Hush (1998 film)

Last updated
Hush
Hushposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJonathan Darby
Screenplay by
  • Jonathan Darby
  • Helen Whitfield
Story byJonathan Darby
Produced by Douglas Wick
Starring
Cinematography Andrew Dunn
Edited by
Music by Christopher Young
Production
company
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • March 6, 1998 (1998-03-06)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$21 million [1]
Box office$13.6 million

Hush is a 1998 American thriller film starring Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Contents

Plot

Helen and Jackson live together in New York City. At the beginning of the film, the two are driving towards the Kentucky farmhouse, Kilronan, where Jackson grew up, primarily to introduce Helen to Jackson's mother, Martha, during the Christmas holidays. They arrive late in the evening and go straight to bed. The next morning Helen awakens to Martha arranging the room, as she thought Helen was asleep in the other bedroom. During their stay Martha tries to convince Jackson to stay to help her run the farm. Helen notices that Martha cleans their room and arranges their things every day, including Helen's contraceptive.

After returning to New York in the new year, Helen discovers she is pregnant after getting violently ill at work. When she informs Jackson of this, he asks her to marry him and she accepts. The wedding is held at Kilronan, where Helen meets Jackson's paternal grandmother, Alice, who tells Helen she doesn't trust Martha. Alice points out Martha is extremely smart and capable of doing the farmwork of four men. Before Alice can say more Martha interrupts.

After the wedding they return to their New York apartment. One night after work, Helen is assaulted by a burglar who steals her locket and makes sexual advances. When Helen tells him she's pregnant, he cuts her abdomen and leaves. The fetus is not injured.

Martha arrives unannounced, saying she wants to sell Kilronan because she cannot run it alone. Helen tells Jackson she wants to move to Kentucky and in with Martha for a year and help renovate the land. Jackson tells Helen that his father, Jack, died in the house when he was seven; Jackson blames himself because he ran into his father, pushing him down the stairs to his death. Jackson also tells Helen that his father had been cheating on Martha with a woman named Robin Hayes. Helen says they should go back to the farm so Jackson can face his "old ghosts".

The couple move in with Martha, who attempts to divide them with subversive comments and manipulating the family friends and neighbors. When Helen goes to the doctor, she finds out Martha told him Helen wanted to have the baby at the house, even though Helen had never said that. Suspicious and increasingly annoyed, Helen talks to Alice, who tells her that Jackson is not responsible for his father's death. When Jack fell, his sternum was supposedly crushed by the nail puller that he fell onto at the bottom of the stairs; according to news reports, this was a freak accident. When Helen returns that evening she finds Jackson calling around asking for her whereabouts with Martha hovering close by. Helen's frigid attitude toward her mother-in-law prompts Martha to visit Alice and warn her to stay away from them.

Having had enough of Martha's manipulations, Helen tells Jackson that Martha is tearing their marriage apart. He agrees to go back to New York and tells his mother, who appears to accept it gracefully. Martha is completely convinced the baby will be a boy, and that Helen is a bad influence on her son and unborn grandchild.

Jackson leaves the farm on a work call, leaving Helen and Martha alone. That evening, Martha bakes a strawberry cheesecake for Helen laced with pitocin, a labor inducer. Helen wakes up the next morning, feeling strange. She discovers a baby room set up by Martha and finds her stolen locket amongst the baby clothes. When Martha unexpectedly enters the room, Helen tries unsuccessfully to escape, driving to a neighboring farm and coming face to face with her attacker from New York, a neighbor of Martha's, then attempting to escape on foot before Martha captures her at the side of the highway.

Reluctantly, Helen gives birth at the house, with Martha looking on, offering assistance, but refusing to give Helen painkillers. Martha leaves the room to answer a phone call from Jackson. She tells him that everything is okay, but when Helen screams in pain, Martha hangs up.

Helen eventually gives birth to a healthy boy. She begs Martha to hand her the baby, but Martha ignores her, telling the baby she is his mother. Martha tries to inject a needle full of morphine in Helen's arm, but Helen knocks the syringe away. By the time Martha retrieves it, she hears Jackson's footsteps in the house. In a scramble, she quickly cleans up, meeting Jackson at the door with the newborn baby. She tells him to leave Helen alone, as he has no idea what she's been through. The two leave Helen asleep, and Martha gives the baby to Jackson.

