How to Make an American Quilt

Last updated
How to Make an American Quilt
How to make an american quilt.jpeg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse
Screenplay by Jane Anderson
Based on How to Make an American Quilt
by Whitney Otto
Produced bySarah Pillsbury
Midge Sanford
Starring
Cinematography Janusz Kamiński
Edited by Jill Bilcock
Music by Thomas Newman
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • October 6, 1995 (1995-10-06)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10 million [1]
Box office$41 million [2]

How to Make an American Quilt is a 1995 American drama film based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Whitney Otto. Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, the film features Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Nelligan and Alfre Woodard. It is notable as being Jared Leto's film debut. Amblin Entertainment optioned Otto's novel in 1991, and were able to persuade Steven Spielberg to finance the screenplay's development. How to Make an American Quilt received mixed reviews from critics. It was a box-office success, grossing $41 million against a $10 million budget. The film was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Contents

Characters

Finn Dodd

Main character. Following her boyfriend Sam's proposal, Finn visits her great aunt and grandmother to finish her thesis and think over it. At her grandmother's, a quilting group congregates, and she's shocked and surprised to discover that the current quilt that they're working on is a wedding gift for her when she gets married. The theme of the quilt is "where love resides". As Finn is unsure whether she's ready for marriage or if he's "the one", the women's stories in the quilting group open her eyes to the different kinds of love that exist.

During her time at her grandmother's, she meets Leon at the local pool and they have a brief affair. Eventually, wrapped in her quilt and following a crow (reminiscent of Anna's tale about her aunt), she comes across Sam and chooses to stay with him.

Sophia Darling

In her early 20s, Sophia was a talented diver with dreams of escaping her small town and overbearing mother. One day she meets Preston Richards while diving at the local pool and romance ensues. He's attracted by her fearlessness and she believes he can take her away from her current, oppressive way of life. However, motherhood turns out to be just as, if not more, oppressive and married life soon grinds her down. With three children and little help from Preston who is frequently away because of his job, she no longer has time to dive and eventually forgets the feeling of freedom and escape it gives her.

One day she snaps at Preston for digging a pond in the back garden. Trying to remind her of the girl he fell in love with, he tells her the pond is for her to wade in. After she rejects his efforts, he realizes her free spirit is gone. One morning, he leaves for work, never to return. Abandoned, bitter, and trapped in a life she didn't want, Sophia ends up like her overbearing mother, particularly in her relationship with Finn.

Years later, when the wind blows part of Finn's thesis into the pond, she wades in to get it. With her feet in the pool, she remembers what her husband tried to remind her of all those years ago, and one of the last scenes shows her diving off the high dive.

Em Reed

Em marries young, like most of the women in the story. Despite the promiscuity of her artistic husband Dean, she stays with him for a period of time. Eventually, after discovering yet another affair, she leaves him whilst pregnant. She returns to her parents' home, but it still takes three months before Dean comes to find her. He begs forgiveness yet again, and her parents pack her bags, loading them into Dean's car. At this point, Em has no choice but to return to her broken life.

Years later, she suspects Constance is having an affair with Dean, which causes friction between them. Later, she realizes that, in his own way, Dean does truly love her when she takes shelter in his studio during a sudden wind storm and discovers numerous paintings of her telling the story of their life together over the years.

Glady Joe Cleary and Hy Dodd

Gladiola (Glady) Joe and Hyacinth (Hy) are Finn's great aunt and grandmother and sisters to one another. At one point, Hy goes to visit her dying husband in the hospital. Despite her deep love for her husband, she leaves the hospital and sleeps with Glady's husband Arthur in a moment of weakness and tragic emotion.

After Glady discovers the truth, she smashes every one of her porcelain figurines and plasters them onto the wall of the laundry room as a reminder of her anger. She never really forgives Arthur and does not forgive Hy until the end of the movie. Their reconciliation is symbolized by the demolition of the plastered walls in the laundry room when Glady realizes that her love for her sister surpasses her feelings of betrayal.

