Jefferson in Paris
Jefferson in Paris | |
---|---|
Directed by | James Ivory |
Written by | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala |
Produced by | Ismail Merchant Humbert Balsan Paul Bradley Donald Rosenfeld |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Pierre Lhomme |
Music by | Richard Robbins |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Gaumont (France)[1] Buena Vista Pictures Distribution (international) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 139 minutes |
Countries | France United States |
Languages | English French |
Budget | $14 million |
Box office | $5.9 million[2] |
Jefferson in Paris is a
The film was critically and commercially unsuccessful, grossing $5.9 million on a $14 million budget.
Plot
Set in the period 1784–1789, the film portrays Jefferson when he was US minister to France at
A lonely widower, Jefferson develops a close friendship with
Later, Jefferson becomes attracted to
When
Cast
At Jefferson's house, the Hôtel de Langeac
- Nick Nolte ..... Thomas Jefferson
- Patsy Jefferson
- Estelle Eonnet ..... Polly Jefferson
- Thandiwe Newton ..... Sally Hemings (credited as Thandie Newton)
- Seth Gilliam ..... James Hemings
- Todd Boyce .... William Short
- Nigel Whitmey .... John Trumbull
- Nicolas Silberg .... Monsieur Petit
- Catherine Samie .... Cook
- Lionel Robert .... Cook's Helper
At Lafayette's
- Greta Scacchi ..... Maria Cosway
- Simon Callow ..... Richard Cosway
- Marquis de Lafayette
- Adrienne de Lafayette
- William Moseley .... Georges Washington de Lafayette
- Jean-Pierre Aumont ..... d'Hancarville
- Anthony Valentine .... British Ambassador
At Versailles
- Michael Lonsdale ..... Louis XVI
- Charlotte de Turckheim ..... Marie-Antoinette
- Damien Groëlle ..... The Dauphin
- Louise Balsan ..... Madame Royale
- Valérie Toledano ..... Madame Elizabeth
- Vernon Dobtcheff ..... King's Translator
At the Panthémont Abbey
- Nancy Marchand ..... Madame Abbesse
- Jessica Lloyd..... Julia
At Doctor Mesmer's
- Mesmer
- Thibault de Montalembert .... Assistant
At the Opera
- William Christie .... Conductor
- Jean-Paul Fouchécourt .... Dardanus
- Ismail Merchant .... Tipoo Sultin's Ambassador
At the Palais Royal
- Vincent Cassel .... Camille Desmoulins
- Martine Chevallier .... Mademoiselle Contat
Pike County, Ohio
- James Earl Jones ..... Madison Hemings
- Mary Hemings
- Tim Choate .... Reporter
Production
The film was shot on location in Paris, at the
The film was budgeted at $14 million.[4]
Release
The film opened on two screens in New York and Los Angeles on March 31, 1995.[5]
Reception
Critical reception
As of February 2018, Jefferson in Paris holds a rating of 31% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 16 reviews.[6]
In her positive review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin called the film:
an extraordinary spectacle ... the rare contemporary film that's both an entertainment and an education, despite some glaring misimpressions that are sure to spark heated debate ... The biggest problem with [the film] is at the basic editing level, with such abrupt jumps between diverse scenes that the film's momentum remains choppy. Overshadowed by its own ambition and not-quite-ironic pageantry, Jefferson in Paris doesn't quite come to life ... Casting Nick Nolte as a Founding Father may sound like this film's riskiest choice, but in fact it makes solid sense. Beyond having the right physical stature for the imposing, sandy-haired Jefferson, Mr. Nolte captures the man's vigor and his stiff sense of propriety. He may not adapt effortlessly to the role of an intellectual giant, but his performance is thoroughly creditable ... The film makers fare less successfully with Maria Cosway ... Ms. Scacchi, the film's big casting problem, makes her so bloodless and prettily artificial that the romance never seems real. There's much more spice in Ms. Newton's captivating performance as Sally Hemings, even if she gives this teen-age slave girl the unexpected fiddle-dee-dee flirtatiousness of a Scarlett O'Hara.[7]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times observed in a less positive review of the film that:
The film is lavishly produced and visually splendid, like all the Merchant-Ivory productions. But what is it about? Revolution? History? Slavery? Romance? No doubt a lot of research and speculation went into Jhabvala's screenplay, but I wish she had finally decided to jump one way or the other. The movie tells no clear story and has no clear ideas.[8]
In a negative review appearing in Rolling Stone magazine, Peter Travers said:
After a literate and entertaining roll (
A Room With a View, Howards End, The Remains of the Day), the team of producer Ismail Merchant, director James Ivory and writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala drops the ball with this droopy, snail-paced prigs-in-wigs movie. It doesn't help that Nick Nolte is such a lox as Thomas Jefferson ... [He] seems to think that playing an introspective man means impersonating a wax dummy.[9]
Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "dull, sluggish and unfocused ... [it] tries telling three or four stories at once, can't decide which is most important and winds up stubbing its well-manicured toes" and added:
Coiffed in a strawberry blond ponytail that makes him look like
In Variety, Todd McCarthy said the film:
touches upon much significant history, incident and emotion but, ironically, lacks the intrigue and drama of great fiction ... as the opportunity for drama increases with the onset of Jefferson's affair with Sally and the buildup toward the Revolution, the narrative becomes more dispersed and murky. Things happen ... but they don't weave and dovetail in the surprising, intricate and telling ways they can in first-class fiction, some of Merchant Ivory's recent films included ... The strong points of director James Ivory's approach here are his attentiveness to wonderful detail ... The downside is that Ivory's reticence makes it additionally tough for an emotionally remote figure like Jefferson to come alive onscreen.[11]
Box office
The film grossed $61,349 in its opening weekend from just two screens. It went on to gross $2,473,668 in the US and Canada.[12] It grossed $3.4 million internationally for a worldwide total of $5.9 million.[2]
Historical basis
It was the first portrayal in film of Sally Hemings, and at the time most Jefferson scholars disputed the rumors, started in 1802 by a vengeful journalist named
See also
References
- UniFrance. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
- ^ a b Goodridge, Mike (September 13, 1996). "The Survivors". Screen International. pp. 19–22.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Jefferson in Paris". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
- ^ "Merchant Ivory Productions Budget vs US Gross 1986-96". Screen International. September 13, 1996. p. 19.
- ^ Klady, Leonard (April 10, 1995). "'Boy' tops; 'Girl' tanks; 'Wild' not". Variety. p. 12.
- ^ "Jefferson in Paris". Rotten Tomatoes. 31 March 1995.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (31 March 1995). "FILM REVIEW; Jefferson's Entanglements, In History And in Love". The New York Times.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Jefferson In Paris Movie Review (1995) - Roger Ebert". rogerebert.suntimes.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- ^ "Movie Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 6, 2007.
- ^ "'Jefferson' Gets Lost in Paris / Merchant-Ivory keep audience after class in history lecture". 7 April 1995.
- ^ "Variety review".
- ^ "Jefferson in Paris (1995) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
- ^ Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: The Search for Truth
- ^ Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: The Search for Truth
- ^ "Report of the Research Committee on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings | Thomas Jefferson's Monticello". www.monticello.org. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
- ^ Dr. Eugene A Foster, et al, "The Thomas Jefferson Paternity Case", Nature, January 7, 1999.
- ^ "Jefferson-Hemings Controversy". Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society. Retrieved 2021-07-21.