Review that ruined Lean


Let me state for the record that I am a great fan of Lean and his movies, and I think "Ryan's Daughter" is one of the most underrated films of all time.

After Zhivago's release in 1965, many critics disliked it, and took the liberty of saying nasty things against it. This prompted Lean to abandon filmmaking for over 5 years. But somehow he must have liked the story of Ryan's Daughter and so commited it to film. Despite the masterpiece that it was, critics and audiences alike did not appreciate it as they should. There were many bad reviews for this film, but I have heard that there was one review espesially that prompted Lean to retire for nearly 14 years! Now, I don't exactly know who wrote that review or where it was published, but to make a person like Lean lose faith in himself for 14 years it must have said some awful things.

Does anyone know what sort of review is this, who wrote it, and perhaps where I can find it?
I am rather curious to see how negative and personal a review can be.

Thanks a lot.


"Nothing is written"

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Lean did not abandon filmmaking for five years after "Doctor Zhivago". It's just that he was so meticulous that it took him that long to finish an epic film. It had happened before. Five years passed between the release of "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) and "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), and three between "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago". It doesn't surprise me that "Ryan's Daughter" wasn't released until 1970.

And if "Ryan's Daughter" had been released earlier, Lean might not have been able to be as frank about the sex in the film.

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I think it is quite a shame how this film has been badmouthed. This is my 3rd favorite of Leans film after Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia. I honestly prefer this to Doctor Zhivago (which I also prefer A Passage to India to that too).

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M Night S also hates reviewers - so he simply KILLS them

see below from Lady in the Water

http://reviewmnights.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/how-to-kill-movie-critic. html

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I find it a little hard to believe that someone of Lean's stature would be discouraged by some woman's negative review. I mean, if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. Besides, have you ever seen Pauline Kael? Who gives a fudge what this curmudgeonly biyatch thinks?

Then I came across an interview on youtube where Lean confesses to being shaken by the negative critical response to Ryan's Daughter. Here it is; it runs less than 3.5 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvB-u7vVZus


My 175 (or so) Favorite Movies:
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070122364/

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I would really doubt Kael's review was responsible for Lean taking a long break, because for one thing, "Ryan's Daughter" got generally middling reviews. Hers was hardly the only negative one. But in any case, if you're a world-famous, Oscar-winning director nonetheless with such a fragile ego you can't handle a bad review.. well, then maybe you should stop reading your reviews.

Artists complain when they get reviews they don't like, but they complain even harder when they don't get reviews or any other press attention at all. If you can't handle public responses to your art, don't make public art. Or just don't read the responses. Many stage actors, for instance, make a point of not reading reviews until their show has closed--they don't want to be upset by a negative comment, or for that matter made self-conscious by a positive one.

Also, the OP saying that Lean didn't make a film for five years because of "Zhivago's" less-stellar reviews is patently false. By that point his films had become so long, elaborate, expensive, and needed so much time in both production and pre-production that he actually required years between completion of each project. Plus "Zhivago" played around the world for nearly two years after its premiere, and probably Lean kept himself involved with its release all that time.

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Lean made this movie to provoke the moral majority and it succeeded. It's like Trier's Breaking The Waves. And they are great movies.

So even if the master was offended by some reviews after Dr Zhivago, he was back in his cool anti-majority stance with this moral thriller so to speak. He then got the exact review on Ryan that he craved for, to be able to rise a little higher in his ivory art tower far from mainstream movies.

Kael was cool. She was not always right but it came straight from her heart. She hated 2001 and Deer Hunter and it's so rewarding to read those reviews. My guess it that she hated Ryan because it came close to parts of her own life of isolation and self-realisation.

"You couldn't be much further from the truth" - several

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Nice! Another Robert Mitchum movie I need to check out.

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