The reclusive foreign-born Fedora is one of the great film stars of the century, and known for retaining her youthful beauty over the course of a career spanning decades. At the height of her fame, however, Fedora withdrew to a private island near Corfu and refused to be seen in public, leading to vast speculation on what became of her. All are shocked when it is confirmed Fedora died by suicide by throwing herself in front of a train.
One of her mourners at her funeral is aging has-been Hollywood producer Barry "Dutch" Detweiler, who was once Fedora's lover. Dutch recalls visiting Fedora two weeks before her death at her villa near Corfu in order to convince her to come out of retirement for a new screen adaptation of Anna Karenina. Dutch is suspicious when Fedora seems confused, disheveled and cannot remember details of their love affair. Fedora tells him she is a prisoner on the island, held captive by the elderly Polish Countess Sobryanski, her overprotective servant Miss Balfour, her chauffeur Kritos and Dr. Vando, the cosmetic surgeon responsible for keeping Fedora looking so young. Dutch attempts to help Fedora flee the island, but Kritos knocks him unconscious. He awakens a week later to discover Fedora has killed herself. Dutch suspects she was murdered by the countess for revealing the secret of her captivity.
At the funeral, Dutch accuses Vando and the countess of murdering Fedora. The countess reveals that she is, in fact, Fedora, with whom Dutch had the affair. The woman who died was her daughter Antonia, who took her mother's place after one of Fedora's surgical treatments disfigured her face. Antonia closely resembled her mother physically but was a much better actress, causing people to believe Fedora herself had become more skillful with age. The deception went undetected until Antonia fell in love with actor Michael York while making a film with him. She begged her mother to be allowed to tell Michael the truth, but the scandal would have ruined both Antonia's career and Fedora's legacy. Unable to trust Antonia, Fedora arranged for Antonia's "retirement" and kept her prisoner on the island. The loss of both her career and her true love caused Antonia to turn to drugs, which destroyed both her looks and her sanity. Fedora realized she could never allow her daughter to leave the island because the inevitable media frenzy surrounding "Fedora's" return would shatter Antonia's fragile mental health. Consumed with guilt over the predicament she had caused, Fedora tended Antonia until Dutch's appearance reminded Antonia of the life she had lost, and she killed herself.
Horrified by the revelation, Dutch considers revealing the sordid story to the press, but he realizes he still has feelings toward Fedora and decides she has been punished enough by the loss of her career and her guilt over her daughter. Dutch says goodbye to the elderly Fedora, who dies six weeks after they part.
Wilder's The Front Page had been released four years earlier and had been a critical failure. Furthermore, two more recent Hollywood-based films, Gable and Lombard and W.C. Fields and Me, had failed to engender any interest at the box office. As a result, executives at Universal Pictures were hesitant to offer Wilder his usual deal. Instead, they paid Wilder and Diamond to write the screenplay, with the understanding that the studio had forty-five days after the submission to decide if it wanted to proceed with the project. The studio ultimately put it in turnaround, and Wilder began shopping it to other studios with no success. An infusion of capital from German investors enabled him to proceed with the film.[3]
Wilder originally envisioned Marlene Dietrich as Fedora and Faye Dunaway as her daughter Antonia, but Dietrich despised the original book and thought the screenplay was no improvement. Sydney Pollack invited Wilder to a pre-release screening of Bobby Deerfield, in which former fashion model Marthe Keller had a featured role. Wilder decided to cast her as both mother and daughter in Fedora, but the actress had suffered such severe facial nerve injuries in an automobile accident that she was unable to endure wearing the heavy makeup required to transform her into the older character, so he cast Hildegard Knef in the role.[4]
After viewing a rough cut of the film, Wilder realized to his horror that neither Keller nor Knef could be understood easily, nor did their voices sound very much alike, which was crucial to the film's plot. He hired German actress Inga Bunsch to dub the dialogue of both women for the film's English-language release. Keller eventually recorded the voices for both characters in the French version, and Knef did likewise for the German release.[5]
Allied Artists dropped its deal to distribute the film after it was screened at a Myasthenia Gravis Foundation benefit in New York City and the audience response was unenthusiastic. The film was picked up by Lorimar Productions, which planned to sell the screening rights to CBS as a television movie. Before the network could agree to the offer, United Artists stepped in. After cutting 12 minutes of the film based on studio recommendations, Wilder previewed the film in Santa Barbara, California. Halfway through, the audience began derisively laughing at all the wrong places. Dejected by the response and despondent from all the problems he had encountered up to this point, the director refused to make any more edits.[6]
On May 30, 1978, the film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival as part of a retrospective of the director's work.[7] Afterward, it was released in only a handful of select American and European markets with little fanfare, prompting an insulted Wilder to claim the studio spent "about $625 on a marketing campaign".[8] It was later shown as part of the Cannes Classics section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[9]
Both Henry Fonda and Michael York make appearances as themselves, although Fonda is credited as "The President of the Academy". In the film, Fonda is the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He presents a lifetime achievement award to Fedora, but Fonda never actually served as AMPAS president.
