The Confessions of Amans

Last updated
The Confessions of Amans
Directed by Gregory Nava
Written byGregory Nava
Anna Thomas
Produced byAnna Thomas
Gregory Nava
StarringWilliam Bryan
Michael St. John
Susannah MacMillan
Leon Liberman
Feliciano Ituero Bravo
Stephen Bateman
CinematographyGregory Nava
Edited byGregory Nava
Distributed by American Film Institute
Bauer International
Release date
  • November 17, 1977 (1977-11-17)(United States)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$24,000

The Confessions of Amans is a 1977 American 16-mm drama film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and his wife Anna Thomas. [1]

Contents

The picture was partly funded by the American Film Institute.

Plot

In medieval Spain, an itinerant student of philosophy is hired by an uneducated lord to tutor his wife, but the student falls in love with her.

Production

The film was produced in Spain and on an estimated budget of $24,000, according to Roger Ebert. [2] Nava used English stage performers. To conserve money, Nava and Thomas used costumes and props remaining from Samuel Bronston's El Cid . Film locations included the castles of ancient Segovia, Spain.

Cast

Release

The Confessions of Amans was first presented in 1976 at the Chicago International Film Festival. The film opened in a limited theatrical release in New York on November 17, 1977.

Reception

Critical response

The New York Times film critic Vincent Canby wrote: "The Confessions of Amans was a very beautiful film, though not an especially pretty one, a chilly, tightly disciplined tale of the tragic love affair of a young philosophy tutor and the wife of the lord of the manor. Like the great Robert Bresson, Mr. Nava appeared to be less interested in the heat of the passion of the lovers than in the succession of moral choices their passion represented." [3]

An unsigned film review in The New York Times held that the film is "a beautiful, muted film of the kind that takes some getting used to. People seldom raise their voices or lose control of themselves. Passion is expressed discreetly in glances or in the holding of hands." [4]

Awards

Wins

Related Research Articles

<i>El Norte</i> (film) 1983 film by Gregory Nava

El Norte is a 1983 independent drama film, directed by Gregory Nava. The screenplay was written by Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas, based on Nava's story. The movie was first presented at the Telluride Film Festival in 1983, and its wide release was in January 1984.

<i>Cousin Cousine</i> 1975 French film

Cousin Cousine is a 1975 French romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Charles Tacchella and starring Marie-Christine Barrault, Victor Lanoux, and Marie-France Pisier. Written by Tacchella and Danièle Thompson, the film is about two cousins by marriage who meet at a wedding and develop a close friendship. After their spouses prove unfaithful, the cousins' friendship leads to a passionate love affair. Cousin Cousine received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, a César Award nomination for Best Film, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and the U.S. National Board of Review Award as one of the Top 5 Foreign Films of the Year. In 1989, an English-language remake was released, Cousins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jill Clayburgh</span> American actress (1944–2010)

Jill Clayburgh was an American actress known for her work in theater, television, and cinema. She received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her breakthrough role in Paul Mazursky's comedy drama An Unmarried Woman (1978). She also received a second consecutive Academy Award nomination for Starting Over (1979) as well as four Golden Globe nominations for her film performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Reed</span> American actress

Pamela Reed is an American actress. She is known for playing Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic police partner in the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop and portraying the matriarch Gail Green in Jericho. She appeared as Marlene Griggs-Knope on the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. She is also well known as the exasperated wife in Bean.

<i>Whos That Knocking at My Door</i> 1968 film directed by Martin Scorsese

Who's That Knocking at My Door, originally titled I Call First, is a 1967 American independent drama film written and directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Harvey Keitel and Zina Bethune. It was Scorsese's feature film directorial debut and Keitel's debut as an actor. The story follows Italian-American J.R. (Keitel) as he struggles to accept the secret hidden by his independent and free-spirited girlfriend (Bethune).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Nava</span> American film director, producer and screenwriter (born 1949)

Gregory James Nava is an American film director, producer and screenwriter.

<i>Thieves Like Us</i> (film) 1974 film by Robert Altman

Thieves Like Us is a 1974 American crime film, set in the United States of the 1930s. It was directed by Robert Altman and starred Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Edward Anderson, which also supplied source material for the 1948 film They Live by Night, directed by Nicholas Ray. The Altman film sticks much closer to the book. The supporting cast includes Louise Fletcher and Tom Skerritt.

