A Delicate Balance (film)

Last updated
A Delicate Balance
Adelicatebalancedvd.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Tony Richardson
Written by Edward Albee
Produced by Ely Landau
Starring Katharine Hepburn
Paul Scofield
Lee Remick
Kate Reid
Joseph Cotten
Betsy Blair
Cinematography David Watkin
Edited byJohn Victor Smith
Distributed by American Film Theatre
Release date
  • November 12, 1973 (1973-11-12)
Running time
133 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Canada
United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

A Delicate Balance is a 1973 American-Canadian-British drama film directed by Tony Richardson and starring Katharine Hepburn, Paul Scofield, Lee Remick, Kate Reid, Joseph Cotten, and Betsy Blair. The screenplay by Edward Albee is based on his 1966 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name.

Contents

The film was the second in a series produced by Ely Landau for his American Film Theatre, [1] a subscription-based program of screen adaptations of notable stage plays shown in five hundred theaters in four hundred cities.

Plot

The film spans three days in the life of Agnes and Tobias, an upper middle class couple who share their comfortable suburban Connecticut home with Agnes' acerbic alcoholic sister Claire. It is matriarch Agnes who helps the trio maintain a delicate balance in their lives, held together by habit, shared memories, and considerable consumption of dry martinis.

The seemingly peaceful facade of their existence is shattered with the arrival of longtime friends Harry and Edna who, suddenly overcome by a nameless terror, fled their home in search of a safe haven. The couple is followed by Agnes and Tobias' bitter, 36-year-old daughter Julia, who has returned to the family nest following the collapse of her fourth marriage. Their presence leads to a period of self-examination, during which all six are forced to explore their psyches and confront the demons hidden there.

Cast

Critical reception

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "a fine, tough, lacerating production", and added, "Richardson's cast could hardly be better". [2]

TV Guide rated the film two out of four stars, calling it "unfortunately stiff, dull, and extremely stagy". [1]

Awards and nominations

Kate Reid was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Cotten</span> American actor (1905–1994)

Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of The Philadelphia Story (1939) and Sabrina Fair (1953). He then gained worldwide fame for his collaborations with Orson Welles on three films, Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), and Journey into Fear (1943), which Cotten starred in and for which he was also credited with the screenplay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Hepburn</span> American actress (1907–2003)

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress whose career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. She worked in a varied range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, which earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer.

Cecil Antonio Richardson was an English theatre and film director, producer and screenwriter, whose career spanned five decades. He was identified with the "angry young men" group of British directors and playwrights during the 1950s, and was later a key figure in the British New Wave filmmaking movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Scofield</span> English actor (1922–2008)

David Paul Scofield was an English actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. Scofield established a reputation as one of the greatest Shakespearean performers. He declined the honour of a knighthood, but was appointed CBE in 1956 and became a CH in 2001.

<i>Guess Whos Coming to Dinner</i> 1967 film by Stanley Kramer

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and features Hepburn's niece Katharine Houghton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Remick</span> American actress (1935-1991)

Lee Ann Remick was an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film Days of Wine and Roses (1962).

<i>A Delicate Balance</i> (play) 1966 play written by American Edward Albee

A Delicate Balance is a three-act play by Edward Albee, written in 1965 and 1966. Premiered in 1966, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1967, the first of three he received for his work.

The Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award is bestowed annually by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals society at Harvard University. The award was created in 1951, and its first recipient was Gertrude Lawrence, an English actress, singer, and dancer. It has since been awarded annually by the society members of the Hasty Pudding to performers deemed to have made a "lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment".

Laura Lansing Slept Here is a 1988 American made-for-television comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and directed by George Schaefer which premiered on NBC on March 7, 1988. It was written by James Prideaux and co-stars Joel Higgins, Karen Austin, Brenda Forbes and Hepburn's grandniece Schuyler Grant.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is the American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history and is the second list of the AFI 100 Years... series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Stewart filmography</span> List of films 1934–1991

James Stewart was a prolific American actor who appeared in a variety of film roles in Hollywood, primarily of the Golden Age of Hollywood. From the beginning of his film career in 1934 through his final theatrical project in 1991, Stewart appeared in more than 92 films, television programs, and short subjects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadley Richardson</span> First wife of Ernest Hemingway

Elizabeth Hadley Richardson was the first wife of American author Ernest Hemingway. The two married in 1921 after a courtship of less than a year, and moved to Paris within months of being married. In Paris, Hemingway pursued a writing career, and through him Richardson met other expatriate American and British writers.

<i>Holiday</i> (1938 film) 1938 film by George Cukor

Holiday is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, a remake of the 1930 film of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betsy Blair</span> American actress (1923–2009)

Betsy Blair was an American actress of film and stage, long based in London.

<i>The Betsy</i> 1978 film directed by Daniel Petrie

The Betsy is a 1978 American romantic drama film directed by Daniel Petrie, from a screenplay by William Bast and Walter Bernstein, based on the 1971 novel of the same title by Harold Robbins. It stars Laurence Olivier as a retired auto tycoon, with Robert Duvall, Katharine Ross, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jane Alexander in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Reid</span> English-born Canadian actress (1930-1993)

Daphne Katherine Reid was an English-born Canadian stage, film, and television actress. She played more than one thousand roles, most notably onstage in Death of a Salesman, in the 1980 film Atlantic City, and in episodes of the TV show Dallas. She was described by Inspiring Women: A Celebration of Herstory as "generally regarded as the finest actress ever developed in Canada".

Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary is a three-volume biographical dictionary published in 1971. Its origins lay in 1957 when Radcliffe College librarians, archivists, and professors began researching the need for a version of the Dictionary of American Biography dedicated solely to women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarence Lung</span> American actor

Clarence Lung (1914–1993) was a film and television actor. He appeared in films such as Dragon Seed, Song of the Sarong, Experiment in Terror, Prisoner Of War, Operation Petticoat, China and The Hundred Days of the Dragon. Among the television programs he appeared in were Secret Agent X-9 and China Smith.

Frances Robinson-Duff (1878-1951) was an American actress and voice teacher known as "the foremost dramatic coach in America" in the first half of the 20th century.

References