Beloved (film)
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| Beloved | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jonathan Demme |
| Produced by | Oprah Winfrey, Jonathan Demme |
| Written by | Toni Morrison (novel) Akosua Busia and Richard LaGravenese and Adam Brooks (screenplay) |
| Starring | Oprah Winfrey Danny Glover |
| Music by | Rachel Portman |
| Distributed by | Touchstone |
| Release date(s) | October 1998 |
| Running time | 172 minutes |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Beloved, originally Toni Morrison's Pulitzer-Prize-winning 1987 novel, was released as a Hollywood film in 1998. It was produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions.
Contents |
[edit] Cast and crew
- Oprah Winfrey - Sethe
- Danny Glover - Paul D.
- Thandie Newton - Beloved
- Kimberly Elise - Denver
- Beah Richards - Baby Suggs
- Lisa Gay Hamilton - Younger Sethe
[edit] Plot summary
The film tells the story of Sethe (Oprah Winfrey), who was a slave on a Kentucky plantation in the days before the Civil War. Now Sethe is free, and lives in a frame house with her daughter Denver on a few acres on the outskirts of Cincinnati - 124 Bluestone Road, the film informs us - as if it would be an ordinary house if it were not for the poltergeist that haunts it. When Paul D (Danny Glover), who knew her years ago in Kentucky, enters the house, the air glows red and the walls and floor shake violently; the spirit resents this visitor.
But Paul D remains, and seems to quiet the poltergeist. Then the spirit appears again, waiting for them one day when they return to the house. It now manifests itself as a young woman in a black dress and (Paul makes note) shoes that don't look as if they've been walked in. Asked her name, she spells it out one painful letter at a time, in a gravelly voice that doesn't sound as if it's ever been used: B-E-L-O-V-E-D. Thandie Newton, who plays Beloved, does an interesting thing with her performance. She inhabits her body as if she doesn't have the operating instructions. She walks unsteadily. She picks up things as if she doesn't quite command her grasp. She talks like a child. And indeed inside this young woman there is a child, the ghost of the young daughter who Sethe killed rather than have her returned to the plantation as a slave.
After Sethe realizes that Beloved was the daughter that she killed, she does everything she can to make up for what she did. She spends all her money buying her candies and gifts and eventually gets fired for being late to her job.
Beloved continually saps Sethe of all her energy and Denver has to start taking care of the family. She finally gets the courage to leave 124 Bluestone Road and tries to find a job. The neighborhood people start to take pity on this family who they shunned and begin to leave food and other stuff for them.
One day when Denver is going to go to her job a group of neighborhood women march to her house to try to exorcise the ghost of Beloved from the house. At the same time Beloved exits the house and shocks the gathered women as she is totally naked and pregnant (from her encounter with Paul D). Denver's employer Mr. Bodwin (a white man) shows up to pick up Denver. Sethe sees this man and goes to attack him. Sethe is restrained by the women and Denver.
At this point Beloved disappears.
A few months later Denver runs into Paul D who has returned. He asks if he can visit Sethe. Denver raises no objection.
Sethe is still very ill from her time with Beloved.
She says that Beloved was her "best thing" but Paul D tells her that she is her own best thing.
[edit] Trivia
- Thandie Newton's first name is actually Thandiwe, which means, interestingly enough, "beloved".
- Oprah Winfrey met with several directors for this project including Peter Weir.
- Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey also co-starred in The Color Purple.
[edit] Quotes
- Paul D: "Good God, girl. What kind of evil you got in there?"
Sethe: "It ain't evil. Just sad".
- Sethe: Love is or it isn't Paul D. Thin love aint no love at all.
- Denver: We got ghosts in here you know.
- Beloved: Touch me on the inside part.
- Beloved: Where you been all them years since Sweet Home, Mista Paul? Ain't ya got no people?
- Sethe: I've got a tree on my back and a haint in my house, and nothing inbetween but the daughter in my arms.
[edit] Critical Reception and Box Office Performance
The critical reception for the movie ran from extremely positive to negative.
Positive reviews tended to mention the acting (People, Rolling Stone) and the visuals of the movie.
The negative focused on the length, the performance of Thandie Newton was a turnoff for many critics.
The Box Office Performance was expected to be good but it turned out to be disappointing. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone blamed overhyping of the movie. Others blamed the subject matter as being too dark for mass appeal and others blamed the release date and release strategy.
Beloved made $8,000,000 plus its first weekend but plummeted the next weekend and made its way to a total of $28,000,000 plus.
Oprah Winfrey was "stunned" at the movie's failure. She had devoted two shows to the movie and said it was like giving birth.
Gayle King said on an A&E bio of Oprah Winfrey that people were saying "We don't want to see your baby. Your baby's ugly"
[edit] Award Nominations
- Beloved earned costume designer Colleen Atwood an Academy Award nomination for her costumes.
- Beloved received several NAACP Image Award nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Actress (Oprah Winfrey), Best Actor (Danny Glover) and Best Supporting Actress (Thandie Newton, Beah Richards, and Kimberly Elise).
