The screenplay was by Peter Nelson from the novel Judith Hearne by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore. The story presents "a character study film about a woman's rage against the Church for her wasted life".[4] Moore wrote the novel after leaving Ireland, in part because of the religious conflict there, and was living in Canada. The book was published in 1955 and was optioned for the stage and screen almost immediately. John Huston optioned it for a film with Katharine Hepburn. Director Irvin Kershner planned on casting Deborah Kerr. Eventually, Jack Clayton, a Catholic himself, was chosen to direct.
BBC Radio 4 produced a radio drama adaptation directed by Michael Quinn in 1995.
Plot
Dublin, the 1950s.[5] Judith Hearne is a lonely, middle-aged, Irish Catholicspinster from a respectable family in distressed circumstances who gives piano lessons independently but is losing pupils. After moving into a rooming house in Dublin, she meets and becomes attracted to the landlady's widowed brother, the charming James Madden, who has returned from the United States. Madden notices her inherited jewellery and believes wrongly that she is reasonably well-off and might invest in his business idea.
The novel was published in 1955 and there had been numerous attempts to film it over the years. John Huston wanted to film it starring Katharine Hepburn for Seven Arts Productions[6] but was unable to raise finance.
In 1982 producer-writer Peter Nelson obtained the rights, and he tried to make a film with Shirley Maclaine and Mike Nichols. However Nichols wanted to relocate the story to Boston, Nelson objected and the director dropped out. Nelson then sought finance in the United Kingdom.[8] He took the project to United British Artists, a production group made up of several key British figures including Maggie Smith, Richard Johnson, Albert Finney and Harold Pinter. Smith agreed to star in the film and Clayton was approached to direct.[1] "I'd been trying to make it for twenty years," Clayton said. "It was sheer luck."[9]
Finance mostly came from HandMade Films.[10]Elton John also provided some of the budget. "I have such admiration for Handmade,” Clayton said. “Here was a subject that had been on the shelf for years because no one considered it commercial. But they went ahead.”[1]
Nelson later said he felt his version was able to attract finance because his script emphasied the humour in the novel. "There are a lot of funny things in Judith Hearne and the script simply sharpens them," said Nelson.[8]
Filming took place in July 1987 over seven weeks. There was ten days of work on location in Dublin and at Shepperton Studios.[8] Clayton said he, Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins took a third of their normal salary in order to get the film made. "It was very important for this," said Clayton. "After 25 years I understand perfectly well why it wasn't made."[8]
Reception
Pauline Kael wrote that "Clayton is a felicitous choice to direct a character study film about a woman's rage against the Church for her wasted life. His first feature was Room at the Top with Simone Signoret and he made The Innocents with Deborah Kerr and The Pumpkin Eater with Anne Bancroft – he knows how to show women's temperatures and their mind-body inter-actions. Maggie Smith becomes the essence of spinster – she makes you feel the ghastliness of knowing you're a figure of fun."[4]Janet Maslin, writing in The New York Times, called the film "ponderous" and "literal" and thought the novel far superior to the film's "awkward" screenplay. She praised much of the acting, but thought Bob Hoskins was "paralyzed by the crude Americanism of his character".[11]
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