A Thousand Acres
by Jocelyn Moorhouse
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Colin Firth, Jason Robards, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jessica Lange, Michelle PfeifferDirector: Jocelyn Moorhouse
Brand: LANGE,JESSICA
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.85:1
Running Time: 106 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-04-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Movie Reviews of A Thousand Acres
Movie Review: 1000 ACRES: KING LEAR in Iowa or a family betrayed
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Summary of A Thousand Acres
Academy Award(R)-winner Jessica Lange (Best Actress, 1995, BLUE SKY) and Michelle Pfeiffer (ONE FINE DAY) join Jennifer Jason Leigh (GEORGIA) and Oscar(R)-winner Jason Robards (1977, Best Supporting Actor, ALL THE PRSIDENT'S MEN) in this widely acclaimed motion picture about silence and betrayal ... rivalry and revenge! When an aging father retires, he passes the thriving family farm on to his three daughters. But this generous gift ignites an exposive series of events that threaten to tear the family apart forever! This powerful story of shocking secrets, unspoken rivalries, and hidden desires is a film you must see ... with performances you'll never forget!Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer are quietly dazzling in this underrated adaptation of Jane Smiley's best-selling modern version of King Lear. The two play sisters of a stubborn, alcoholic Iowa farmer (Jason Robards), who decides to leave his fertile farm to them and their youngest sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh). It is a decision that rends the family, setting siblings against one another and forcing long-held secrets out of their guilty closets. The family dynamics become ever more destructive, and the refuge of sanity the two older sisters have created may be their only salvation. It's a tragedy not quite on a Shakespearean scale, but anyone who appreciates the difficulties of a dysfunctional family will relate to the heartbreak--and the promise of redemption. Pfeiffer especially is breathtaking as the good housewife Rose, whose rage at her father and her husband is never far from her placid surface. --Anne Hurley
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