In my opinion, during the 70s & 80s, Jill Clayburgh was right up there with Jane Fonda and Meryl Streep as the leading actresses of that time. It's been a long time since I saw this movie (at least 20+ years) and I'm glad they have finally released it on DVD.
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Emperor: Tell me how he died.
Captain Algren: I will tell you...how he lived.
People are right in complaining that it's not particularly well made from a filmic point of view--I think it was the director's first movie (everyone seems to have been drafted from Clayburgh and David Rabe's NYC theatre friends). But the performances are amazing and some scenes when things really deteriorate with Clayburgh and Williamson's characters are absolutely hair-raising, some of the most terrifying portrayals of domestic violence/craziness ever.
I finally read the original autobiographical best-seller pretty recently--it's not that easy to find anymore--and beyond the # of liberties the filmmakers (pretty wisely) took with the book, the most surprising thing was how the movie incorporated aspects of the real woman's character that she wasn't even aware of when writing it (if ever). In the book she paints herself as a poor victim, but her tone is so whiny and spoiled you wonder if she's really telling the whole truth. And in the film she's not entirely sympathetic at all--her boyfriend is right when he calls her "a spoiled brat" (although HE'S a drunk rageaholic monster), and her shrink at the asylum pretty bluntly cuts through her self-justifying b.s. Of course we feel for her because of the horrendous things she goes through, but she's a "difficult" personality with deep narcissistic and self-destructive tendencies; it's probable she would have found some way to "bottom out" eventually even without valium. Which makes it all the more interesting (and all the more impressive a Clayburgh performance).
Because you've read the original autobiography, can you elaborate on whether it describes Barbara Gordon's life before she quits valium? The problem that I saw with this film is it deals almost exclusively with the withdrawal at the expense of the addiction.
I do appreciate that no one was particularly likable here – the lead character, her boyfriend, her co-workers, even the cancer patient who's the subject of her documentary. On the other hand, the film makes it look like the cure is worse than the problem.
Excellent performances by all, but the script could have used more fleshing out.
The original book isn't much more insightful re: her background. If anything the movie does the heroine a favor by downplaying the real Gordon's endless but ill-explained sense of "Nobody loves me enough!!!," past and present-tense. From what I remember from the book, she has very little self-awareness in terms of understanding herself and having perspective on her own voluminous self-pity.
shareI know this is an old thread but I am currently reading the book now and came in here to see if I would like the movie.
Anyway, the book starts off w Ms.Gordon explaining her wonderful life. She is a 40 year old single JAP w a wonderful job as a television producer of documentaries. She makes lots of $$, has a beautiful apartment, a beach house in The Hamptons and a boyfriend, who lives w her and she loves very much. However Ms Gordon also has anxiety issues or panic attacks...she cannot go into crowded stores or out of her neighborhood alone and that kind of thing. She has been seeing a therapist for over 10 years and he has had her on Valium all those years for her panic attacks. She tells him she cannot understand why she has these attacks and why they were increasing in their frequency The Valium did not seem to help anymore. His response is to up the milligrams or put her on harder drugs. He suggests lithium or Thorazine and she is annoyed. She decides not to do any drugs anymore. Her doctor tells her to go cold turkey and not take anything, which apparently was very bad advice. She goes into a psychotic tailspin. Her later sessions w Dr Julie Addison bring out more reasons for Gordon's messed up head but most of it is just trivial life time events, no *Sybil* type revelations.
Thanks very much for the details on Barbara Gordon's memoir and fleshing out the earlier details of her life and addiction. It's been almost five years since I've seen this film, so my memory is sketchy, but it sounds like the book is probably more worthwhile than the film. On the other hand, if we don't get any real reasons for her addiction, I wonder if the book is completely satisfying. Nonetheless, I appreciate your response.
shareYes, books are usually better because you can get more detail as to what is going on in someone's head. Another thing I forgot to point out is that Gordon's original therapist told her that Valium was not an addictive drug so she trusted and believed him. In those days and in her culture doctors were close to Gods and were not to be questioned...people always followed their doctors advice. So when he told her to go cold turkey she did not think she had an addiction and would subsequently lose her mind.
shareA lot has certainly changed in terms of what we know about addiction, and hopefully people are more savvy with their doctors these days. On the other hand, I wonder if we're completely enlightened about anti-depressants and anti-axiety drugs. It seems like psychotropic drugs are prescribed more than ever these days at the expense of other forms of therapy. Even children are heavily medicated.
I wonder: Have you seen this film, and after reading the book, did it appear to be an honest portrayal of Barbara Gordon's struggles?