A Thousand Acres Review
by Steve Rhodes (RHODES_STEVE AT tandem DOT com)September 29th, 1997
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A THOUSAND ACRES
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
A book with all the right ingredients does not a script make. Nor
will the casting of great acting talent a movie make. It takes more
than the right raw materials to fashion a compelling film narrative.
Certainly, in the film A THOUSAND ACRES director Jocelyn Moorhouse
started off with many blessings. For a retelling of the King Lear
story she has Jason Robards as the father, Larry Cook, and as his
daughters, Michelle Pfeiffer as Rose, Jessica Lange as Ginny, and
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Caroline.
The unfocused script by Laura Jones is based on the best selling
novel of the same name by Jane Smiley. It has treachery, sexual abuse,
sexual infidelity, dysfunctional families, repressed memories, sibling
rivalry, storms, hatred, jealousy, you name it. What it lacks is more
than sketchy motivation for the characters' actions.
In the story, the father wants to give away his rich farm to his
three daughters. When Caroline raises a doubt about whether it is a
good idea, her father immediately casts her out of the family and gives
the farm to the other two women. Once the father becomes unemployed,
he becomes increasingly drunk, bored, and sullen.
The performances by Pfeiffer and Lange are excellent even if the
script dulls your interest in the characters they play. They both bob
and weave as they talk like little girls who've never quite grown up.
Robards gives a sometimes chilling performance as the stern father with
a laser-like glare, whose alcoholism rapidly transforms into madness.
Only the usually reliable Jennifer Jason Leigh gives a disappointing
performance. She makes a strategic error in her portrayal of lawyer
Caroline, the youngest of the brood. She underplays the part when her
usual fieriness is called for.
"We're not going to be sad," advises Rose to Ginny. "We're going
to be angry till we die." Therein lies the problem with the film's
presentation. The characters mope around, whining about their woes,
but rarely work up anything approaching anger. The story drifts along
on a dreamy cloud. And when the two married women, Rose and Ginny, end
up having affairs with the same man, neither seems particularly shocked
or concerned.
Even the show's most dramatic scene, in which the sisters discusstheir sexual abuse as children, is strangely ineffectual. Perhaps because of the story's plodding pace and large plot holes, this
potentially powerful scene leaves one dispassionate when it should have
been emotionally draining.
The studio wasted money by hiring high quality actors, Keith
Carradine, Kevin Anderson, and Colin Firth, to play the parts of the
husbands and the lover. Each character remains little more than an
outline so that, when the wives have affairs, the audience does not
become emotionally involved.
The ending has one character making a totally unbelievable
decision and another giving us a tear-jerker. Both left me unmoved.
A THOUSAND ACRES runs 1:45. It is rated R for nudity, profanity,
and mature themes. It would be fine for mature teenagers. Although
the acting by Pfeiffer and Lange is uniformly fine, the rest of the
movie isn't so I give it thumbs down and **.
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**** = A must see film.
*** = Excellent show. Look for it.
** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable.
* = Poor show. Don't waste your money.
0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: September 27, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
