The Fever (2004 film)

Last updated
The Fever
The Fever, 2004 DVD cover.jpg
DVD cover for The Fever
Directed by Carlo Gabriel Nero
Written by Wallace Shawn
Carlo Gabriel Nero
Produced by Jason Blum
Starring Vanessa Redgrave
Michael Moore
CinematographyMark Moriarty
Edited byMel Quigley
Music by Claudio Capponi
Production
company
Distributed by HBO Films
Release dates
Running time
83 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish

The Fever is a 2004 psychological drama film produced by HBO Films, directed by Carlo Gabriel Nero and based on the 1990 play of the same name by Nero and actor Wallace Shawn. [1]

Contents

The film stars the director's mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and includes cameos by Angelina Jolie, the director's half-sister Joely Richardson and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.

Background

The original play was a piece of experimental theater performed as a monologue by the play's author, Wallace Shawn. Unlike conventional plays, Shawn initially performed The Fever not in a theater, but in private homes by appointment. Later, he performed the piece in a theater, but in keeping with the desire to be unconventional in presentation, Shawn eschewed theatrical lighting, sets, and theater programs, and mingled with the audience immediately before the play began. In an interview with The Paris Review, Shawn explained that he used these novel approaches to avoid people dismissing the play's message as merely "great theater." [2]

Plot

The film follows the existential crisis of an unnamed urban sophisticate (Vanessa Redgrave) who becomes aware of the nature of world politics, economic exploitation and the vapid consumerism around her. A series of events lead her to visit an unnamed third world country, representing an exotic location somewhere in Eastern Europe, where the entire economy and populace are geared towards the tourist industry. Even as she enjoys the rare taste of its products she is made starkly aware of the reality behind the façade by a journalist (Michael Moore) who, subsequently, suggests a visit to the country's war-torn neighbour in order to experience a true picture of life in the region. She does so and her life is changed forever.

Once back, and now acutely attuned to the world about her, she can no longer fit back into her old elitist and consumer-driven lifestyle; watching operas, discussing art and theatre with friends, shopping for "beautiful things" and aggrandizing her trifling everyday struggles, all seem meaningless to her compared with her recent macro epiphany. Compared with the global struggle for existence, her life begins to feel insignificant. Having lived in the bubble her guilt-free, pleasure-filled life, she is now challenged to look beyond comfort and soon finds herself in the throes of a moral dilemma, questioning the moral consistency of her own life and the choices that have affected the lives of the poor in far corners of the globe. She feels that she cannot be truly free having apprehended this new reality, which confronts her blindness to the harsh truths of the class struggle and her sense of entitlement, which had, in the past, been broken, only occasionally, by displays of sympathy.

She returns to the war-torn nation to explore her feelings further, this new reality now drawing her ever-deeper. This leads to a delirious bout of fever in a run-down hotel where her inner-self challenges her need for comfort and entitlement, culminating in a moment of spiritual awakening and a perceived 'oneness' with all reality. Finally she sees the truth about her own life and her innate connection with every human being, apprehending the transient nature of her material life. She can no longer sit, immersed in her personal comforts and vanity, or "clean sheets" as she terms it, and pretend it’s all right when the world around her is filled with strife and exploitation for millions of people. She is lustrated of her previous immunity towards their predicament and is, by extension, finally able to see the truth of own life, as summarised by film's tag-line: Enlightenment Can Be Brutal. [3] [4]

Cast

Production

Parts of the film was shot in Snowdonia and Penmon, Anglesey in North Wales to represent locations in Eastern Europe [5]

Awards

Reception

A review in The New York Times describes Shawn's play as a "controversial study of the growing chasm between the first and third world."
The same newspaper describes the film adaptation as "a drama that employs animation and thought-provoking first-person monologues to explore the concept of bourgeois privilege." [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallace Shawn</span> American actor

Wallace Michael Shawn is an American actor, playwright, essayist, and screenwriter. He is known for playing Vizzini in The Princess Bride (1987), Mr. Hall in Clueless (1995), and Rex in the Toy Story franchise (1995–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Redgrave</span> British actress (born 1937)

Dame Vanessa Redgrave is an English actress. Throughout her career spanning over six decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards, making her one of the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. She has also received various honorary awards, including the BAFTA Fellowship Award, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and an induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynn Redgrave</span> British-American actress (1943–2010)

Lynn Rachel Redgrave was a British-American actress. She won two Golden Globe Awards during her career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco Nero</span> Italian actor (born 1941)

Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero, known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film Django (1966), which made him a pop culture icon and launched an international career that includes over 200 leading and supporting roles in a wide variety of films and television productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Kempson</span> British actress

Rachel, Lady Redgrave, known primarily by her birth name Rachel Kempson, was an English actress. She married Sir Michael Redgrave, and was the matriarch of the famous acting dynasty.

<i>Prick Up Your Ears</i> 1987 British film

Prick Up Your Ears is a 1987 British film, directed by Stephen Frears, about the playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the 1978 biography by John Lahr. The film stars Gary Oldman as Orton, Alfred Molina as Halliwell, Wallace Shawn as Lahr, and Vanessa Redgrave as Peggy Ramsay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Richardson</span> English actress (1963–2009)

Natasha Jane Richardson was an English actress. A member of the Redgrave family, Richardson was the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson.