<i>Bite the Bullet</i> (film) 1975 film

Bite the Bullet is a 1975 American Western film written, produced, and directed by Richard Brooks and starring Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen, and James Coburn, with Ian Bannen, Jan-Michael Vincent, Ben Johnson, and Dabney Coleman in supporting roles.

<i>Tempest</i> (1982 film) 1982 film by Paul Mazursky

Tempest is a 1982 American adventure comedy-drama romance film directed by Paul Mazursky. It is a loose modern-day adaptation of the Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The picture features John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Raúl Juliá and Molly Ringwald in her feature film debut.

<i>A Time of Destiny</i> 1988 film by Gregory Nava

A Time of Destiny is a 1988 American drama war film directed by Gregory Nava and written by Nava and Anna Thomas. The story is based on the opera La forza del destino by Giuseppe Verdi. The motion picture was executive produced by Shep Gordon and Carolyn Pfeiffer. It features original music by veteran composer Ennio Morricone.

<i>The Iceman Cometh</i> (1973 film) 1973 film by John Frankenheimer

The Iceman Cometh is a 1973 American drama film directed by John Frankenheimer. The screenplay, written by Thomas Quinn Curtiss, is based on Eugene O'Neill's 1946 play of the same name. The film was produced by Ely Landau for the American Film Theatre, which from 1973 to 1975 presented thirteen film adaptations of noted plays.

One on One is a 1977 American sports drama film starring Robby Benson and Annette O'Toole. It was written by Benson and his father Jerry Segal. It was directed by Lamont Johnson and features a soundtrack performed by Seals and Crofts.

<i>Knife in the Head</i> 1978 film

Knife in the Head is a 1978 West German drama film directed by Reinhard Hauff and starring Bruno Ganz. The film follows the recovery of a man shot in the head by the police during the raid of a left-wing social centre. It won awards in Paris and Berlin.

<i>Pleasure Party</i> 1975 French film

Pleasure Party is a 1975 French film directed by Claude Chabrol and starring its screenwriter and longtime Chabrol collaborator Paul Gégauff. In the film, Gégauff plays a writer with a troubled marriage that ends in tragedy. His wife is played by his real-life first wife Danièle Gégauff and his daughter is played by real-life daughter Clemence Gégauff.

<i>Wedding in White</i> 1972 Canadian film

Wedding in White is a 1972 Canadian drama film written and directed by William Fruet, based on his earlier play. The film stars Carol Kane, Donald Pleasence, Doris Petrie, Doug McGrath, and Paul Bradley.

All the Vermeers in New York is a 1990 American film written and directed by Jon Jost. It won the Caligari Film Award in the 1991 Berlin International Film Festival and the Best Experimental Film in the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.

<i>Just Before Nightfall</i> 1971 film by Claude Chabrol

Just Before Nightfall is a 1971 French crime drama film written and directed by Claude Chabrol and starring Stéphane Audran and Michel Bouquet. Based on the 1951 novel The Thin Line by Edward Atiyah, it follows a married businessman who, after killing his mistress, tries to ease his conscience by confessing to his wife and the victim's husband.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Nicholson filmography</span>

Jack Nicholson is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter who made his film debut in The Cry Baby Killer (1958). Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation. He is also one of the most critically acclaimed: his 12 Academy Award nominations make him the most nominated male actor in the Academy's history. He is also a Kennedy Center Honoree and a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Crime and Passion, also known as Ace Up My Sleeve, is a 1975 comedy-drama film.

The Confessions of Winifred Wagner is a 1975 West German documentary film directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg. It is about Winifred Wagner, widow of Richard Wagner's son Siegfried Wagner and responsible for the Bayreuth Festival from 1930 and 1945.

References

  1. The Confessions of Amans at IMDb.
  2. Ebert, Roger. Chicago Sun-Times, August 1, 2004.
  3. Canby, Vincent. The New York Times, film review, January 22, 1984.
  4. The New York Times. "A Romance Of Medieval Spain," film review, November 18, 1977.