The Coupleidonia

What begins as an interesting if somewhat eccentric portrait of a couple shattered by the death of their only son quickly turns into parody, with the sketchiest of plots and a sometimes off-putting, tongue-in-cheek tone. Although her husband, ``The Colonel,'' would have preferred to plant a rosebush, Lucienne has placed a massive tombstone on their son's grave, an extravagant gesture that both divides and unites the couple. They visit the cemetery daily, Lucienne to care for the plot, the Colonel to feed surreptitiously a wild cat he's found lurking nearby. The Colonel, whose thoughts often stray to his WW II army service, conducts a military campaign against his wife. He hides raw meat for the cat in an unused bedroom, drawing Lucienne out of the house with transparent ploys when he needs to move his ``supplies.'' Lucienne is outraged when she discovers his real reason for visiting the cemetery. But her feelings of anger pass as the couple, finally, if uneasily, become reconciled to their son's death and their own mortality. (May)