SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Feature film. Concerns the lifelong relationship between playwright Lillian Hellman (Fonda) and Julia (Redgrave), a wealthy girl who turns her back on her upbringing to follow her ideals. In the 1930s, while Hellman struggles to establish herself as a playwright with the help of her lover, Dashiell Hammett (Robards), Julia battles the exigencies of the Nazi regime. Visiting Julia in Germany, Lillian realises how much her friend’s idealism has cost her, both physically and financially. Lillian is asked by Julia’s friend Johann (Schell) to smuggle a large sum of money from Paris to Germany, the better to fight the Nazis from within. Julia is murdered, and Lillian searches for her daughter Lili whom she promised to care for. Includes a scene in Moscow where Lillian sees a Russian production of Hamlet. Intercut with the performance (through which Lillian sleeps) is a sequence in which Julia is seen being murdered by Nazis thus contrasting a real tragedy with a staged one.

Language

English

Country

United States

Medium

Film

Technical information

Colour / Sound

Year of release

1977

Duration

117 mins; 10,563 feet

Credits

Director

Fred Zinnemann

Producer

Richard Roth

Cinematographer

Douglas Slocombe

Screenplay

Alvin Sargent

Music

Georges Delerue

Production Design

Carmen Dillon; Gene Callahan; Willy Holt

Cast

Stefan Gryff	Hamlet
Jane Fonda	Lillian Hellman
Jason Robards	Dashiel Hammett
Maximilian Schell	Johann
Vanessa Redgrave	Julia

Additional Details

Production type

Fiction Films

Plays

Hamlet

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

General

Adapted from part of the novel Pentimento by Lillian Hellman.

Reviews

Sweet, Louise. Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 44, no. 527 December 1977, p.260.

Production Company

Name

20th Century Fox

Distributor (Sale)

Name

Retail outlets