IMDb RATING
7.5/10
3.6K
YOUR RATING
A dying writer bases his last book on his own perception of his family.A dying writer bases his last book on his own perception of his family.A dying writer bases his last book on his own perception of his family.
- Awards
- 11 wins & 2 nominations
Denis Lawson
- Dave Woodford
- (as Dennis Lawson)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSir John Gielgud, who spent most of his career on the stage, considered this movie and the television mini-series Brideshead Revisited (1981) to be his only two screen appearances of which he was genuinely proud.
- Quotes
Clive Langham: Don't you think to have only one bastard after sixty years of action is almost tantamount to self denial?
- Crazy creditsThe National Philharmonic Orchestra is misspelled as National Philarmonic Orchestra in the opening credits.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Zomergasten: Episode #7.4 (1994)
Featured review
One of the Greats
A double header of complex imagination (first part) and painful recrimination (second part) in this film of deep feeling and hurt seen through the eyes of the dying author (John Gielgud). David Mercer's script includes all his life long angst of the relationship of father and son, although now in his final years fought out with more complex and participating female characters in the ghost of his dead wife, who doubles as his son's mistress (Elaine Stritch) and daughter-in-law (Ellen Burstyn).
The acting is pure poetry with John Geilgud at his refined best as the drunken and dying author in part celebrating his life of drunken womanising and in part regretting the pain that he has caused, in particular to his family. Dirk Borgarde performing the impossible task of being two imaginary characters and one real one with seemless effort. As the son of the dying author he carries all the pain and hatreds of the dying father both in the old man's fantasy and in his real life of inherited disillusionment. His relationship with his wife and mistress (in practice his mother! complex eh!) changes from the deeply loving to the perceive accusatory of the old man's increasingly drunken imagination.
Ellen Burstyn gives one of her finest film performances as the long suffering wife ,but in the end all the plaudits go to the writer. The style may be only that of the one-liner but each of them hits as an aphorism from the greatest of philosophical minds. The revolving characters of the final part of the authors dreaming make a bewildering tapestry of the imagination.
A fabulous movie, but one that will take many viewings to actually comprehend the complexities of it. Set that video!!
The acting is pure poetry with John Geilgud at his refined best as the drunken and dying author in part celebrating his life of drunken womanising and in part regretting the pain that he has caused, in particular to his family. Dirk Borgarde performing the impossible task of being two imaginary characters and one real one with seemless effort. As the son of the dying author he carries all the pain and hatreds of the dying father both in the old man's fantasy and in his real life of inherited disillusionment. His relationship with his wife and mistress (in practice his mother! complex eh!) changes from the deeply loving to the perceive accusatory of the old man's increasingly drunken imagination.
Ellen Burstyn gives one of her finest film performances as the long suffering wife ,but in the end all the plaudits go to the writer. The style may be only that of the one-liner but each of them hits as an aphorism from the greatest of philosophical minds. The revolving characters of the final part of the authors dreaming make a bewildering tapestry of the imagination.
A fabulous movie, but one that will take many viewings to actually comprehend the complexities of it. Set that video!!
Helpful•212
Details
- Runtime1 hour 44 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1(original ratio)
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