Constance Saunders

Constance had a happy and fulfilling marriage until her husband Howell died, leaving her a young widow. While he was alive, he gave Constance a dog to keep her company. Although it is rumored that she is having an affair with Dean, she knows that her love for her husband and her dog are her true companions. Her panel for Finn's wedding quilt depicts a yellow rose bush under which she and Howell buried the dog after it died.

Anna Neale

As a young maid, Anna starts an affair with her boss's son Beck, who's visiting from Chicago. She becomes pregnant by him, and when her great aunt Pauline finds out about it she sends Anna away with their family story quilt (which she had sold to the boss's wife). During her pregnancy, Anna met Glady and Hy as she was taken in by their family.

Anna becomes particularly close with Glady, eventually teaching her to quilt. During one of these quilting lessons, she starts labor, eventually giving birth to Marianna. It's only then that Anna realizes that her fancy notion of romantic love was nothing in comparison to the maternal love she feels for Marianna. Anna now orchestrates the quilting group.

Marianna Neale

Marianna gives the appearance of being in love with her promiscuous freedom until a moment of vulnerability comes in a conversation with Finn. She speaks of a man that she met in France. They had met and spent one evening together during which they connected over a meeting of minds before she discovered that he was married. Although she has taken many lovers since, she realizes this man is her soulmate and she doesn't even know his name.

Cast

Production

Amblin Entertainment optioned Whitney Otto's bestselling novel after it was released in 1991. Amblin co-founder Kathleen Kennedy brought on producers Sarah Pillsbury and Midge Sanford, who had read and loved the book before its publication. [3] When the two producers could not field potential interest in the film from studios, they persuaded Steven Spielberg to finance the development of a screenplay, something which was rarely done without a studio's backing. [4] Said Spielberg, "I've always loved stories about women. I had three younger sisters. I was the only boy. Amblin until recently was dominated by women. That feminine side of my brain is very strong." [3]

Sanford and Pillsbury reached out to screenwriter Jane Anderson to pen the script and chose Australian filmmaker Jocelyn Moorhouse as the director. [4] One of the structural changes that Anderson brought to the adaptation was turning the role of Finn, who is a periphery character in the novel, into the main character. [4] Winona Ryder was the producers' first choice for the role. [3] [4]

To avoid the possibility of audience confusion at the various storylines that jump back and forth in time, the filmmakers intended for "the [characters'] flashbacks [to] be very distinct little movies. They each have a slightly different tone. One story is a comic melodrama, one is tragic, one is a slice of life, one is kind of a fable." [4]

Patty McCormick, president of the Southern California Council of Quilt Guilds, assisted in the assembly of the film's quilts and worked individually with actresses to master the use of thimbles. [5] Anne Bancroft and Maya Angelou were the only actresses with quilting experience. [5]

How to Make an American Quilt was one of the last films to be produced by Amblin before the company was absorbed into DreamWorks. [3]

Reception

How to Make an American Quilt received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's consensus states: "How to Make an American Quilt is a bit of a patchwork from a storytelling standpoint, but a strong ensemble cast led by Winona Ryder helps hold it all together." [6]

In a review for The New York Times , Caryn James gave praise to both Moorhouse's "cut-to-the-quick" direction and Anderson's script for crafting an adaptation of a "decidedly uncinematic novel." She added that the film manages to give off the impression that "we are not watching movie women but real women, with shaky judgment and lifetimes of reasons to resent and forgive one another as well as all the men in their lives." [7] Roger Ebert commended the stories involving Woodard and Capshaw's characters for being the most heartfelt but found the rest of them devoid of any emotional resonance compared to the tales told in the film adaptation of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club , stating that they have lives "largely recycled from sweet movies and tasteful romantic novels." [8] Eve Zibart of The Washington Post stated that despite Bancroft's performance being "right on the ceiling" in terms of over the top and saying that Ryder "seems for once to be acting, and not entirely comfortably", she praised the rest of the actresses for being "theatrical indulgence by a cast of stahs." [9]

The film was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 2nd Screen Actors Guild Awards, but lost to Apollo 13 . [10] [11] Ryder and Mulroney were nominated for Best Kiss at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards, but lost to Natasha Henstridge and Anthony Guidera for Species . [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winona Ryder</span> American actress (born 1971)

Winona Laura Horowitz, known professionally as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Having come to attention with quirkier roles in the initial phase of her career, she achieved fame and critical success with her more diverse performances in various genres throughout the 1990s. Ryder's many accolades include a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, and a Grammy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Bancroft</span> American actress (1931–2005)

Anne Bancroft was an American actress and director. Respected for her acting prowess and versatility, Bancroft received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. She is one of only 24 thespians to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting.

