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Mood:
- GloomyAtmosphericCleverDisturbingEmotionalSuspensefulTense
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Plot:
- InvestigationPsychologicalParents and ChildrenDysfunctional FamilyHaunted By the PastMental IllnessMurderWrongfully Committed more...
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Genres:
- DramaMelodramaMysteryThriller
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Time/Period:
- 20th Century30s
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Place:
- LouisianaNew OrleansTennesseeUSAHospitalMental Institution
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Praise:
- Critically Acclaimed
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Style:
- Talky
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Based on:
- Based on Play
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Attitudes:
- SeriousRealisticSlow
Does this gene fit Suddenly Last Summer?
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Suddenly Last Summer, 1959
English
USA
Profile of Suddenly Last Summer
The mood of Suddenly Last Summer is gloomy, disturbing, and clever. The plot centers around a character who has been wrongfully committed, mental illness, and a dysfunctional family. It is a drama, thriller, and mystery movie. Stylistically, Suddenly Last Summer is a melodrama and is talky. In approach, it is serious and realistic. The pacing is slow. Suddenly Last Summer takes place, at least partly, in a mental institution and in a hospital. The setting is Tennessee and New Orleans. It happens in the 1930s. Suddenly Last Summer is adapted from a play. The movie is known for being critically acclaimed.
Summary of Suddenly Last Summer
Gore Vidal's stark, powerful screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams's play explores the trauma of Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor), whose homosexual cousin dies an unspeakable and gradually revealed death while traveling with her in Europe. Katharine Hepburn as the murdered man's mother can't bear to hear the details of her son's death, preferring instead to have a lobotomy performed on her niece, insisting that the girl is mad. But a doctor (Montgomery Clift) is determined to explore the reasons behind the girl's inexplicable actions and words, eventually uncovering the secrets the mother wants to hide. Williams's play explicitly stated why the murdered man's death so traumatized his cousin, but this adaptation written by Vidal and filled with wild, moody tension by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz allows viewers to read between the lines and gather their own suspicions about Sebastian Venable's death. Taylor radiates uncertainty and fear as the girl terrorized by her cousin's death and her fierce aunt's obsession to keep her quiet, while Hepburn sways with menace in one of her few, deliciously played roles as a villainess. Both actresses were nominated for Best Actress Oscars for their performances.
Details
| Language: | English |
| Country: | USA |
| Release date: | 22 December 1959 |
| Runtime: | 114 min |
Cast and Crew
as Mrs. Violet Venable
as Catherine Holly
Photos
