Bernard and Doris
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Bernard and Doris |
| Original title | Bernard and Doris |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2007 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Bob Balaban |
| script | Hugh Costello |
| production |
Bob Balaban , Jonathan Cavendish , Adam Kassen , Mark Kassen |
| music | Alex Wurman |
| camera | Mauricio Rubinstein |
| cut | Andy Keir |
| occupation | |
| |
Bernard and Doris is a 2007 American comedy film . Directed by Bob Balaban and written by Hugh Costello .
action
Billionaire Doris Duke owes her fortune to her inheritance in the American Tobacco concern . She hires the destitute Irish-born Bernard Lafferty, who has just finished alcohol withdrawal in an addiction clinic, as a butler. She has just fired his predecessor for irrelevant reasons, whereby she is generally quick to hire and fire staff and harassed her staff with her penny-pinching. Bernard and Doris become friends. They spend a lot of time together tending orchids in Doris' greenhouse, and gradually a relationship of trust develops between the meek Bernard and the eccentric Doris. What puzzles Doris is that Bernard, unlike her staff and her lovers, does not ask anything of her and obviously does not want to benefit from her wealth.
Doris gradually realizes that Bernard is homosexual and encourages him to put on makeup, change the way he dresses and wear jewelry. From a trip she brings him a precious, colorful, oriental silk kaftan as a present. During an extended absence of his boss, he can no longer resist his craving for alcohol, and he uses her wine cellar, preferring the finest vintages. Returning from her trip, she finds her butler drunk, the greenhouse is in a desolate state, the wine cellar ransacked and finally Lafferty falls to the floor in front of her bed, drunk and no longer in control of his senses. She has him admitted to a clinic, but does not discharge him. Doris continues to get her lovers to bed and suffers a stroke one night of love. Bernard rushes to the hospital, watches over her sick bed and asks her to accept him again as a butler. He urges her not to employ nursing staff because he wants to look after her alone. Against the bitter resistance of her financial advisor and long-time friend Waldo Taft, she agrees.
Doris, who sees no chance of recovery, discusses the modalities of her burial with Bernard in detail. He gives her a syringe and takes her tenderly in his arms. He is then the only person who is present at the cremation. Then, as she wished, he scattered her ashes in the sea. When the will is opened, it turns out that Lafferty inherits a small fortune and that he is appointed chairman of all the foundations to which she has distributed her remaining fortune.
background
The film was shot in New York City , including the Old Westbury Gardens , Long Island . The world premiere took place on October 17, 2007 at the Hamptons International Film Festival , which opened with a screening of Bernard and Doris .
Dominick Dunne and the writer, journalist and long-time The New Yorker employee Calvin Trillin (* 1935) have cameo appearances as members of the Board of Directors.
Reviews
Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times compared the film to “the most delectable kind of Vanity Fair article, one that doesn't leave you feeling guilty or venal or vaguely nuts for reveling in the particulars of great wealth even as you are made fully aware of all the isolating negatives. "
Peter Travers from Rolling Stone called the film a “stunner of a movie [that's] the hip antidote to multiplex junk such as Mad Money and Meet the Spartans . [...] All praise to director Bob Balaban, who doesn't miss a beat or a nuance in bringing us in, close as a whisper, to what might have been. "
Brian Lowry from Variety called the film “a not-very-compelling two-character piece with showy moments for Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes but not much else to recommend it […]. What the movie does provide is a rare indulgence in long, quiet scenes between the leads, which serve both as a showcase for the actors and a reminder as to how undercooked the script is. For Sarandon, Doris is a slightly less shrewish version of the evil queen she just played in Enchanted , while Fiennes is a model of restraint […] One can see why HBO would gamble on such a modest pickup based on the names attached. Still, much of what passed privately between employer and servant remains shrouded in mystery, and Bernard and Doris is ultimately unsatisfying in filling those gaps - real, imagined or otherwise. "
Awards
The film and its leading actors have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Golden Globe and Emmy Awards in several categories, and the Screen Actors Award , but without winning a prize.
Golden Globe:
- Susan Sarandon ( nomination )
- Ralph Fiennes ( nomination )
Web links
- Bernard and Doris in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Ginia Bellafante: Very Rich, and Very Different From You and Me . In: The New York Times , February 8, 2008.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Filming locations on imdb.com , accessed November 15, 2007.
- ↑ See premiere dates on imdb.com , accessed on November 15, 2007.
- ↑ Dade Hayes: 'Bernard and Doris' opens Hamptons . In: Variety , September 25, 2007, accessed June 4, 2019.
- ^ Ginia Bellafante: Very Rich, and Very Different From You and Me . In: The New York Times , February 8, 2008, accessed June 4, 2019.
- ^ Peter Travers: Bernard and Doris . In: Rolling Stone , February 7, 2008, accessed June 4, 2019.
- ^ Brian Lowry: Bernard and Doris . In: Variety , February 6, 2008, accessed June 4, 2019.