Details
Movie Description
Oprah Winfrey collaborated with director Jonathan Demme (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) for this African American ghost story, set in 1870s Ohio. Demme adapted it from Toni Morrison's Pulitzer-winning book. Former slave Sethe (Winfrey) lives with her daughter Denver (Kimberly Elise) in a house haunted by the malignant spirit of Sethe's long-dead infant. Sethe is also haunted by memories of her life of slavery at Sweet Home, the Kentucky plantation where she was raised. Enter Paul D. (Danny Glover), a fellow slave from Sweet Home, who stays at the house to start a new life with Sethe and Denver. Unfortunately their plans for happiness are foiled with the unexpected arrival of Beloved (Thandie Newton), a mysterious woman that may be the physical manifestation of Sethe's dead child. Horrifying secrets are revealed leading to a shattering climax.
Exquisite cinematography by Tak Fujimoto gives the film its stark beauty, and the performances are all splendid, particularly Winfrey's, and Newton's as the strange, hissing girl-child. Evocative recreations of the time, and disturbing flashbacks to the terrors of Sweet Home are interwoven to create a harrowing, vivid portrait of a life of freedom still haunted by ghosts of America's shameful past.
Synopsis
Jonathan Demme directs this sumptuous dark drama based on Toni Morrison's award-winning novel of the same name. The story exposes the events that transpire when a stranger named Beloved mysteriously appears on the Ohio land occupied by a former slave named Sethe and her daughter, Denver. When her arrival begins to stir memories of the past and strange occurrences begin to unfold, the truth of her identity eventually surfaces, throwing their lives into chaos.
Film Notes
Theatrical release: October 8, 1998.
Industry Reviews
"...[A] film of shocking immediacy and surpassing tenderness..."
Rolling Stone - p.79-80 - Peter Travers (10/29/1998)
"...Grab[s] you by the throat....In a just world, both Newton and Elise would have vied for Best Supporting Actress..."
Entertainment Weekly - pp.62-3 - Mike D'Angelo (04/16/1999)
"...Expressionistic photography, meticulous editing and one of the year's most memorable scores..."
USA Today - p.7E - Mike Clark (10/16/1998)
"...[Winfrey has] assembled everything perfectly..."
Premiere - p.28-9 - Glenn Kenny (10/01/1998)
"...[A] transfixing, deeply felt adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel....Mr. Demme succeeds uncannily well in bringing the novel's pulse to the screen..."
New York Times - p.E1 - Janet Maslin (10/16/1998)
"...Morrison's wrenching story has been filmed with remarkable skill and restraint..."
Box Office - p.47-8 - L.J. Strom (12/01/1998)
"...Newton hits the right unnerving notes with her work here....Her Beloved is a truly disconcerting, unfathomable presence....It gives the film the critical sense of unease the book has..."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (10/16/1998)
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