A perfectly normal family

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Movie
German title A perfectly normal family
Original title Ordinary People
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1980
length 119 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Robert Redford
script Alvin Sargent based on
: Judith Guest
production Ronald L. Schwary
music Marvin Hamlisch
camera John Bailey
cut Jeff Kanew
occupation

A completely normal family is the directorial debut of the US actor Robert Redford from 1980. The drama is based on the novel of the same name by the US author Judith Guest and was produced by the film studios Paramount Pictures and Wildwood Enterprises . The film won four Academy Awards at the Academy Awards in 1981 , including a. for the best film of the year and the best director.

action

The wealthy Jarrett family live in a mansion in a well-kept suburb. The parents like to play golf , the son is a member of the swimming team at his school - you would think quite normal people, if the death of the eldest son Buck did not weigh on the family like a curse. During a sailing trip, he and his younger brother Conrad got caught in a storm. The small sailing ship capsized and only Conrad survived the accident. Since then, Conrad has had feelings of guilt, which are intensified by his mother's behavior: Beth Jarrett, who loved her firstborn son more than anything and always preferred the younger, tried to cover up the inner pain of the loss of her favorite child with outward composure and emotional coldness, and secretly blames Conrad for the accident, who returns home after attempting suicide from the clinic. Beth is also becoming increasingly estranged from her husband Calvin. While Conrad hearing with Dr. Berger, a psychiatrist, finds and gradually lets his suppressed fear and anger run free, Beth wants to continue to maintain the facade of the "completely normal" family and tries to avoid any conflict. After Calvin also visits his son's therapist and realizes that he no longer loves his wife, the apparently perfect family idyll breaks up. Beth Jarrett moves out of the common house, father and son stay behind alone and give each other support and strength in this difficult hour.

History of origin

Actor Robert Redford chose the film because the family problems dealt with in the novel reminded him very much of his own childhood. He bought the film rights to the as yet unpublished novel by Judith Guest and entrusted the screenwriter Alvin Sargent with the screen adaptation . The first draft of the script for A Completely Normal Family devoured a year and a half, the editing of the second draft took another year. It was very difficult for screenwriter Alvin Sargent to adapt a novel for the screen that contained heavy dialogue, but largely no description of the characters or details of the plot.

Reviews

  • "The intelligent and brilliantly staged directorial debut of actor Robert Redford received four Oscars ..." ( VideoWoche )
  • "... Actor Redford's remarkable directorial debut, especially in acting, often too melodramatic, but thought-provoking."

Remarks

  • Timothy Hutton's father, actor Jim Hutton , died shortly before the film was set. But Timothy Hutton stated that he did not use this personal stroke of fate as a basis for Conrad's depression.
  • Gene Hackman was actually supposed to play the role of Dr. Berger was selected, but had to drop out of the project. Judd Hirsch was then engaged. The scenes with him were shot in just eight days so that there was no overlap with the shooting schedule for Hirsch's television series Taxi .
  • The final scene in the dining room was originally filmed with Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore. But while the film was being edited, Sutherland got the impression that Calvin was crying too much and that he would have ruined the scene. So he and director Robert Redford shot the scene again, without Mary Tyler Moore, who was playing theater in New York at the time and had no time to re-shoot. Redford read Moore's part behind the camera, while Sutherland acted in front of the camera.
  • Before Robert Redford hired Mary Tyler Moore for the film, the director had considered casting Lee Remick for the female lead.
  • Elizabeth McGovern was a student at the prestigious Juilliard School of Dramatic Art in New York while filming . The school allowed McGovern to star in the film on the condition that she did not travel to Chicago until Friday night to film and be back at school on Sundays, so the scenes with her could only be filmed on Saturdays. It was the first time the Juilliard School allowed a student to take part in a film set while in school.
  • Bruce Dern and Ken Howard were originally intended for the role of Calvin Jarrett.
  • The scene in the restaurant between Conrad and Karen, his friend from the hospital, was filmed in Wilmette , Illinois at the Original House of Pancakes . A photograph of Robert Redford, taken during the filming, now hangs over the menu in the front entrance area.
  • The school chosen for the filming is Lake Forest High School. It has hardly changed to this day and still serves as a public school. The swimming pool scenes, however, were made at a college in the area because the hall of Lake Forest High School was not big enough for the necessary film equipment.
  • The costume of Dinah Manoff , who took on the little part of Karen, Conrad's acquaintance from the hospital, came from costume designer Bernie Pollack. Pollack had seen a girl out shopping who he believed had the perfect look for Karen's character. Pollack approached her and promised her twenty dollars , which she could buy any outfit she wanted, provided the girl gave the fashion designer the clothes she was wearing.
  • One month after the film opened in theaters, Mary Tyler Moore's son Richie shot himself. The suicide was officially declared an accident at the time.

Awards

In 1981, a completely normal family with six nominations was one of the extended circle of favorites at the Academy Awards. After Robert Redford's work had been awarded five Golden Globes two months earlier, the drama prevailed on Oscar night against Martin Scorsese's Wie ein Wilder Stier and David Lynch's The Elephant Man and was awarded four Oscars. In addition to the categories of Best Film , Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay , supporting actor Timothy Hutton, at the age of twenty, was one of the youngest winners in the Best Supporting Actor category in Oscar history.

Oscar 1981

Nominated in the categories

British Academy Film Awards 1982

  • nominated for Best Actress (Mary Tyler Moore)

Golden Globe Awards 1981

  • Best film - drama
  • Best Director (Robert Redford)
  • Best Actress (Mary Tyler Moore)
  • Best Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton)
  • Best Young Actor (Timothy Hutton)

Nominated in the categories

  • Best Actor ( Donald Sutherland )
  • Best Supporting Actor (Judd Hirsch)
  • Best Screenplay (Alvin Sargent)

Further

Awards of the Japanese Academy 1982

  • nominated as best foreign film

Directors Guild of America Award 1981

  • Best director

Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1981

  • Best movie

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 1981

  • Best Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton)

National Board of Review Awards 1980

  • Best English Language Film
  • Best director

New York Film Critics Circle Awards 1980

  • Best movie

1981 Writers Guild of America Awards

  • Best adapted script

literature

  • Judith Guest: A completely normal family , 1984 Rowohlt / Reinbek, ISBN 3-498-02426-4
  • Judith Guest: Ordinary People , 1993 Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-006517-2 (English edition)
  • Sargent, Alvin: Ordinary people: screenplay . [Hollywood, Calif. : Script City], 1979. (English edition)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. A completely normal family. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used