Sommersby

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Movie
German title Sommersby
Original title Sommersby
Country of production United States ,
France
original language English
Publishing year 1993
length 109 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jon Amiel
script Sarah Kernochan ,
Nicholas Meyer ,
Anthony Shaffer
production Arnon Milchan ,
Steven Reuther, Alcor Films
music Danny Elfman
camera Philippe Rousselot
cut Peter Boyle
occupation

Sommersby is an American film released in 1993 . The plot of the film is based in part on the story of Martin Guerre , which was filmed back in 1982 as The Return of Martin Guerre with Gérard Depardieu . For its part, the French film is based on a real case of Martin Guerre portrayed by François Gayot de Pitaval in his collection of criminal cases.

action

After the Civil War, Laurel Sommersby, the wife of the missing soldiers for six years, John Robert Sommersby leads, in the village of Vine Hill in Tennessee alone, the agriculture of their family. She is wooed in vain by the neighbor Orin Meecham. One day, the deserter and wanted-for-wanted fraudster Horace Townsend shows up in the village. He poses as the returning soldier John Sommersby from the war. Since he seems to know the residents of the place very well, his pretended identity is accepted by everyone as the real one. After some hesitation, Laurel and her son also take him into the family.

John aka Horace wins the trust of the locals. At a meeting he convinces them to try tobacco growing together . They put their last remaining valuables together. His plan is to sell the belongings remotely and use the proceeds to buy the seeds they need. You trust him. John actually comes back as promised and brings the right seeds to the village. On top of that, John offers the villagers part of the land that fell fallow from the Sommersby family for later purchase. This is confirmed in signed contracts. The village is hopefully working to rebuild their farms. The project succeeds and Laurel and John have a daughter. Shortly after the baptism, Federal Marshals appear in the village. You carry a murder charge against John Sommersby. Horace is arrested as John Sommersby and has to ride himself to the prison.

A dispute about his identity as the defendant arises in the legal proceedings. Laurel Sommersby is denying his identity as a court witness in hopes of avoiding the death penalty . She says she loves him more than the real John from before the war. The accused does not want to be exposed in court as a liar or a fraud. He defends his legend skillfully and convincingly. In the end, he is therefore convicted of murder as Jack Sommersby.

Only immediately before his execution , Horace alias John admits the truth in an interview with Laurel: During the war he was one of the comrades of the real John Sommersby. Horace was arrested and locked in a cell by the Northerners because of his striking resemblance to the real John Sommersby. He got to know John Sommersby's life down to the last detail. It is implied that he could possibly be his illegitimate brother from a neighboring town, whose life could have been very different. Upon his release, Sommersby murdered a man and died shortly thereafter, leaving Horace free to return to Vine Hill as John. He does not want to give up the new life he has gained in dignity and righteousness, even if he has to die for it. He also wants to save the reconstruction work and the income of the villagers from tobacco sales; if he admitted his false identity, all his business would become invalid, especially the sale of real estate and tobacco would be illegal. All the efforts and sacrifices of the village would have been in vain; Land and money from the successful tobacco auction would be lost.

Horace's "wife" appears at his plead at the very last moment before his execution on the gallows to make his death easier. He can look her in the eye one more time before he dies.

background

The French company Le Studio Canal , for which Foster's great popularity in France was important, was involved in the production of the film . During the shooting, which took place in Virginia , Jodie Foster met the production manager Cydney Bernard (* 1953 ), who became her life partner.

Reviews

Jodie Foster in particular received good reviews for her performance, including in the Los Angeles Times on February 5, 1993, where she was certified as a combination of fire and beauty .

  • Meeting point cinema: “Great southern love drama. At Sommersby , head and stomach get their money's worth, because everything actor, story, music, camera is just right. A great and in the best sense 'old-fashioned' love film in which emotions triumph. "

Awards

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

The film won the Western Writers of America Film Award for the screenplay and received the Golden Screen .

literature

  • Louis Chunovic: Jodie Foster. A portrait . VGS Verlag, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-8025-2416-0 , pp. 167-171
  • Buddy Foster: Jodie Foster. A biography . ECON Verlag, Düsseldorf and Munich 1997, ISBN 3-430-12882-X , pp. 252-255

Web links