I wasn’t sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a pretty good cast, I thought I should check it out. Not only there was a really interesting cast (Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Colin Firth), but it was also an adaptation of a Pulitzer prize winning novel which was also a loose adaptation of ‘King Lear’ written by good old William Shakespeare. So, it... read more
Description:"King Lear" set on a farm in Iowa.
Director Jocelyn Moorhouse's screen adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, finds skeins of KING LEAR-like conflict running through the bedrock of a midwestern family.
Jason Robards stars as Larry Cook, a powerful, stoic Iowa farmer who decides to retire and split h"King Lear" set on a farm in Iowa.
Director Jocelyn Moorhouse's screen adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, finds skeins of KING LEAR-like conflict running through the bedrock of a midwestern family.
Jason Robards stars as Larry Cook, a powerful, stoic Iowa farmer who decides to retire and split his 1,000 acres of land among his three daughters. His two eldest daughters, Rose (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Ginny (Jessica Lange), live and work on the farm and happily accept the lucrative agreement, while the youngest, Larry's favorite, Caroline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), has abandoned farming life for a law career in Des Moines and refuses to take part in the deal.
Initially, Larry is consumed with rage and shuts out Caroline while Rose and Ginny go about running the farm with their dutiful but greedy husbands. However, as Larry begins to lose touch with his farming life, he loses touch with reality, and his painful descent into madness leaves him bitterly opposed to his daughters' ways of running the farm.
Paranoid and disillusioned, he decides to sue Rose and Ginny with Caroline's help in an effort to regain his patriarchal control. The lawsuit divides the family forever, leaving Rose and Ginny to suffer alone while realizing painful memories from their childhood.
As Rose and Ginny discover their own individual strengths in the face of adversity, they learn how to survive on their own, without the protection of the farm and the suffocating presence of their father. ... (more)(less)
Release date : 19 September 1997 UPC: 717951000330
“I wasn’t sure what to expect from this movie but since there was a pretty good cast, I thought I should check it out. Not only there was a really interesting cast (Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Colin Firth), but it was also an adaptation of a Pulitzer prize winning novel which was also a loose adaptation of ‘King Lear’ written by good old William Shakespeare. So, it all sounded pretty impressive on paper but, unfortunately, the whole thing ended up being a rather half-baked melodrama. I don’t think the actors should be blamed though. Indeed, they all did a decent job, it was pretty neat to see Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange together and Lange was even nominated for a Golden Globe award. I’m not sure which one what was worse, the directing or the wri” read more
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