Customer Reviews

A Thousand Acres

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I wish this hadn't bombed at the box office because this was an excellent film adaptation of one of my favorite contemporary novels by Jane Smiley. I guess the themes are a little tough--incest, madness, marital infidelity, ugly family secrets, cancer and the corrupting power of sex and money aren't exactly pick-me-ups. But the actors are superb--Jessica Lange really captures the essence of her trapped-in-girlhood character as does Michelle Pfeiffer as her feisty younger sister who masks her pain behind anger. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Keith Carradine, Jason Robards and my favorite, Colin Firth (complete with Midwestern accent--check out how he tries to say "farm" like an Iowan!) complete this stellar cast and everyone is terrific.

The story is a slightly different take on the story of King Lear, with Robards as an aging farmer who decides to leave his one-thousand acre farm to his three daughters, sparking life-changing conflict for them all. The story is quietly told, with two of the sisters finally acknowleding the abuse of their childhoods and searching for new hope as adults. Mixed into the tale is a subplot of adultery and betrayal.

I looked for this film for years after reading the book and am glad to have finally experienced it. If you like the stuff of real-life drama, this is a compelling story that will hold your attention and make you think.

This is one of movies where the memorable performances of the leads particularly Pfeiffer and Lange was probably now forgotten because of the failure of the movie, at least in the box office and reception by the critics. The movie has some flaws at least from my point of view, like the lack of coherence of the whole movie, some felt rushed and underdeveloped, lacked of style in storytelling, and weakness in the script. But I personally think this movie is still worth seeing, it has a certain quality that made it compelling and very relatable.

Michelle Pfeiffer gave a tour de force performance she interpreted Rose with such anger you almost feel why she's angry. She gave so much depth to her interpretation, the way her eyes well up and the intensity of her face in the confrontation scenes. It was heartbreaking and very touching. ("I did not forgive the unforgivable, that's my sole solitary and only accomplishment") Jessica Lange gave the subtler and more vulnerable attack to the character. She's a little laid back and understated and the result is really moving performance. I think Pfeiffer gave the better performance only because she got to play the more intense, showy, and ultimately tragic character.

The late Jason Robards was very good. He created a character that's both disgusting and also compelling. In the scene where he appeared to start exhibiting signs of senility and he just lost in the case regarding the farm, You can just feel what Pfeiffer was feeling when she said to her dad while going out in the court "Daddy, you lost" and she said it with such desperation and anger. That's probably one of the worst feelings, not being able to make the person who've done you wrong know what he did.

For fans of Pfeiffer and Lange, I recommend this movie. They gave one of the best performances of their careers. For those who are not, but you're a fan of good performances I also recommend this film.

Grade: B+ (the performances I give A)

Based on the novel of the same name, this is the story of a farmer who signs over his farm to his adult daughters and the tragic results that follow.

It's not the type of movie I usually like. It's slow and talky with soap opera elements. However, perhaps it was because I saw this on video and the intimacy of the small screen was my own private viewing room, that I really got into it.

It was the excellent characterizations superbly acted by Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfieffer and Jason Robards that did it for me. The plot unfolded slowly and every scene revealed yet more about these characters. And even though it was set on a farm in Iowa with a very different life style than mine, I was able to get into their heads. I fell asleep thinking of the characters, not the actors who portrayed them, and was still haunted by them the next morning.

The movie is sad. There's sickness, betrayal, anger, weakness and unhappy resolution. True drama in every sense of the word. It works

The film is worth buying for Jessica Langes performance alone. Michelle Pheiffer and Jason Robards were also exceptional. The very talented Jennifer Jason Leigh does not get an opportunity to shine as she fills a small, poorly developed role. The Golden Globes got it right with a Best Actress nomination for Lange for this role, but what happened at Oscar time. Lange was overlooked for what was surely one of the very best performances of the year.

Buy this film and witness great acting!

of either acceptance or rejection of the proposition that Shakespeare's comment upon the human condition can be contemporised.

For myself, I think Jane Smiley admirably succeeds in portraying the deep familial hatred that sometimes occurs for no revealed (rhyme or rational) reason.

BEWARE SPOILERS!
One of the Message Boards threads at IMDb had two women talking about Colin Firth, how they watched the movie only because of him. Obviously these were two young women; but what struck me is how little this movie has been appreciated by audiences generally. The brilliant, and I mean brilliant, performances by Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange were hardly noticed, not only by audiences, but by the Academy and by most of the critics.