Fedora was a re-teaming of Wilder with Holden, who had collaborated on Sunset Boulevard, and similar to the earlier film, it harshly criticized Hollywood's often shabby treatment of its most prominent talent. However, unlike Sunset Boulevard, what Fedora attacked was Hollywood's youth-oriented culture, not the apparent disposability of perceived has-beens.
Critical reception
In her review in The New York Times, critic Janet Maslin called it "old-fashioned with a vengeance, a proud, passionate remembrance of the way movies used to be, and a bitter smile at what they have become. It is rich, majestic, very close to ridiculous, and also a little bit mad. It seems exactly what Mr. Wilder wants it to be, perfectly self-contained and filled with the echoes of a lifetime; no one could mistake this for the work of a young man. Indeed, it has the resonance of an epitaph. That, too, seems a part of Mr. Wilder's design...The compactness and symmetry evident in Fedora aren't easily achieved these days without a good deal of self-consciousness. Mr. Wilder achieves them naturally."[10]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wondered: "Should you see it? I dunno. If you do, go with a clear mind and a slight grin on your face and a memory for the movies of the 1940s. Accept the dumb parts, and the unsurprising revelations, as part of the film's style instead of as weaknesses. Trust Wilder to know what he's doing, even during the deliberate clichés. See it like that, and I bet you'll like it. See it with a straight face, and you'll think it's boring and obvious. Fedora's odd that way: It leaves itself up to the audience."[11]
TV Guide described it as "defiantly and proudly old-fashioned both in style and content, weaving an (intentionally) campy melodrama about the mysterious suicide of a faded movie queen into a spellbinding meditation on cinema and the price of manufactured illusions...Fedora is a marvelous lesson in classical storytelling and the pleasures to be had from an absorbing narrative. It's almost as if Wilder is bidding adieu to the Golden Age of Hollywood, utilizing opulent sets, elegant crane shots, ultra-slow dissolves, and a flourish of voice-overs and flashbacks-within-flashbacks in a final demonstration of virtuoso scenario construction, only to tear it down at the end and show it was all a lie...The film is not perfect, and would have undoubtedly been better still had Wilder been able to persuade Marlene Dietrich to play the Countess, but it's still a worthy late addition to the work of a master."[12]
Time Out London called it "a shamefully underrated film...and one of the most sublime achievements of the '70s...it has a narrative assurance beyond the grasp of most directors nowadays: finely acted, mysterious, witty, moving and magnificent."[13]
In his Chicago Reader review, Dave Kehr stated, "Its spare classical style, its sense of character, and its occasional romantic excesses are all very much Old Hollywood...but the deliberate and sometimes dismaying anachronisms are signs of a deep, unshakable commitment to a personal aesthetic – a commitment that is sometimes more moving than anything in the film itself."[14]
The reviewer for Variety commented: "Wilder's directorial flair, the fine production dress, Holden's solid presence and Michael York...and Henry Fonda...add some flavor to this bittersweet bow to the old star system,"[15] and added, "Missing are needed hints at Fedora's true star quality, which are not...inherent in Keller's performance or that of Knef...and which mar pic with disbelief."[16]
The making of the film is chronicled in fictionalized form in Jonathan Coe's novel Mr Wilder & Me (2020).[17] An abridged version of the book was "Book of the Week" in June 2022 on Radio Four and produced by Clive Brill.
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef was a German actress, singer, and writer. She was billed in some English-language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.
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.
Billy Wilder was an Austrian-born filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Hollywood cinema. He received seven Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or and two Golden Globe Awards.
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic, sardonic characters and was known for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue ten Academy Award nominations for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. In 1999, Davis was placed second on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema.
