Ash Wednesday (1973 film)

Last updated
Ash Wednesday
AshWednesdayPoster.JPG
Original poster
Directed by Larry Peerce
Written by Jean-Claude Tramont
Produced by Dominick Dunne
Starring Elizabeth Taylor
Henry Fonda
Helmut Berger
CinematographyEnnio Guarnieri
Edited by Marion Rothman
Music by Maurice Jarre
Production
company
Sagittarius Productions
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • November 21, 1973 (1973-11-21)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Ash Wednesday is a 1973 American drama film directed by Larry Peerce and starring Elizabeth Taylor. It was produced by Dominick Dunne. The screenplay by Jean-Claude Tramont focuses on the effect that extensive cosmetic surgery has on the life of a middle-aged married woman.

Contents

Plot

In a desperate attempt to save her faltering marriage, 55-year-old Barbara Sawyer submits to full-body plastic surgery in a Swiss clinic, then checks into an exclusive ski resort, Cortina d'Ampezzo, to await the arrival of her attorney-husband Mark. Reveling in her considerably younger and tauter appearance, she allows playboy Erich to seduce her. When Mark finally arrives, he makes an announcement that changes Barbara's initial plans forever.

Cast

Production

Producer Dominick Dunne wrote, "There were problems on the picture right from the beginning. We kept getting more and more behind schedule. A lot of us were drinking too much, as was I, and a few were snorting too much, as was I … Elizabeth [Taylor] was chronically late …," sometimes as many as three hours late, but Dunne felt it would be pointless to try to rein in the star. Dunne also alleges that when he was a stage manager in 1950s New York, he had known the screenwriter as a pageboy called Jack Schwartz: "It made for complications on the picture, on top of the complications of being overschedule and overbudget." [1]

Critical reception

The film's critical reception was reasonably favorable, particularly for Taylor, who was nominated for a Golden Globe. Rex Reed's review in The New York Observer amounted to a love letter to Taylor: "She's subtle, sensitive, glowing with freshness and beauty, fifty pounds lighter in weight, her hair is coiffed simply, her clothes ravishing, her make-up a symphony of perfection. For those who grew up in love with Elizabeth Taylor, the movie is pure magic. She is once again the kind of star marquees light up for."

Variety agreed: "Taylor, fashionably gowned and bejeweled carries the film almost single-handedly. Fonda is excellent in his climactic appearance, an unusually superb casting idea. Taylor's performance also is very good, and relative to many of her recent roles, this is one of the strongest and most effective in some time. Her beauty remains sensational." [2]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times added a dissenting voice, saying the film "was directed by Larry Peerce...and written by Jean-Claude Tramont with all the fearlessness and perception demanded in the boiling of an egg." [3]

Roger Dooley of The Village Voice disagreed, thinking the film contained "Elizabeth Taylor's best role in years...Jean-Claude Tramont's screenplay, directed by Larry Peerce, makes one remember why millions of people used to enjoy movies." [4]

In a critique that spoils the plot, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "The movie's story is not really very interesting, but we're intrigued because the star is Taylor. She's 40 or 41 now, and yet she looks great. There's a kind of voyeuristic sensuality in watching her look at herself in the mirror (which she spends no end of time doing)...Maybe the fundamental problem with the movie is that we can't quite believe any man would leave Elizabeth Taylor. It's a good thing we never see Henry Fonda's bimbo, because if we did, we wouldn't be convinced." [5]

The National Organization for Women gave the film a "Discarded Older Woman" award during "its annual putdown of male chauvinism" in the media on Women's Equality Day in 1974. [6]

Awards and nominations

Elizabeth Taylor was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Taylor</span> British and American actress (1932–2011)

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was a British and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She then became the world's highest paid movie star in the 1960s, remaining a well-known public figure for the rest of her life. In 1999, the American Film Institute named her the seventh-greatest female screen legend of Classic Hollywood cinema.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Stanwyck</span> American actress (1907–1990)

Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic screen presence and versatility. She was a favorite of directors, including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang, and Frank Capra, and made 85 films in 38 years before turning to television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridget Fonda</span> American actress (born 1964)

Bridget Jane Fonda is an American retired actress. She is known for her roles in The Godfather Part III (1990), Single White Female (1992), Singles (1992), Point of No Return (1993), It Could Happen to You (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), A Simple Plan (1998), Lake Placid (1999), and Kiss of the Dragon (2001).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Griffin Dunne</span> American actor and director (born 1955)

Thomas Griffin Dunne is an American actor, film producer, and film director. Dunne studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. He is known for portraying Jack Goodman in An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Paul Hackett in After Hours (1985), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominick Dunne</span> American writer and journalist (1925–2009)

Dominick John Dunne was an American writer, investigative journalist, and producer. He began his career in film and television as a producer of the pioneering gay film The Boys in the Band (1970) and as the producer of the award-winning drug film The Panic in Needle Park (1971). He turned to writing in the early 1970s. After the 1982 murder of his daughter Dominique, an actress, he began to write about the interaction of wealth and high society with the judicial system. Dunne was a frequent contributor to Vanity Fair, and, beginning in the 1980s, often appeared on television discussing crime.