<i>Taking Lives</i> (film) 2004 American film

Taking Lives is a 2004 American psychological thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and starring Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke, with supporting roles by Kiefer Sutherland, Olivier Martinez, Tchéky Karyo, Jean-Hugues Anglade, and Gena Rowlands. Loosely adapted from the novel of the same name by Michael Pye, the film centers on an enigmatic serial killer who takes on the identities of his victims.

The Designated Mourner is a play written by Wallace Shawn in 1996, which was adapted into a film and was directed by David Hare in 1997.

<i>Girl, Interrupted</i> (film) 1999 film by James Mangold

Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 American psychological drama film written and directed by James Mangold, from a screenplay by Mangold, Lisa Loomer, and Anna Hamilton Phelan, and based on the 1993 memoir of the same name by Susanna Kaysen. Starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall, Brittany Murphy, Elisabeth Moss, Jared Leto, Angela Bettis, Jeffrey Tambor, Vanessa Redgrave, and Whoopi Goldberg, the film follows a young woman who spends 18 months institutionalized at a psychiatric hospital following a suicide attempt.

Unscripted is an American comedy-drama series that aired on HBO in early 2005. The series was largely improvised by its performers. It was executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, and Grant Heslov.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelina Jolie</span> American actress (born 1975)

Angelina Jolie is an American actress, filmmaker and humanitarian. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, she has been named Hollywood's highest-paid actress multiple times.

<i>The Bostonians</i> (film) 1984 film based on the novel by Henry James

The Bostonians is a 1984 romantic drama period film directed by James Ivory. The screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is based on the 1886 American novel The Bostonians by Henry James. The film stars Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Reeve, Madeleine Potter, and Jessica Tandy.

<i>Young Catherine</i> 1991 UK miniseries

Young Catherine is a 1991 British TV miniseries based on the early life of Catherine II of Russia. Directed by Michael Anderson, it stars Julia Ormond as Catherine and Vanessa Redgrave as Empress Elizabeth.

<i>Letters to Juliet</i> 2010 American romantic drama film directed by Gary Winick

Letters to Juliet is a 2010 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Gael García Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero. This was the final film of director Gary Winick before his death on February 27, 2011. The film was released theatrically in North America and other countries on May 14, 2010. The idea for the film was inspired by the 2006 non-fiction book Letters to Juliet, by Lise Eve Friedman and Ceil Jann Friedman, which chronicles the phenomenon of letter-writing to Shakespeare's most famous romantic character.

Red, White and Zero is a 1967 British anthology film made by Woodfall Film Productions. It consists of three segments, directed by Peter Brook, Lindsay Anderson and Tony Richardson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelina Jolie filmography</span>

American actress Angelina Jolie made her screen debut in the comedy film Lookin' to Get Out (1982), acting alongside her father Jon Voight. Eleven years later, she appeared in her next feature, the low-budget film Cyborg 2 (1993), a commercial failure. She then starred as a teenage hacker in the science fiction thriller Hackers (1995), which went on to be a cult film despite performing poorly at the box-office. Jolie's career prospects improved with a supporting role in the made-for-television film George Wallace (1997), for which she received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Television Film. She made her breakthrough the following year in HBO's television film Gia (1998). For her performance in the title role of fashion model Gia Carangi, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar speech</span> Monologue spoken by an Academy Award winner

An Oscar speech is a public monologue given by a person who has just been awarded an Academy Award, an annual accolade given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor cinematic achievements in the film industry. Though speeches are common for award ceremonies, it is a particularly significant feature of the Academy Awards due to their worldwide audience and history of featuring prominent celebrities.

<i>By the Sea</i> (2015 film) 2015 American film

By the Sea is a 2015 American romantic drama film written and directed by Angelina Jolie, and produced by and starring Jolie and Brad Pitt. Shot in August 2014 during Pitt and Jolie's honeymoon in Gozo, Malta, the film was released by Universal Pictures on November 13, 2015.

<i>Those Who Wish Me Dead</i> 2021 film by Taylor Sheridan

Those Who Wish Me Dead is a 2021 American action thriller film directed by Taylor Sheridan with a screenplay by Michael Koryta, Charles Leavitt, and Sheridan, based on Koryta's novel of the same name. The film follows a boy who witnesses the murder of his father and goes on the run with a smokejumper in the Montana wilderness to escape a pair of assassins hired to kill him. Jon Bernthal, Medina Senghore, and Jake Weber also appear.

References

  1. The Fever (1990) Wallace Shawn references.
  2. Interviewed by Hilton Als (Apr 22, 2012). "Wallace Shawn, The Art of Theater No. 17" . Retrieved Apr 22, 2020 via www.theparisreview.org.
  3. 1 2 The Fever - Review Summary The New York Times .
  4. The Fever Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine Turner classic.
  5. "North Wales". Archived from the original on March 26, 2009. Retrieved Apr 22, 2020.
  6. Awards Internet Movie Database .