is he thinking? What does he know?

Enter Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch), a young man who couldn't care less about the school or anyone in it. His father is a senator who has no affection for him. The other students are attracted by Bell's devil-may-care attitude, and Mr. Hundert takes pity on him. Hundert decides to manipulate Bell's test results so he can be a finalist for the annual Mr. Julius Caesar competition. Hundert believes that Sedgewick is worth saving. Hundert's arbitrary act starts the series of events that conclude with the final sequences of the film. Hundert's action seems well motivated. But was it right and good?

Bell cheats at the competition, and though Hundert does not unmask him, he prevents him from winning. Twenty-five years later, Bell is rich and powerful. He offers a bequest to the school, but only if Hundert will come to his estate for a Julius Caesar rematch so that Bell can prove his mettle. The swimming pool creates an ambiance of luxury, and the viewer hopes, an occasion for purification.

Bell's need to win goes hi-tech but an astounded Hundert catches him anyway. As they wash their hands later in the men's room, they talk about cheating and character. Bell states categorically that character is not what matters, winning is. His young son overhears his father and is crushed.

The Emperor's Club is not your typical teacher-school-student film, because the hero, is, at best, flawed. The audience wants him to be perfect, but he is not. At what point does he make the first flawed decision? How many does he make? And why? What did he think about as he rowed on the river? As Kevin Kline noted, "The Emperor's Club shows just how difficult integrity is."

Sedgewick Bell is so consistently obnoxious that it's difficult to sympathize with him. Yet, as Director Michael Hoffman said, what if we look at the film from Bell's point of view and put a fairy tale spin on it? He has an evil father, is offered an opportunity for salvation by a fairy godfather, rejects it and is left with the questionable ethics his father taught him to guide him through life? At what point does a person control or take responsibility for their own character and choices?

If you like well-acted films that ask more questions that they answer, then by all means see The Emperor's Club. One of the more potent statements in the film has Hundert saying that, "Privilege demands integrity." What does that mean?

The film presents a large canvas on which to exercise one's ethical and moral imagination. "This is not a film about results," said Kline, "but about the process of learning." We have all been to school and if we are smart, we are still learning in the classroom of life. Whether you are a lover or seeker of wisdom, or both, The Emperor's Club will give you something to talk about.