That night, Martha enters Helen's bedroom with the syringe, but she finds Jackson awake in a chair next to the bed. Despite his mother's insistence that he return to bed, he stays, thereby thwarting her plan. The next morning, Helen awakens to see Jackson with the baby. As Helen finally holds her child she tells Jackson to ask Martha to make breakfast for them.

At breakfast, Helen enters the house with an object in her bag, which turns out to be the nail puller that killed Jack. She then proceeds to tell Jackson the whole truth about his father's death, revealing that Martha, not Jack, was the one having an affair with Robin Hayes, who was a male horse wrangler and not a woman as Jackson had been told by Martha. When Jack discovered the affair, he decided to leave Martha, who staged the 'accident' to get rid of him and tricked Jackson into believing that he was responsible for it in order to keep him under her thumb for the rest of his life. Helen also shows Jackson a vicious bruise from Martha's attempt to murder her so she could have him and their son to herself. Martha denies everything and says that Helen cannot prove anything. However, Jackson by now has remembered that Martha was pulling nails off the shed on the day his father died, and thus has realized the truth of Helen's words. This causes Jackson to angrily disown Martha from their lives, sever all ties with her, and announce the sale of Kilronan and its contents. Enraged and unwilling to admit her own faults, Martha desperately attempts to persuade Jackson that Helen is coming between them out of jealousy, claiming that Helen wants to be her. Helen dismissively shuts Martha up by slapping her to the ground, and she and Jackson then leave the house with their baby in their arms, while a defeated Martha breaks down sobbing on the floor, her hopes permanently destroyed and forever dashed.

In the final scene, the couple visit Alice before they leave for good, presenting her with her great-grandson.

Production

The film was made in 1996, but test screening reactions were negative. Actors were brought back for re-shoots. The trailer contains many shots not seen in the finished film. [2]

Cast

Soundtrack

Intrada released a limited edition album of Christopher Young's score on November 12, 2012.

  1. Hush (18:32)
  2. Little Baby (4:41)
  3. Don't (7:56)
  4. You (3:43)
  5. Cry (5:39)
  6. Mama's Gonna (10:36)
  7. Buy You (4:44)
  8. A (4:37)
  9. Hush (Concert Suite) (15:01)

Reception

Hush has earned a 14% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes movie review website based on 42 reviews. The site's consensus states: "A ridiculous but wholly predictable potboiler with performances ranging from comatose to hysterical." [3]

Roger Ebert has been quoted as saying that Hush is "the kind of movie where you walk in, watch the first 10 minutes, know exactly where it's going, and hope devoutly that you're wrong. It's one of those Devouring Woman movies where the villainess never plays a scene without a drink and a cigarette, and the hero is inattentive to the victim to the point of dementia." [4]

Jessica Lange earned a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress, losing to the Spice Girls for Spice World .

Related Research Articles

<i>Alex Haleys Queen</i> American TV series or program

Alex Haley's Queen is a 1993 American television miniseries that aired in three installments on February 14, 16, and 18 on CBS. The miniseries is an adaptation of the 1993 novel Queen: The Story of an American Family, by Alex Haley and David Stevens. The novel is based on the life of Queen Jackson Haley, Haley's paternal grandmother. Alex Haley died in February 1992 before completing the novel. It was later finished by David Stevens and published in 1993. Stevens also wrote the screenplay for the miniseries.

Duchess (<i>Alices Adventures in Wonderland</i>) Fictional character

The Duchess is a character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865. Carroll does not describe her physically in much detail, although as stated in Chapter 9, "Alice did not much like keeping so close to her: first, because the Duchess was very ugly; and secondly, because she was exactly the right height to rest her chin upon Alice’s shoulder, and it was an uncomfortably sharp chin." Her hideous appearance and short stature is strongly established in the popular imagination thanks to John Tenniel's illustrations and from context it is clear that Alice finds her quite unattractive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Sugden</span> Fictional character from Emmerdale

Andy Sugden is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, Emmerdale, played by Kelvin Fletcher. He made his first on-screen appearance on 4 July 1996. Andy is the son of Billy Hopwood and Trisha Hopwood and the adoptive son of Jack Sugden and Sarah Sugden.

<i>Best Friends</i> (Wilson novel) 2004 novel by Jacqueline Wilson

Best Friends is a children's novel by Jacqueline Wilson, first published in 2004.

