Julie Christie Observed
April 5th, 2007 by Andre Soares
Recommended reading:
Via The [London] Guardian - Tim Adams’ "The divine Miss Julie" in The [London] Observer:
"The great frustration of Julie Christie’s life is that her face has often got in the way of things she knows to be more important. Today is no exception. She is in Belfast, where her new film [Away from Her] is being shown at the city’s film festival, and typically embarrassed that a picture of her has pushed Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley’s historic meeting off the front pages of the morning paper. No Oscar-winning film star has ever been more sceptical about limelight. Warren Beatty, who met her in 1965, and with whom she formed Hollywood’s most glamorous couple for seven on and off years described her as ‘the most beautiful and at the same time the most nervous person I had ever known’. Four decades later, indelible traces of both attributes persist.
"It is the combination of those qualities, and her effort to overcome each of them, that also make Christie the most mesmerising of screen presences. Her new film, Away from Her, beautifully directed by her 27-year-old friend, the actress Sarah Polley, tells the story of a woman observing her life disappear, as Alzheimer’s removes her past. It seems a perfect vehicle, among other things, for Christie’s ambivalence toward her own magnetism. She has always wanted to be there and not there."
Based on Alice Munro’s short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain," Away from Her tells the story of a man whose Alzheimer’s disease-stricken wife has transferred her affections to a wheel chair-bound patient at her nursing home.
The Canadian-made drama will open in the United Kingdom on April 27. It’ll open at select U.S. theaters on May 4. Written and directed by Sarah Polley, the film co-stars Michael Murphy, Gordon Pinsent, and Olympia Dukakis.
At the end of Adams’ article, film reviewer Philip French picks his 5 favorite Julie Christie films. They are:
Billy Liar (John Schlesinger, 1963)
The Go-Between (Joseph Losey, 1970)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg, 1973)
Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh, 1996)
Most critics don’t seem to care for Darling — also directed by John Schlesinger; I remember finding it one of the best movies of the 1960s. (See AltFG’s best of the best of 1965.)
Most critics do care for McCabe & Mrs. Miller; I find it dreary.
The atmospheric Don’t Look Now and the period drama The Go-Between, however, are a must. And Julie Christie is one of the best things about Billy Liar.
I haven’t seen Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet, yet.
Julie Christie, by the way, will turn 66 next April 14.
Great To Be Nominated: Doctor Zhivago
THE RAILROAD ALL STARS (2006) by Chema Rodríguez: Film Review
HOT HOUSE (2006) by Shimon Dotan: Film Review
JULIA "Great to Be Nominated" Screening
THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU (2004) by Wes Anderson: DVD Review
Leave a Reply
Note: All comments are moderated. Different views and opinions are welcome, but abusive/bigoted/flaming comments will NOT be approved. Also, please be aware that the Alternative Film Guide has NO contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog or any information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.
