Lilith (film)

Last updated

Lilith
Original movie poster for the film Lilith.jpg
original film poster
Directed by Robert Rossen
Written byRobert Rossen
Based onLilith by J.R. Salamanca
Produced byRobert Rossen
Starring Warren Beatty
Jean Seberg
Peter Fonda
Kim Hunter
Cinematography Eugen Schüfftan
Edited by Aram Avakian
Music by Kenyon Hopkins
Color processblack and white
Production
company
Centaur Productions
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • 19 September 1964 (1964-09-19)(New York City)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,100,000 [1]

Lilith is a 1964 American drama film written and directed by Robert Rossen starring Warren Beatty and Jean Seberg. Based on a novel by J.R. Salamanca, it was Rossen's final film. [2]

Contents

Plot

Set in a private mental institution, Chestnut Lodge in Rockville, Maryland, the film tells of a trainee occupational therapist, a troubled ex-soldier named Vincent Bruce, who is fascinated by seductive, artistic, schizophrenic patient Lilith Arthur. Lilith reminds him of his mother, who was mentally disturbed and took her own life.

Vincent is successful in helping Lilith emerge from seclusion and leave the institutional grounds for a day in the country, and later escorts her on excursions in which she is alone with him. She attempts to seduce him, and eventually Bruce tells Lilith he is in love with her. During an excursion to a carnival, he witnesses her behaving inappropriately towards a young boy. After the excursion, they sleep together and start meeting regularly. Growing increasingly jealous, Vincent follows Lilith on her meetings with Mrs. Meaghan, an older female patient, with whom she has an affair. When Stephen Evshevsky, a patient who is in love with Lilith, presents her a gift, Vincent returns it to him, suggesting that Lilith refused it. The unstable Stephen commits suicide.

Vincent tries to convince Lilith that they had conspired in driving Stephen into committing suicide, but she rejects him. Lilith revives memories of her brother's suicide, which she implies was due to her attempt to initiate an incestuous relationship with him. Later, she goes on a destructive rampage in her room and winds up in a catatonic state. The shattered Vincent approaches his superiors and asks them to help him.

Cast

Production

Produced by Rossen's Centaur Productions [3] and financed mainly by distributor Columbia Pictures, Lilith was shot on location over a period of six weeks in a rented boarding house and the Killingsworth Taylor mansion, Long Island, and in Rockville , Maryland, where the clinic was located. [4] One week of shooting was done in the studio. [4] Rossen, already weakened by illness and medication when filming started, finished the film in complete exhaustion. [4] According to Jean Seberg, this was owed in parts to Rossen's and Beatty's permanent confrontations over how to play his role. [5]

Release

Lilith had originally been chosen by the MPAA as the official American entry to the 1964 Venice Film Festival, but was withdrawn after press reports that festival director Luigi Chiarini had disparaged its artistic merit. [6] [7] It screened at the New York Film Festival on 19 September 1964. [7] Upon its subsequent cinema release, the film turned out a commercial failure. [8]

Reception

Press reactions to Lilith were mostly negative when it was first released. [8] After the film's presentation at the New York Film Festival, the critic of the New York Times wrote a reserved review, praising the "striking images" and Jean Seberg's "fresh, flighty, fearsome performance", but faulting the lack of a "lucid demonstration of what the whole thing means" and weak acting by Warren Beatty and Peter Fonda. [7]

Reviews in later years were more sympathetic, calling it "ambitious" and "sadly underrated" (Chris Lloyd, Time Out) [9] and "a masterpiece" (Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader). [10] In the 1975 The New Biographical Dictionary of Film , David Thomson described Lilith as "an oddity, the only one of [Rossen's] films that seems passionate, mysterious and truly personal. The other films will look increasingly dated and self-contained, but Lilith may grow." [11] In her 2015 review for The Village Voice, critic Melissa Anderson saw in Lilith a "fascinatingly fractured" film which recalled Last Year at Marienbad , pointing out the presence of Jean Seberg "who most indelibly imprints the film with otherworldliness". [12]

Awards and nominations

Lilith reached #6 in the 1965 best films list of Cahiers du Cinéma . [13] Jean Seberg was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Legacy

The Academy Film Archive preserved Lilith in 2000. [14]

In 2013, the Harvard Film Archive screened Lilith as part of its retrospective on Robert Rossen. [15]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cahiers du Cinéma</i> French film journal

Cahiers du Cinéma is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs—Objectif 49 and Ciné-Club du Quartier Latin.

<i>Reds</i> (film) 1981 historical drama film epic by Warren Beatty

Reds is a 1981 American epic historical drama film, co-written, produced, and directed by Warren Beatty, about the life and career of John Reed, the journalist and writer who chronicled the October Revolution in Russia in his 1919 book Ten Days That Shook the World. Beatty stars in the lead role alongside Diane Keaton as Louise Bryant and Jack Nicholson as Eugene O'Neill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Luc Godard</span> French and Swiss film director (1930–2022)

Jean-Luc Godard was a French and Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Éric Rohmer and Jacques Demy. He was arguably the most influential French filmmaker of the post-war era. According to AllMovie, his work "revolutionized the motion picture form" through its experimentation with narrative, continuity, sound, and camerawork. His most acclaimed films include Breathless (1960), Vivre sa vie (1962), Contempt (1963), Band of Outsiders (1964), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), Masculin Féminin (1966), Weekend (1967) and Goodbye to Language (2014).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Beatty</span> American actor and filmmaker (born 1937)

Henry Warren Beatty is an American actor and filmmaker. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards. He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Award in 1999, the BAFTA Fellowship in 2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2007, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2008.

