The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jack Clayton |
Screenplay by | Peter Nelson |
Based on | Judith Hearne by Brian Moore |
Produced by | Richard Johnson Peter Nelson |
Starring | Maggie Smith Bob Hoskins Wendy Hiller |
Cinematography | Peter Hannan |
Edited by | Terry Rawlings |
Music by | Georges Delerue |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Island Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | £112,190 (UK)[1] |
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is a 1987 British drama film made by HandMade Films Ltd. and United British Artists (UBA) starring Maggie Smith and Bob Hoskins. It was directed by Jack Clayton (his final theatrical film) and produced by Richard Johnson[2] and Peter Nelson, with George Harrison and Denis O'Brien as executive producers. The music score was by Georges Delerue and the cinematography by Peter Hannan.
The screenplay was by Peter Nelson from the novel Judith Hearne by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore. The story presents "a character study film about a woman's rage against the Church for her wasted life".[3] Moore wrote the novel after leaving Ireland, in part because of the religious conflict there, and was living in Canada. The book was published in 1955 and was optioned for the stage and screen almost immediately. John Huston optioned it for a film with Katharine Hepburn. Director Irvin Kershner planned on casting Deborah Kerr. Eventually, Jack Clayton, a Catholic himself, was chosen to direct.
The cast also features Wendy Hiller, Marie Kean, Ian McNeice, Alan Devlin, Prunella Scales, Sheila Reid, and Aidan Gillen in his first film appearance. The novel is set in Belfast, but for the film the story was relocated to Dublin.
BBC Radio 4 produced a radio drama adaptation directed by Michael Quinn in 1995.
Plot
Judith Hearne is a lonely,
Cast
- Maggie Smith as Judith Hearne
- Bob Hoskins as James Madden
- Wendy Hiller as Aunt D'Arcy
- Marie Kean as Mrs. Rice
- Ian McNeice as Bernard Rice
- Prunella Scales as Moira O'Neill
- Peter Gilmore as Kevin O'Neill
- Aine Ni Mhuiri as Edie Marinan
- Kate Binchy as Sister Ignatius
- Rudi Davies as Mary
Reception
Pauline Kael wrote: "Clayton is a felicitous choice to direct a character study film about a woman's rage against the Church for her wasted life. His first feature was Room at the Top with Simone Signoret and he made The Innocents with Deborah Kerr and The Pumpkin Eater with Anne Bancroft – he knows how to show women's temperatures and their mind-body inter-actions. Maggie Smith becomes the essence of spinster – she makes you feel the ghastliness of knowing you're a figure of fun."[3] Janet Maslin, writing in The New York Times, called the film "ponderous" and "literal" and thought the novel far superior to the film's "awkward" screenplay. She praised much of the acting, but thought Bob Hoskins was "paralyzed by the crude Americanism of his character".[4]
Awards
Maggie Smith won the
References
- ^ "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 25.
- ^ Coveney, Michael (7 June 2015). "Richard Johnson obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ^ a b Kael, Pauline. Hooked p.410 – 411
- New York Times. Retrieved 10 November 2015.