<i>Little Women</i> (1994 film) 1994 film by Gillian Armstrong

Little Women is a 1994 American coming-of-age historical drama film directed by Gillian Armstrong. The screenplay by Robin Swicord is based on Louisa May Alcott's 1868–69 two-volume novel of the same title, the fifth feature film adaptation of the classic story. After a limited release on December 25, 1994, it was released nationwide four days later by Columbia Pictures.

<i>Keeping the Faith</i> 2000 film directed by Edward Norton

Keeping the Faith is a 2000 American romantic comedy film written by Stuart Blumberg, and starring Ben Stiller, Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman, Eli Wallach, and Anne Bancroft. This film was released by Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment, in association with Triple Threat Talent, on April 14, 2000.

<i>The Age of Innocence</i> (1993 film) 1993 film directed by Martin Scorsese

The Age of Innocence is a 1993 American historical romantic drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. The screenplay, an adaptation of the 1920 novel of the same name by Edith Wharton, was written by Scorsese and Jay Cocks. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder and Miriam Margolyes, and was released by Columbia Pictures. The film recounts the courtship and marriage of Newland Archer (Day-Lewis), a wealthy New York society attorney, to May Welland (Ryder); Archer then encounters and legally represents Countess Olenska (Pfeiffer) prior to unexpected romantic entanglements.

<i>Autumn in New York</i> (film) 2000 film by Joan Chen

Autumn in New York is a 2000 American romantic drama film directed by Joan Chen, written by Allison Burnett, and starring Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Vera Farmiga, and Sherry Stringfield. The film follows a successful middle-aged restaurateur and womanizer who falls in love with a terminally ill young woman. US distributor MGM took over the film from Chen and significantly re-edited the film, which also involved deleting a Ryder nude scene. The film received generally negative reviews and grossed $90 million worldwide against a $65 million budget.

<i>A Girl Named Disaster</i> 1996 novel by Nancy Farmer

A Girl Named Disaster is a 1996 novel by Nancy Farmer. The book explores the qualities needed to survive in a hostile environment, coming-of-age and the availability of spiritual guidance.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (1998 film) 1998 American film

Great Expectations is a 1998 American romantic drama film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, from a screenplay by Mitch Glazer and starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hank Azaria, Chris Cooper, Anne Bancroft, and Robert De Niro. A contemporary film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel of the same name, it is known for having moved the setting of the original novel from 1812-1827 London to 1990s New York, with the hero's name having been changed from "Pip" to "Finn," the character of "Miss Havisham" having been renamed "Nora Dinsmoor" and "Abel Magwitch" being renamed "Arthur Lustig." The film received mixed reviews.

<i>Orphan at My Door</i>

Orphan at My Door, written by Jean Little, is the second book in the Dear Canada, series of novels created by Scholastic Canada and written by various authors. The book is written in the format of a diary and features a fictional narrator, Victoria Cope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jocelyn Moorhouse</span> Australian film director

Jocelyn Denise Moorhouse is an Australian screenwriter and film director. She is best known for directing films Proof, How to Make an American Quilt, A Thousand Acres and The Dressmaker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Forbes</span> British-American actress (1883–1974)

Mary Forbes was a British-American film actress, based in the United States in her latter years, where she died. She appeared in more than 130 films from 1919 to 1958. Forbes was born in Hornsey, England.

<i>My Only Ü</i> 2008 Filipino film

My Only Ü is a 2008 Filipino black comedy romance film directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina and starring Vhong Navarro and Toni Gonzaga. Produced and distributed by Star Cinema, the film was released October 29, 2008.

