Details
Movie Description
Perhaps the closest that Blake Edwards has come to making a personal film, THAT'S LIFE! stars Jack Lemmon as Harvey Fairchild, an architect confronting his mortality. As the weekend on which Harvey's family will gather to celebrate his 60th birthday approaches, there is apparently nothing that can erase the angst that is devouring him. Despite his wealth, a happy marriage, and healthy and prosperous children, he's plagued by the idea that his life has been a failure. He believes his work has been compromised by kowtowing to ignorant clients, that his children have little love for him, and, with growing hypochondria, that he's on the verge of death. His long-suffering wife, Gillian (Julie Andrews), tries to coax him out of his depression without telling him that she is being tested for cancer. Refusing to seek therapy, Harvey calls on his former roommate at Notre Dame, now a Catholic priest (Robert Loggia), but finds him enmeshed in his own problems; he also visits a fortune-teller (Felicia Farr) who displays considerably more insight into the architect's plight than did the clergyman. A film financed by Edwards, cowritten with his psychiatrist, and performed by friends and relatives who improvised part of their dialogue, the film's uncertain tone is mitigated by some sharp observations on upper-crust life, a few very funny scenes, and a completely committed performance by Lemmon.
Synopsis
This human comedy by Blake Edwards stars Jack Lemmon as Harvey Fairchild, a wealthy architect struggling with a severe case of male menopause at the approach of his 60th birthday. Blake's wife, Julie Andrews, plays Harvey's sympathetic spouse. Filmed at the director's Malibu residence, the film includes many of his friends and family members. Academy Award Nominations: Best Song ("Life in a Looking Glass").
Film Notes
Jack Lemmon's son Chris plays his character's son, Josh Fairchild. Felicia Farr, Jack Lemmon's wife, portrays Madame Carrie. Julie Andrew's daughter by designer Tony Walton, Emma Walton, plays Kate Fairchild. Director Blake Edwards's daughter Jennifer has the role of Megan Fairchild Bartlet. Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews are husband and wife.
The film contains many semiautobiographical situations. Blake Edwards cowrote the screenplay with his psychiatrist, Milton Wexler. It was filmed at the Edwards/Andrews Malibu home. Some of the dialogue was improvised, and family pets also appear in it.
Produced independently on a low budget with the title CRISIS, the film was later released by Columbia.
It premiered at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on September 9, 1986.
Industry Reviews
"...Full of sunlight, warm feelings and wonderfully rude gags....[The cast] is first-rate..."
Canby
"...Personal virtually to the point of being a home movie, film proves thoroughly absorbing and entertaining..."
Variety - Cart. (09/03/1986)
"...This is one of the funniest, and perhaps the most life-embracing, movies Edwards has made in the '80s. The currents of despair give the humor a deeper bite..."
Los Angeles Times - Michael Wilmington (09/26/1986)
Quotations
"Just so that I can jump off it."--Harvey Fairchild (Jack Lemmon) explaining to Gillian Fairchild (Julie Andrews) why he'd like to build the world's tallest building
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