The Human Voice (Broadway Theatre Archive)
by Ted Kotcheff
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Arthur Kennedy, Diahann Carroll, Ingrid Bergman, Lee GrantDirector: Ted Kotcheff
Brand: Kultur
Producer: David Susskind
Producer: Hubbell Robinson
Producer: Jacqueline Babbin
Producer: Lars Schmidt
Writer: Clive Exton
Writer: Jean Cocteau
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 50 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-04-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
Movie Reviews of The Human Voice (Broadway Theatre Archive)
Movie Review: "I've never had anything to live for but you."
Summary: 5 Stars
Jean Cocteau's landmark "voice play," published in 1947 and produced by Broadway Theatre Archive in 1966, starring Ingrid Bergman, is a bit dated now, a reflection of a society which has changed irrevocably. A middle-aged woman, devastated because her five-year relationship has ended and her lover has moved on, tries to come to grips with her future and largely fails. When her lover calls to offer whatever support he can--and to ask for his belongings by tomorrow--his call becomes her lifeline. "I knew you would give me a ring," she says, with ponderous irony, then adds to herself, "A wring of the neck," or "a boxing ring" from which there is no escape.
The entire play consists the woman talking with her former lover in a series of increasingly fraught phone calls, as the connection keeps getting lost. Though she tells him she is "absolutely calm," she has taken fourteen sleeping pills the previous night, and though she also says "It is all my fault," the viewer sees that the lover has lied to her. Yet he has cared for her, repeatedly calling back to be sure that this increasingly hysterical woman will somehow go on--and that he will be able to pick up his things the next day.
The play contains a number of dramatic effects which are now clichés--the constant ticking of the clock, the frantic smoking of the woman, a basket full of empty pill bottles, the photo of the new, much younger, woman, and especially the telephone itself, which offers the only chance for communication here. The focus is almost completely on the actress at center stage for almost an hour, however, a change of style for Cocteau, whose plays until then contained carefully circumscribed roles.
Obviously, the role calls for an actress of extraordinary ability, like Ingrid Bergman, who, age fifty-one at the time of this play, has the gravitas to make the role come alive. Her instinctive ability to use body language, gesture, and facial expressions conveys her pain so that she is not dependent upon hysterical emoting into the telephone. Bergman leaves no doubt that she is at the point of total breakdown, and even her acting might be considered a bit over-the-top, but this is largely a function of the play itself and of the society, which offered little place for a rejected middle-aged "wife" whose "career" consisted of promoting her lover's happiness. She is an empty shell. What can she do now? n Mary Whipple
Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive), starring Katharine Hepburn
Home (Broadway Theatre Archive), starring Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson
Uncommon Women and Others (Broadway Theatre Archive), with Meryl Streep and Jill Eikenberry
Death of a Salesman (Broadway Theatre Archive), starring Lee J. Cobb
The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (Broadway Theatre Archive), starring Julie Harris
Summary of The Human Voice (Broadway Theatre Archive)
Ingrid Bergman plays a middle-aged woman going through a psychological crisis as a love affair ends. French playwright Jean Cocteau's one-character drama unfolds in the form of an extended monologue--a one-sided telephone conversation in which the woman tries to win back her lover despite her growing suspicion that he is calling from his young fiancée's home. "A tour de force... Ingrid Bergman gave a formidable display of passionate despair, showing a side in her talent not often vouchsafed by the movies." --VarietyIngrid Bergman gives a virtuoso solo performance in this Jean Cocteau one-act. The plot of this hour-long piece is a simple one: a woman, devastated after her lover leaves her for someone else, speaks to him on the phone one last time. The piece is beautifully, perfectly written and performed--all of the little lies and desperate hopes of heartbreak are captured. Bergman?s performance is as brave as it is complex--she is willing to let her character crumble into an embarrassing weakness that few actresses would risk. Anyone who has ever nursed false hopes of salvaging a relationship will find this piece all too well done. See it, but not right after a breakup. --Ali Davis
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