<i>Thrill of a Romance</i> 1945 film by Richard Thorpe

Thrill of a Romance is an American Technicolor romance film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1945, starring Van Johnson, Esther Williams and Carleton G. Young, with musical performances by Tommy Dorsey & his Orchestra and opera singer Lauritz Melchior. The film was directed by Richard Thorpe and written by Richard Connell and Gladys Lehman.

How to Make an American Quilt (1991) is the debut novel of Whitney Otto. The novel tells the intersecting stories of several generations of women who together are part of the same quilting circle in the fictional town of Grasse, California. The novel was made into a movie of the same name in 1995 directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and starring Winona Ryder as Finn Dodd.

<i>The Turning</i> (2020 film) 2020 film by Floria Sigismondi

The Turning is a 2020 American gothic supernatural horror film directed by Floria Sigismondi and written by Carey W. Hayes and Chad Hayes. It is a modern adaptation of the 1898 ghost story The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. It stars Mackenzie Davis, Finn Wolfhard, Brooklynn Prince, and Joely Richardson, and follows a young governess in 1994 who is hired to watch over two children after their parents are killed.

Chawne Monique Kimber is an African-American mathematician and quilter, known for expressing her political activism in her quilts. She was a professor at Lafayette College, where she headed the department of mathematics. Kimber is now the Dean of the College at Washington and Lee University.

Loretta Pettway Bennett is an American artist. She is associated with the Freedom Quilting Bee, where her mother, Qunnie Pettway, worked, and with the Gee's Bend quiltmakers. Her quilts Sew Low and Vegetation are part of the Eskenazi Health Art Collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micaela Esdra</span> Italian actress and voice actress

Micaela Esdra is an Italian actress and voice actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winona Ryder filmography</span>

Winona Ryder is an American actress who is known for taking on challenging roles in her earlier films, after which she went on to play more prominent roles in the 1990s. After Ryder's film debut in Lucas (1986), she gained attention with her performance in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988). She further rose to prominence with major roles in Heathers (1988), Mermaids (1990), Edward Scissorhands (1990), “Night on Earth” (1991), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). She garnered critical acclaim and two consecutive Academy Award nominations for her portrayals of socialite May Welland in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993) and Jo March in the fifth film adaptation of Little Women (1994). Her other films during this period were Reality Bites (1994), How to Make an American Quilt (1995), The Crucible (1996), Alien Resurrection (1997), Celebrity (1999), and Girl, Interrupted (1999), which she also executive-produced.

References

  1. ↑ "How to Make an American Quilt - PowerGrid". thewrap.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ "How to Make an American Quilt". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved October 7, 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Berman, Janice (June 21, 1995). "Finding the Right Pieces : A Star-Studded Cast Joins to Tell the Story of 'American Quilt'" . Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on September 9, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Benenson, Laurie Halpern (October 15, 1995). "FILM;Of Women and by Women: Talking Love" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on September 9, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  5. 1 2 O'Steen, Kathleen (October 6, 1995). "The 'Quilt' Circle : How to make an American movie? Start by piecing together a network of O.C. seamstresses" . Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  6. ↑ "How to Make an American Quilt (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. Archived from the original on September 28, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  7. ↑ James, Caryn (October 6, 1995). "Film Review: Marriage, Betrayal and Turning Points". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 25, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  8. ↑ Ebert, Roger (October 6, 1995). "How To Make An American Quilt". Chicago Sun-Times . Sun-Times Media Group. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2017– via RogerEbert.com.
  9. ↑ Zibart, Eve (October 6, 1995). "'How to Make an American Quilt'". The Washington Post . Nash Holdings LLC. Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  10. ↑ Puig, Claudia (January 19, 1996). "Realism the Focus of Nominees for Annual SAG Picks" . Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  11. ↑ Collins, Scott (February 26, 1996). "Cage, Sarandon Capture Top Screen Actor Awards" . Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 6, 2022. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  12. ↑ "1996 Movie Awards Winners". MTV . Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
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.