<i>Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm</i> (1938 film) 1938 film by Allan Dwan

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a 1938 American musical comedy film directed by Allan Dwan, and written by Don Ettlinger, Karl Tunberg, Ben Markson and William M. Conselman, the third adaptation of Kate Douglas Wiggin's 1903 novel of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Sugden</span> Fictional character from Emmerdale

Sarah Connolly is a fictional character from the British television soap opera Emmerdale. She was first played by Madeleine Howard from 1988 until 1994 then by Alyson Spiro from 1994 until 2000.

<i>The Magic of Ordinary Days</i> 2005 American TV series or program

The Magic of Ordinary Days is a Hallmark Hall of Fame production based on a novel of the same name by Ann Howard Creel and adapted as a teleplay by Camille Thomasson. It was directed by Brent Shields, produced by Andrew Gottlieb and stars Keri Russell, Skeet Ulrich, and Mare Winningham.

The Branning family, together with the Jackson family are a fictional extended family in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Introduced in 1993 were the Jackson family, consisting of Carol Jackson, her partner and later husband Alan Jackson, and Carol's four children, Bianca Jackson, Sonia Jackson, Robbie Jackson, and Billie Jackson ; he is the only child fathered by Alan. The family becomes a more dominating presence in 1999, when Carol's father Jim Branning moves to Walford following the death of his wife Reenie due to cancer. Since then, all six of Jim's children have appeared, many of them with their own families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Malloy</span> Fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders

Ryan Malloy is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Neil McDermott. From his arrival on 28 April 2009, the character remained a mystery in the show for a number of months, until he was revealed as the half-brother of established character, Whitney Dean. Ryan departed on 26 August 2011, and made a surprise guest appearance on 2 September 2014. Following his former lover, Stacey Slater, being sectioned in the episode that aired on 22 January 2016, he then made a surprise cameo for a short stint to look after his daughter Lily Slater, before departing again on 11 February 2016. Seven months later, Ryan returned on 20 September 2016 after he was released from prison. Ryan returned again on 4 November for Whitney and Lee Carter's wedding. On 28 January 2023, it was announced that Ryan would return to EastEnders for a brief stint in February. He returned on 13 February 2023 and departed once again on 16 February 2023.

Michael Moon (<i>EastEnders</i>) UK soap opera character, created 2010

Michael Moon is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve John Shepherd. The character is a second cousin once removed of Alfie Moon, and first appears on 1 October 2010 after Alfie's return. He is also the father to Tommy Moon, whose mother is Alfie's wife Kat Moon. Michael is later joined by his father Eddie Moon and half brothers Tyler Moon and Anthony Moon.

Martin Fowler (<i>EastEnders</i>) Fictional character from EastEnders

Martin Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. The character was played by Jon Peyton-Price from Martin's introduction 1985 until 1996, and by James Alexandrou from 1996 until 2007. When Alexandrou took over the role, Martin became part of the regular cast, and was featured in prominent storylines such as sleeping with Sonia Jackson and getting her pregnant with their daughter Chloe/Bex Fowler ; developing a romantic crush on Zoe Slater, which is not reciprocated, killing Sonia’s former fiancé Jamie Mitchell after running him over in his car, which results in Martin being imprisoned for Jamie's death and subsequently feuding with Jamie’s relative Phil Mitchell ; enduring a problematic marriage with Sonia after their wedding; being stalked by Sarah Cairns, and coping with the deaths of both his brother Mark Fowler and their mother Pauline Fowler. Alexandrou quit the role in 2006, and Martin departed on 2 February 2007.

<i>Marchlands</i> 2011 British television drama series

Marchlands is a British television series developed from the American television drama pilot The Oaks, written and created by David Schulner, and broadcast on ITV in 2011. A follow-up series, Lightfields, was broadcast in 2013. Each five-episode series explores the lives of three families, occupying the same house in different time periods. A restless spirit haunts the house, and the previous house owners appear to their successors as ghosts as well.

<i>The Name of the Game Is Kill!</i> 1968 film directed by Gunnar Hellström

The Name of the Game Is Kill! is a 1968 American thriller film directed by Gunnar Hellström and starring Jack Lord, Susan Strasberg and Collin Wilcox Paxton. It was shot on location in Arizona.

References

  1. https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/1998-2/hush/ [ bare URL ]
  2. "Bitterness Personified: Reflections on ... Hush (1998)". 12 February 2022.
  3. "Hush (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  4. "Hush". rogerebert.com. 6 Mar 1998. Retrieved 24 Apr 2024.Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg