A Delicate Balance (film)

Last updated
A Delicate Balance
Adelicatebalancedvd.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Tony Richardson
Written by Edward Albee
Produced by Ely Landau
Starring Katharine Hepburn
Paul Scofield
Lee Remick
Kate Reid
Joseph Cotten
Betsy Blair
Cinematography David Watkin
Edited byJohn Victor Smith
Distributed by American Film Theatre
Release date
November 12, 1973
Running time
133 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Canada
United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

A Delicate Balance is a 1973 American-Canadian-British drama film directed by Tony Richardson and starring Katharine Hepburn, Paul Scofield, Lee Remick, Kate Reid, Joseph Cotten, and Betsy Blair. The screenplay by Edward Albee is based on his 1966 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name.

Contents

The film was the second in a series produced by Ely Landau for his American Film Theatre, [1] a subscription-based program of screen adaptations of notable stage plays shown in five hundred theaters in four hundred cities.

Plot

The film spans three days in the life of Agnes and Tobias, an upper middle class couple who share their comfortable suburban Connecticut home with Agnes' acerbic alcoholic sister Claire. It is matriarch Agnes who helps the trio maintain a delicate balance in their lives, held together by habit, shared memories, and considerable consumption of dry martinis.

The seemingly peaceful facade of their existence is shattered with the arrival of longtime friends Harry and Edna who, suddenly overcome by a nameless terror, fled their home in search of a safe haven. The couple is followed by Agnes and Tobias' bitter, 36-year-old daughter Julia, who has returned to the family nest following the collapse of her fourth marriage. Their presence leads to a period of self-examination, during which all six are forced to explore their psyches and confront the demons hidden there.

Cast

Critical reception

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "a fine, tough, lacerating production", and added, "Richardson's cast could hardly be better". [2]

TV Guide rated the film two out of four stars, calling it "unfortunately stiff, dull, and extremely stagy". [1]

Awards and nominations

Kate Reid was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Cotten</span> American actor (1905–1994)

Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair. He then gained worldwide fame in three Orson Welles films: Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1943), for which Cotten was also credited with the screenplay.

Katharine Hepburn American actress (1907–2003)

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage and television. Hepburn's career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work was in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named the greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute.

Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film Tom Jones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Scofield</span> English actor

David Paul Scofield was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seven-year span, the fastest of any performer to accomplish the feat.

<i>Woman of the Year</i> 1942 film by George Stevens

Woman of the Year is a 1942 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Stevens and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The film was written by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin, and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

The year 1973 in film involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Remick</span> American actress (1935-1991)

Lee Ann Remick was an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film Days of Wine and Roses (1962), and for the 1966 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her Broadway theatre performance in Wait Until Dark.

<i>A Delicate Balance</i> (play)

A Delicate Balance is a three-act play by Edward Albee, written in 1965 and 1966. Premiered in 1966, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1967, the first of three he received for his work.

Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year

The Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award is bestowed annually by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals society at Harvard University. The award was created in 1951, and its first recipient was Gertrude Lawrence, an English actress, singer, and dancer. It has since been awarded annually by the society members of the Hasty Pudding to performers deemed to have made a "lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment".

Laura Lansing Slept Here is a 1988 American made-for-television comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and directed by George Schaefer which premiered on NBC on March 7, 1988. It was written by James Prideaux and co-stars Joel Higgins, Karen Austin, Brenda Forbes and Hepburn's grandniece Schuyler Grant.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is the American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history and is the second list of the AFI 100 Years... series.

Hadley Richardson First wife of Ernest Hemingway

Elizabeth Hadley Richardson was the first wife of American author Ernest Hemingway. The two married in 1921 after a courtship of less than a year, and moved to Paris within months of being married. In Paris, Hemingway pursued a writing career, and through him Hadley met other expatriate American and British writers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betsy Blair</span> American actress

Betsy Blair was an American actress of film and stage, long based in London.

<i>The Betsy</i> 1978 film directed by Daniel Petrie

The Betsy is a 1978 American romantic drama film directed by Daniel Petrie, from a screenplay by William Bast and Walter Bernstein, based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Harold Robbins. It stars Laurence Olivier as a retired auto tycoon, with Robert Duvall, Katharine Ross, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jane Alexander in supporting roles.

Kate Reid English-born Canadian actress (1930-1993)

Daphne Katherine Reid was an English-born Canadian stage, film, and television actress. She played more than one thousand roles, most notably onstage in Death of a Salesman, in the 1980 film Atlantic City, and in episodes of the TV show Dallas. She was described by Inspiring Women: A Celebration of Herstory as "generally regarded as the finest actress ever developed in Canada".

Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary is a three-volume biographical dictionary published in 1971. Its origins lay in 1957 when Radcliffe College librarians, archivists, and professors began researching the need for a version of the Dictionary of American Biography dedicated solely to women.

Clarence Lung (1914-1993) was a film and television actor. He appeared in films such as Dragon Seed, Song of the Sarong, Experiment in Terror, Prisoner Of War, Operation Petticoat, China and The Hundred Days of the Dragon. Among the television programs he appeared in were Secret Agent X-9 and China Smith.

Frances Robinson-Duff (1878-1951) was an American actress and voice teacher known as "the foremost dramatic coach in America" in the first half of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Burrows (producer)</span> American film producer

For other people named Jonathan Burrows, see Jonathan Burrows (disambiguation).

References