I think I know why. First, the plot--or actually just the setup--is a kind of bastardization of Shakespeare's King Lear with the dying, crazy patriarch and the three scheming daughters who will inherit. Their names even begin with the same letters, Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia--Rose, Ginny, and Caroline. And I guess "Larry" (Jason Robards) works for "Lear." The apparent idea envisioned by Jane Smiley in her Pulitzer Prize winning novel was to tell a Lear-like story from the point of view of the daughters, and to tell it in a sort of late twentieth century realistic way not considered by the Bard. The problem is, in Smiley and Moorhouse's story, the two older daughters are very human with strengths and weaknesses while the father is a most despicable character without much in the way of redeeming qualities. His only strength is his ability to make a financial success of the farm; however, we can even discount that since his father and grandfather before him built the farm and he inherited it.

The second problem--and this is one I cannot personally attest to, not having read Smiley's novel--is that the movie is only a limited and partial interpretation of that novel. Still, it is almost always the case that an excellent novel, especially a long and ambitious one with many psychological nuances, cannot be faithfully transferred to the screen. The vision and audio demands of film drown out the subtleties of a narration while the time constraints don't allow for the full development of character and motivation achieved by the novelist. Given five or six hours, perhaps Moorhouse could have made a movie more in keeping with Smiley's novel.

A third problem is one that is perhaps Moorhouse's alone. She began her directing career with the very well done Aussie film Proof (1991) starring Russell Crowe. She follow it up with How to Make an American Quilt (1995) which celebrated women, especially women of a certain age. However it was a bit heavy-handed and clearly and determinedly a chick flick. In a sense A Thousand Acres takes off from there, showing us not only the point of view of women, but does so in a way that may seem politically motivated to some. Larry Cook is clearly a bad, bad daddy. He beat his daughters and he had carnal knowledge of them. He ran the household with an iron fist. Jess (Colin Firth's character) seduces the inexperienced Ginny and breaks her heart for nothing more than a bit of fun it would appear. And then he goes to Rose, who clearly is going to be the power behind the new ownership, and hooks up with her, while incidentally inducing her husband to end his life in a drunken accident. The rest of the men are one-dimensional characters without nuance, the way they often appear in romance novels. I think most audiences were put off by the heavy-handed incest, adultery and sexual betrayal that was woven into the story.

Having said all this, I think the critics and the public are wrong. I think the direction was biased against men, but in this story it needed to be. I think Moorhouse did a fine job of making an emotional and engaging film about family dynamics that were none too pretty. And the acting by Pfeiffer and Lange was nothing short of sensational. They seemed to feed off of one another in a way that I found absolutely authentic and deeply moving. In particular Pfeiffer was riveting as she projected her bent-up anger and hatred. The way Moorhouse allowed her character to be revealed to us gradually is a tribute to her ability as a director as well as to Pfeiffer's outstanding performance. And the skill with which Moorhouse guided the change in Ginny's character as she went from a "ninny," as she called herself, to someone with self-awareness and some understandable bitterness, was also excellent. The fact that she left her husband was as much out of shame as anything else. He needed to go get her and forgive her and bring her back. And Robards in his intensity and madness was also very good.

I predict that this film, which bombed in theaters, will be better appreciated in the years to come as people see it on DVD. My question is, whatever happened to Moorhouse? Her talent is obvious, but she has yet to director her fourth feature film. When she does I hope she remembers to go with what she believes but to be fair as well. I think, actually she was fair to the two lead character in this film, but didn't pay enough attention to the others. In addition to the unnuanced father, Jennifer Jason Leigh's Caroline was unfinished, leaving us to wonder about why she did some of the things she did. And the husbands needed to be something more than mannequins. They needed to be engaged and involved.

The dramatization of Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres" is dissapointing in that not only does it come from an excellent novel, but also because of the dream cast involved.
The story is loosly based on Shakespeare's "King Lear," in only that the father in the modern version is an evil villain, while the two daughters are alleged martyrs. The issues involved in the film are important and though-provoking--incest, sexual abuse, breast cancer, Alzheimer's disease, dysfunctional families--too bad the writers handled these noteworthy subjects so messily. The calamities piled upon the characters happen in an episodic way, that makes the film feel like a miniseries without commercial breaks. With each new mini-drama, you feel as if you should watch this movie in installments. The script is also full of cliched dialogue, and characters without motivation.
Despite all these flaws, the film is still worth watching if just for the cast. Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Jason Robards prove themselves brilliant performers in this film--each actor gives more than the shallow script deserves.
Lange plays Ginny Cook, the shy and docile oldest daughter, who accepts her lot in life without complaint, and manages to live a relatively happy life. Her character is the most appealing, and Lange gives nuances and shadings to the character that weren't written in. Ginny described herself in the film as a "ninny" and she is written as so--Lange gives her so much more, and it is amazing to watch her create a true three-dimensional character.
Jason Robards is Larry Cook, a dragon of a father. He like Lange is given an essentially cardboard character, and his performance gives Larry a sense of pity and pathos, that the script did not allow. The writer wanted him to be simply evil, and Robards chose, wisely, to instead, elevate Larry out from the cartoonishly evil lines he was given, and make him a complex human being.
Michelle Pfeiffer gives the most provoking performance of the three main stars, because hers seems to be an mixture of Robards and Lange's. Her role is also quite underwritten, but she manages to breath life (not just fire) into her character, the angry and resentful, Rose. The part is written as dour and bitter--completely unlikable, and even as the story moves on (slowly) and you realize the sacrifices Rose has made, she is still written in a completely shrewish way. Pfeiffer gives her vulnerability sorely needed, and manages to steal the film (not an easy thing to do, considering her costars).
Jennifer Jason Leigh has a smaller role as Caroline, the youngest daughter. Her role is underwritten on the lines of Robards' and Pfeiffer's characters, yet unlike the two, she fails to bring any depth to the essentially pouty and boring person she is portraying.
All in all, a good movie to watch to witness the beautiful chemistry between two of America's finest actresses.

