Loss of a Teardrop Diamond
“[Director Jodie] Markell, an actress on the HBO series ‘Big Love,’ shows courage tackling an unproduced Tennessee Williams script for her debut, but she proves herself a master at screen romance. With an ending as lovely as her attractive leads, ‘Loss of a Teardrop Diamond’ is a Golden Age Hollywood-inspired nostalgia trip, but one worth taking.”
The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond
THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND is a new drama based on a recently rediscovered original screenplay by legendary writer Tennessee Williams. Starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Evans, Academy Award-winner Ellen Burstyn, Academy Award-nominee Ann-Margret, Mamie Gummer, and Will Patton. Directed by award-winning short filmmaker and stage and screen actress Jodie Markell, in her feature debut.
Widely considered the most important American playwright of the post-war era, Williams wrote the TEARDROP DIAMOND screenplay during his late-1950’s heyday, amid such classic plays as “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Suddenly, Last Summer,” “Sweet Bird of Youth,” and “Orpheus Descending.” Set in the Roaring Twenties in Williams’ (and Markell’s) home town of Memphis, the film tells the story of Fisher Willow (Howard) a headstrong young heiress who chafes under the constraints of proper Southern society, and who rebels by asking the impoverished but handsome son of her father’s caretaker, Jimmy Dobyne (Evans), to escort her to the major social events of the season. The relationship is purely a business arrangement at the outset, with Fisher paying for Jimmy’s time and attention, but when she discovers that she really loves him, she finds it impossible to re-write the rules and earn the affection she tried to buy. Howard’s ability to evoke the dueling strength and fragility of this quintessential Williams heroine, along with her stunning mastery of his lush, poetic language, firmly establish her as one of the best actresses of her generation, and place her Fisher Willow in a pantheon of performances that includes Vivien Leigh’s Blanche DuBois, Elizabeth Taylor’s Maggie the Cat, Anna Magnani’s Serafina delle Rose, and Geraldine Page’s Alexandra Del Lago.
Widely considered the most important American playwright of the post-war era, Williams wrote the TEARDROP DIAMOND screenplay during his late-1950’s heyday, amid such classic plays as “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Suddenly, Last Summer,” “Sweet Bird of Youth,” and “Orpheus Descending.” Set in the Roaring Twenties in Williams’ (and Markell’s) home town of Memphis, the film tells the story of Fisher Willow (Howard) a headstrong young heiress who chafes under the constraints of proper Southern society, and who rebels by asking the impoverished but handsome son of her father’s caretaker, Jimmy Dobyne (Evans), to escort her to the major social events of the season. The relationship is purely a business arrangement at the outset, with Fisher paying for Jimmy’s time and attention, but when she discovers that she really loves him, she finds it impossible to re-write the rules and earn the affection she tried to buy. Howard’s ability to evoke the dueling strength and fragility of this quintessential Williams heroine, along with her stunning mastery of his lush, poetic language, firmly establish her as one of the best actresses of her generation, and place her Fisher Willow in a pantheon of performances that includes Vivien Leigh’s Blanche DuBois, Elizabeth Taylor’s Maggie the Cat, Anna Magnani’s Serafina delle Rose, and Geraldine Page’s Alexandra Del Lago.
Web Site
Runtime
102
Language
English
Director
Jodie Markell
Cast
Bryce Dallas Howard,
Chris Evans,
Ellen Burstyn,
Ann-Margret,
Mamie Gummer,
Will Patton
Played at
Monica Film Center 12.30.09 - 1.14.10
Town Center 5 12.30.09 - 1.14.10
Playhouse 7 12.30.09 - 1.07.10
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