<i>Barbarella</i> (film) 1968 film by Roger Vadim

Barbarella is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Roger Vadim, based on the French comic series of the same name by Jean-Claude Forest. The film stars Jane Fonda as the title character, a space traveler and representative of the United Earth government sent to find scientist Durand Durand, who has created a weapon that could destroy humanity. The supporting cast includes John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O'Shea, Marcel Marceau, David Hemmings, Ugo Tognazzi, and Claude Dauphin.

<i>Circle of Love</i> (film) 1964 film by Roger Vadim

Circle of Love is a 1964 French drama film directed by Roger Vadim and based on Arthur Schnitzler's 1897 play Reigen. The film generated minor controversy because of Jane Fonda's nude scene, the first by a major American actress in a foreign film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Bel Geddes</span> American actress (1922–2005)

Barbara Bel Geddes was an American stage and screen actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost five decades. She was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in the television series Dallas. Bel Geddes also starred as Maggie in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. Her notable films included I Remember Mama (1948) and Vertigo (1958). Throughout her career, she was the recipient of several acting awards and nominations.

<i>All Night Long</i> (1981 film) 1981 film directed by Jean-Claude Tramont

All Night Long is a 1981 American romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Claude Tramont and starring Barbra Streisand, Gene Hackman, Diane Ladd, Dennis Quaid, Kevin Dobson, and William Daniels. It was written by W. D. Richter.

<i>Today We Live</i> 1933 film by Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson

Today We Live is a 1933 American pre-Code romance drama film produced and directed by Howard Hawks and starring Joan Crawford, Gary Cooper, Robert Young and Franchot Tone.

Lawrence "Larry" Peerce is an American film and TV director whose work includes the theatrical feature Goodbye, Columbus (1969), the early rock and roll concert film The Big T.N.T. Show (1965), One Potato, Two Potato (1964), The Other Side of the Mountain (1975) and Two-Minute Warning (1976).

Marilyn Hassett is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Jill Kinmont in the romance drama film The Other Side of the Mountain (1975) for which she received Golden Globe Awards and its sequel The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2 (1978). Hassett also starred in films Shadow of the Hawk (1976) and The Bell Jar (1979).

<i>Two People</i> (1973 film) 1973 film by Robert Wise

Two People is a 1973 American drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise and starring Peter Fonda and Lindsay Wagner. The screenplay by Richard De Roy focuses on the brief relationship shared by a Vietnam War deserter and a fashion model.

Dominick Dunne: After the Party is a 2008 documentary directed by Kirsty de Garis and Timothy Jolley about Hollywood author and reporter Dominick Dunne. Dunne is a prominent columnist and society correspondent. The documentary reflects on his career in the entertainment industry. In the film, he remembers his past as a World War II veteran, falling in love and raising a family, his climb and fall as a Hollywood producer, and his comeback as a writer.

<i>Love Child</i> (1982 film) 1982 film by Larry Peerce

Love Child is a 1982 biopic based on the life of Terry Jean Moore. The film stars Amy Madigan, Beau Bridges, and Mackenzie Phillips.

<i>Joy House</i> (film) 1964 French film

Joy House is a 1964 French mystery–thriller film starring Jane Fonda, Alain Delon and Lola Albright. It is based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Day Keene.

<i>When Tomorrow Comes</i> (film) 1939 romantic drama film by John M. Stahl

When Tomorrow Comes is a 1939 American romantic drama directed by John M. Stahl, and starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. The screenplay concerns a waitress who falls in love with a man who later turns out to be a married concert pianist. Bernard B. Brown won the Academy Award for Best Sound.

<i>Together Again</i> (film) 1944 comedy film directed by Charles Vidor

Together Again is a 1944 comedy film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. The screenplay was written by F. Hugh Herbert and Virginia Van Upp, based on story by Herbert J. Biberman and Stanley Russell. The supporting cast features Charles Coburn and Mona Freeman.

<i>Play It as It Lays</i> (film) 1972 film by Frank Perry

Play It as It Lays is a 1972 American drama film directed by Frank Perry from a screenplay by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Didion. The film stars Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins, who previously starred together in the 1968 film Pretty Poison.

<i>Wealth</i> (film) 1921 film

Wealth is a 1921 American silent drama film directed by William Desmond Taylor, written by Cosmo Hamilton and Julia Crawford Ivers, and starring Ethel Clayton, Herbert Rawlinson, J.M. Dumont, Larry Steers, George Periolat, and Claire McDowell. It was released on August 21, 1921, by Paramount Pictures. It is not known whether the film currently survives, and it may be a lost film.

References

  1. Dunne, Dominick (1999) The way we lived then : recollections of a well-known name dropper , New York: Crown Books, p. 158-63
  2. Variety review
  3. New York Times review
  4. Village Voice
  5. Chicago Sun-Times review
  6. "People, Sep. 9, 1974". Time . 1974-09-09. Archived from the original on 18 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-05.