Jane Seymour Fonda is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon, Fonda's work spans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and two Tony Awards. Fonda also received the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2007, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2014, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2021.
Easy Rider is a 1969 American independent road drama film written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda, and directed by Hopper. Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South, carrying the proceeds from a cocaine deal. The success of Easy Rider helped spark the New Hollywood era of filmmaking during the early 1970s.
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American black comedy film noir directed by Billy Wilder and co-written by Wilder and Charles Brackett. It is named after a major street that runs through Hollywood.
William Franklin Holden was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film Stalag 17 (1953) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for the television miniseries The Blue Knight (1973).
Peter Henry Fonda was an American actor, who was a prominent figure in the counterculture of the 1960s. Fonda was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Easy Rider (1969), and the Academy Award for Best Actor for Ulee's Gold (1997). For the latter, he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. Fonda also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999). He was the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda.
Ace in the Hole, also known as The Big Carnival, is a 1951 American drama film directed by Billy Wilder. The film stars Kirk Douglas as a cynical, disgraced reporter who stops at nothing to try to regain a job on a major newspaper. The film co-stars Jan Sterling and features Robert Arthur and Porter Hall.
Dracula's Daughter is a 1936 American vampire horror film produced by Universal Pictures as a sequel to the 1931 film Dracula. Directed by Lambert Hillyer from a screenplay by Garrett Fort, the film stars Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden in the title role, and Marguerite Churchill, and features, as the only cast member to return from the original, Edward Van Sloan – although his character's name was altered from "Van Helsing" to "Von Helsing".
The Flame of New Orleans is a 1941 American historical comedy film directed by René Clair and starring Marlene Dietrich and Bruce Cabot in his first comedy role. The supporting cast features Roland Young, Andy Devine and Franklin Pangborn. It was made and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was the last of three films Dietrich made with producer Joe Pasternak who called it "in many ways, our most interesting."
Billy Wilder (1906–2002) was an Austrian filmmaker. Wilder initially pursued a career in journalism after being inspired by an American newsreel. He worked for the Austrian magazine Die Bühne and the newspaper Die Stunde in Vienna, and later for the German newspapers Berliner Nachtausgabe, and Berliner Börsen-Courier in Berlin. His first screenplay was for the German silent thriller The Daredevil Reporter (1929). Wilder fled to Paris in 1933 after the rise of the Nazi Party, where he co-directed and co-wrote the screenplay of French drama Mauvaise Graine (1934). In the same year, Wilder left France on board the RMS Aquitania to work in Hollywood despite having little knowledge of English.
Love in the Afternoon is a 1957 American romantic comedy film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn and Maurice Chevalier. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on the 1920 Claude Anet novel Ariane, jeune fille russe. The story explores the relationship between a notorious middle-aged American playboy business magnate and the 20-something daughter of a private detective hired to investigate him. The supporting cast features John McGiver and Lise Bourdin.
The Country Girl is a 1954 American drama film written and directed by George Seaton and starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and William Holden. Adapted by Seaton from Clifford Odets's 1950 play of the same name, the film is about an alcoholic has-been actor who is given one last chance to resurrect his career. The film was entered in the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
Marthe Keller is a Swiss actress. She is perhaps best known for her role in the film Marathon Man (1976), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Todd Robinson is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.
Broken is a 2012 British coming-of-age drama film directed by Rufus Norris in his feature directorial debut. The screenplay, written by Mark O'Rowe, is based on Daniel Clay's 2008 novel of the same name and inspired by Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The film stars Tim Roth, Cillian Murphy, and Eloise Laurence, with Rory Kinnear, Robert Emms, Zana Marjanović, Clare Burt, Bill Milner, and Denis Lawson in supporting roles. It tells the story of a young girl in North London whose life changes after witnessing a violent attack.
The Staggering Girl is a 2019 short film directed by Luca Guadagnino. The film was produced in collaboration with Valentino creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli. It was written by Michael Mitnick and stars Julianne Moore, Mia Goth, KiKi Layne, Kyle MacLachlan, Marthe Keller and Alba Rohrwacher.
Mr Wilder and Me is a novel by Jonathan Coe, published in the UK by Viking Books on 5 November 2020. It is a historical novel set in the late 1970s, and tells the story of Hollywood director Billy Wilder's struggles to write, finance and shoot his penultimate film Fedora, as observed through the eyes of a young Greek interpreter. The novel contains a mixture of real and invented characters.
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