<i>Bonnie and Clyde</i> (film) 1967 American film by Arthur Penn

Bonnie and Clyde is a 1967 American biographical neo-noir crime film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the title characters Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. The film also features Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, and Estelle Parsons. The screenplay is by David Newman and Robert Benton. Robert Towne and Beatty provided uncredited contributions to the script; Beatty produced the film. The music is by Charles Strouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Seberg</span> American actress (1938–1979)

Jean Dorothy Seberg was an American actress. She is considered an icon of the French New Wave as a result of her performance in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film Breathless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Fonda</span> American actor (1940–2019)

Peter Henry Fonda was an American actor. He was the son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda. He 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).

<i>They Shoot Horses, Dont They?</i> (film) 1969 film by Sydney Pollack

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is a 1969 American psychological drama film directed by Sydney Pollack, from a screenplay written by Robert E. Thompson and James Poe, based on Horace McCoy's 1935 novel of the same name. It stars Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young, Bonnie Bedelia, and Red Buttons. It focuses on a disparate group of individuals desperate to win a Depression-era dance marathon and an opportunistic emcee who urges them on.

<i>Klute</i> 1971 film by Alan J. Pakula

Klute is a 1971 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alan J. Pakula, and starring Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Nathan George, Dorothy Tristan, Roy Scheider, and Rita Gam. Its plot follows a high-priced New York City call girl who assists a detective from Pennsylvania in solving the missing person case of a john who may be stalking her. It is the first installment of what has informally come to be known as Pakula's "paranoia trilogy", followed by The Parallax View (1974) and All the President's Men (1976), all films dealing with themes of paranoia, conspiracies, and surveillance.

<i>Breathless</i> (1960 film) 1960 French film by Jean-Luc Godard

Breathless is a 1960 French New Wave crime drama film written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. It stars Jean-Paul Belmondo as a wandering criminal named Michel, and Jean Seberg as his American girlfriend Patricia. The film was Godard's first feature-length work and represented Belmondo's breakthrough as an actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Rossen</span> American screenwriter, film director (1908–1966)

Robert Rossen was an American screenwriter, film director, and producer whose film career spanned almost three decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Meacham</span> American actress (1925–2006)

Anne Meacham was an American actress of stage, film and television.

Victor Nunez is a film director, professor at the Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts, and a founding member of the Independent Feature Project. He is best known for directing Ulee's Gold, a critically acclaimed movie starring Peter Fonda and Patricia Richardson. Nunez was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2008 and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2016.

<i>Fedora</i> (1978 film) 1978 film by Billy Wilder

Fedora is a 1978 German-French drama film directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden and Marthe Keller. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on Tom Tryon's novella in the collection Crowned Heads.

<i>The Hustler</i> 1961 gambling film by Robert Rossen

The Hustler is a 1961 drama film, directed by Robert Rossen. It tells the story of small-time pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson, who challenges legendary pool player "Minnesota Fats".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerome Hellman</span> American film producer (1928–2021)

Jerome Hellman was an American film producer. He is best known for being the 42nd recipient of the Academy Award for Best Picture for Midnight Cowboy (1969). His 1978 film Coming Home was nominated for the same award.

<i>The Mystery of Oberwald</i> 1980 film

The Mystery of Oberwald is a 1980 Italian–German television drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Monica Vitti, Paolo Bonacelli, and Franco Branciaroli. It is based on the 1946 play L'Aigle à deux têtes by Jean Cocteau.

Aram A. Avakian was an American film editor and director. His work in the latter role includes Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959) and the indie film End of the Road (1970).

<i>Moment to Moment</i> 1966 film by Mervyn LeRoy

Moment to Moment is a 1966 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Jean Seberg, Honor Blackman and Sean Garrison.

<i>Seberg</i> 2019 film by Benedict Andrews

Seberg is a 2019 political thriller film directed by Benedict Andrews, from a screenplay by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse based on the life of Jean Seberg. It stars Kristen Stewart, Jack O'Connell, Margaret Qualley, Zazie Beetz, Anthony Mackie, and Vince Vaughn.

References

  1. ↑ Anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Top Grossers of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966, p. 36
  2. ↑ Casty, Alan (25 March 2013). Robert Rossen: The Films and Politics of a Blacklisted Idealist. McFarland. p. 9. ISBN   978-0-7864-6981-9.
  3. ↑ New York Film Festival Programs, 1963-1975. Arno Press. 1976. p. 57.
  4. 1 2 3 Casty, p. 233.
  5. ↑ Casty, pp. 233–34.
  6. ↑ Casty, pp. 244–45.
  7. 1 2 3 "'Nothing but a Man' and 'Lilith' Presented". The New York Times. 21 September 1964. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  8. 1 2 Casty, p. 228.
  9. ↑ Time Out Film Guide, Seventh Edition 1999. London: Penguin. 1998. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  10. ↑ Kehr, Dave (24 June 1985). "Lilith". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  11. ↑ David Thomson The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002, London: Little, Brown, p. 760.
  12. ↑ Anderson, Melissa (14 July 2015). "Jean Seberg Remains Wonderfully Commanding in 'Lilith'". The Village Voice. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  13. ↑ Hillier, Jim, ed. (1986). Cahiers du Cinéma: 1960-1968: New Wave, New Cinema, Reevaluating Hollywood (Harvard Film Studies). Harvard University Press.
  14. ↑ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
  15. ↑ "Lilith". Harvard Film Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.