Once again, I have found it wise to revisit certain films to see if I have changed towards the picture.Well,I saw A THOUSAND ACRES in 1998 in the theatre and left feeling ehh...dry,not impressed.Now,nearly ten years later,I was riveted to the screen for the story and the outstanding performances.Why the change? I now have experienced a lot that happened in this film and only time has revealed to me that what happened in this film happened in my life.

Harold Cook (a surly Jason Robards) is the richest and most powerful man with his 1000 acres that has been in his family for three generations.He has been widowed and his three daughters have been there for him,tending to his needs and putting up with his drunkenness,abuse and control.He decides to will the 1000 acres to the three daughters and two of their spouses,setting up a corporation.Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer are the two eldest daughters married,and Jennifer Jason-Leigh, the youngest,a lawyer,is not certain that she wants to do this deal.When she expresses doubt,her father cuts her from the deal and decides to divide the farm in half.This sets up a division in the family, and as Cook starts to lose his mind, the girls start remembering long suppressed memories that start to leak out.Daddy sexually abused them and this is the whole crux of this very tense and sad story of family secrets.Lange and Pfeiffer are so equally compelling in their roles as the two eldest sisters.Pfeiffer is the driving force in blowing up the whole charade.Lange, the ever dutiful daughter is the one who has to come to the realization that her father was a monster and embrace the anger and betrayal.Leigh, the youngest daughter sides with the mentally decaying father,not having either experienced the abuse or simply not remembering, and the family is destroyed permanently.The revelations of the characters and the great performances of Lange and Pfeiffer show what magnificent actresses they are.
Director Jocelyn Moorhouse has done three other films that have greatly impressed me;PROOF (with Russel Crowe 1991 Australia),HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT,and MURIEL'S WEDDING (also Australia).Ths fact that Laura Jones wrote the screenplay concerned me.Having seen her other book adaptations,OSCAR AND LUCINDA,ANGELA'S ASHES,PORTRAIT OF A LADY and AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE,I was not hopeful as I had not cared for any of these adaptations,BUT,with Moorhouse directing Jones' screenplay this time, the film had a fluidity and great character development,which I had found wonting in the other films.
Inheritances,family secrets and a tyrannical parent are a bitch.I know it!If this is your story,you will readily embrace A THOUSAND ACRES and till the land.If not, you will probably bypass this film until this happens to you.The fact that Jane Smiley's novel A THOUSAND ACRES is an update of William Shakespeare's KING LEAR adds much weight as a great piece of source material that seems to be timeless. It is this particular retelling, though, that resonated in my soul.The DVD print is flawless and letterboxed widescreen with no extras.

Lange and Pfeiffer were well-intentioned to produce this adaptation, and their performances are fine, but it nowhere near captures the brilliant story of the book by Jane Smiley. It is reduced to melodrama, with the complexities of the characters lost for the sake of moving the film along. These complexities could well have been captured with the right direction or screenplay. Instead, it ends up with all the force and presence of a movie-of-the-week. Read Smiley's book for the real impact.

I initally saw this film in the theater. It deeply moved me since it realistically paralleled an event that had recently occurred in my own family. A couple years later, I watched it again on video to see if my reaction had been more personal than an actual response to the art of the film. No doubt, the acting, story and scenery evoke feelings that persist to this day.
Without the realistic and nuanced performance of Lange, the movie would be considerably less effective. As she recently did in Normal and in other respectable interpretations as in Frances and Music Box, Lange nails the intricate emotions and mannerisms that allow the viewer to get into her skin and empathize with her character's reality. Her character deals with loyalty, innocence, devotion, and betrayal, all of which Lange portrays in rich colors.
Pfeifer and Leigh are also commendable in their interpretations, and with the other talented actors a quilt of familiar comfort is weaved. Yet, as the film progresses, we see that the wear and tear of life experiences can unravel and fray that which was once beautiful, or at least had the potential to be.
A Thousand Acres is subtle but unforgettable. I'm purchasing it to view at my leisure and to share with others.