The whole movie was, actually. If you read any of Anais's novels you can easily see the the screen writer and the director got a wrong picture of these characters. Maria de Medeiros is great, but Uma is so emphatic and phony. What a waste.
shareNo way!!! Her acting was really cool. I think she stoled the show.
Plus, she was really sexy.
She was great. No doubt about it.
Sally, I Think I'll Buy The Flowers Myself!
Don't let "she was really sexy" into making you think she's a great actress. She's so-so at best.
shareI agree that her acting was amazing. I was really surprised to learn that she was only 20-years-old when this film was made. Medeiros was only 25. To me they both seemed much more mature.
I didn't care for Fred Ward as Henry Miller. I don't believe I've ever seen Fred Ward in a film so maybe he's very good, and portrayed Henry Miller just as he really was. I think it was the hair, or lack thereof...Creepy! I can't think of another actor who may have performed the role better.
It's not Thurman's acting, it's that slurred, phoney New Yawk accent she uses that irritates me so much. Manybe the real June sounded just like that, but it was grating in the film.
Evidently June was bipolar as well as volatile.
It's not Thurman's acting, it's that slurred, phoney New Yawk accent she uses that irritates me so much.
I support your assessment. We have to remember that such character traits are not decided on by the actor only, but in consultation with the director and producers. Evidently they attempted to portray the way they thought June really spoke, or going for some kind of effect - like indicating that June will ultimately be the 'free bird' who can't be tied down by a clique or culture.
Nevertheless, judging by how it gels with all the other elements in the movie, it ends up grating, as you say, and makes Uma's performance seem somewhat phony. I understand her fans see it differently and I don't think Uma should be faulted for the end product, but her scenes were the only scenes I wanted to fast forward through on re-watching the film.
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The character of June Miller was supposed to be false, evasive and duplicious and I think that Uma did a brilliant job conveying that. I also remember when the film was released and everyone was gushing about Anais Nin, that Thurman had the insight in an interview to say that she thought Nin 'full of *beep* June Miller divorced Henry in 1934, remarried and when that marriage broke down became a social worker.
Nicole Kidman is heavier on eyeshadow than emotion - The Paperboy Review, Variety
Fred Ward is a very attractive man. He has a full head of hair, and probably had to shave it or wear a fake piece to make it look as though he was bald on the top. Don't know how anyone could find that so "creepy". He did an excellent job portraying Miller, who wasn't exactly a good-looking man. Ward has been in many popular movies, so I don't know what planet you've been living on.
shareI spent the entire movie trying to decide if Uma was really good or really bad. I still haven't decided.
shareI haven't finished my Anais biography or her diaries, but so far in them it seems like June was very phony and really tried to appear to be something that she wasn't. So maybe it was just the character you thought was phony? I thought Uma was pretty great in this, but that's just me.
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Uma Thurman's performance was wanting because her part was badly written -- her character was superficial. Thurman can chew up the scenery when given half a chance, so she <i>can</i> act. But what was this character? A muse? A Bitch? A semi-dangerous neurotic?
To tell you the truth,Fred Ward's Henry Miller didn't impress me either. The scene where he's mulling the title of his book, and Nin insists on "Tropic of Cancer." Why does Miller like this title? What does it mean? Symbolize? How does it "fit" the book? Or does he just like the sound of "Tropic of Cancer." We don't know.
This movie was a borderline bore. To tell you the truth, the movie came alive (for me, at least) only when Thurman's character was onscreen. Ohh, those sexy eyes!
Actually, I think Uma did an excellent job, considering that her role didn't have much screen time. When it comes to June, and the fact we're looking at the story from most of the point of view of Anais Nin, with Uma's performance as June, it leaves us being drawn to the character with the small amount of time that Anais had with her. When it comes to June as a character, we have to take something into account: we are looking at her from both Henry and Anais' points of view. So, if they see her the way she is portrayed in the film as empathic and phony, it's because that's how both Miller and Nin see her. We do not ever get her point of view on things and we never will, because of the following (from WIkipedia):
Although she expressed a desire to write an autobiography, she never wrote anything other than letters.
And that's backed up by her statement in the film when she talks to Anais after seeing her again at the party ("Sorry I couldn't keep in touch. I thought of you every day. But you know me with writing, I have a terrible time. I don't have the gift like you and Henry.") So, we're stuck with the point of view by a man who loved her as much as he hated her and a woman who barely got much time to spend with her.
When it comes to what we are told by the real Henry Miller and Anais Nin are strictly how they see her.
In the film, there's a scene where Henry explains to June about the character in "Tropic of Cancer" that is based on her and she points out that he "makes everything ugly" because "beauty is a joke" to him. Anais only spent a small amount of time with June, so obviously she would be naive about who June was (as June in the film pointed out, Anais' writing of her seemed poetic and that she was expecting "something more real"). Basically, other than what Henry and Anais written about her, we really do not know much about June, let alone how much is true and how much is not. If June was as emphatic and phony as she was portrayed by Henry Miller and Anais Nin, then why did they bother to continue to use her as a literary influence? In fact, Henry continued to send money to her through friends after they divorced. So, there had to be something more about her than what we've been told. Too bad we'll never know.
But this one's eating my popcorn!
She was as good as any of the others who participated in this boring waste of two hours.
shareI found her voice distracting. I don't know if it had anything to do with the quality, or lack thereof, of the video I was watching, but it seemed as if her N.Y. accent faded in and out. Anyone else experience that?
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I agree with a previous post. . ..I was so bored I kept fast forwarding the DVD and finally finished it, but it was a horrible movie. There were a few good moments but for the most part . . .insignificant.
shareJust watched the DVD (bored & sick with the flu). June's character is unpleasant - not sure if she was really this much of a conniving, manipulative, pathological liar & shrieking harpie. Unfortunately, the screenwriter & director failed Uma. She does some major scene-chewing. Not one of her best roles. The
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