Synopsis
Isaac Geldhart is a Holocaust survivor who, overcome by grief at the recent death of his wife, seems determined to run his publishing firm into the ground by printing books that have no hope of financial success. His son Aaron, who also works at the company, grows frustrated with Isaac's emotional decline and attempts to take over the firm. The resulting crisis involves Isaac's other two children, his daughter Sarah and his dying son Martin.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Tony GoldwynAaron Geldhart
- Timothy HuttonMartin Geldhart
- Ron RifkinIsaac Geldhart
- Sarah Jessica ParkerSarah Geldhart
- Lee GrantCora Cahn
- Elizabeth FranzMiss Barzakian
- Benjamin UngarYoung Issac
- Roger ReesMax
- Viola DavisNurse
- Adolph GreenMr. Musselblatt
Recommandations
- 75
Chicago Sun-Times
The film, directed by Daniel Sullivan, is brave, I think, to offer us a complicated scenario without an easy moral compass. - 75
Christian Science Monitor
This sensitive, sometimes troubling family drama is one of the rare movies dealing with intelligent adults tackling lifelike problems. - 70
The New York Times
The film, to its credit, never tries to pluck your heartstrings. As it follows the Geldharts around New York, they are figures in a meditative dialogue on human values that reaches no easy conclusions. - 63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Consequently, your reaction to the film will pretty much hinge on your opinion of the play. Ho-hum is my humble verdict. - 50
Austin Chronicle
The screen version feels like a rewrite made to make the tale more palatable to the "mindless moviegoing masses," which prompts the question: Is the film a truer vision of Baitz's tale of an uncompromising man or a version in which the truer vision was compromised? - 50
ReelViews
Aside from a powerful performance by Ron Rifkin (reprising his stage role) and a few quietly effective scenes, there's not much reason to subject yourself to a film this off-putting. - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
First-time film director Sullivan draws good performances from Goldwyn, Hutton and Parker, as well as Debra Monk, Elizabeth Franz and Eric Bogosian in minor roles. - 50
San Francisco Examiner
In the case of Jon Robin Baitz's script, adapted from his play, in spite of the fact that he made considerable alterations in the text to open it up to cinematic possibilities, the movie disappoints in much the same way the play did.
