The Substance of Fire

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Movie
Original title The Substance of Fire
Country of production United States
original language German
Publishing year 1996
length 97 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Daniel J. Sullivan
script Jon Robin Baitz
production Jon Robin Baitz,
Randy Finch ,
Ron Kastner
music Joseph Vitarelli
camera Robert Yeoman
cut Pamela Martin
occupation

The Substance of Fire is an American film adaptation of the play of the same name by Jon Robin Baitz from 1996 . Directed by Daniel J. Sullivan .

action

The widowed Isaac Geldhart escaped the Holocaust and has a publishing house in New York City that has been successful over the years . He is the editor of serious, rare, preciously bound books in small editions, which he usually strokes with affection. He was never the loving, caring father of his three now grown-up children, rather a quick-tempered tyrant who closes himself off in his world of books. When his gay son Aaron tries to publish his friend's lucrative book, the final decisive battle ensues in which the siblings buy up the publisher, which is about to go bankrupt , from their father and continue to run it, very successfully by the way. Isaac then breaks off all relationships with his children and starts his own business with his odd friend, which competes with his son Aaron and which increasingly fails. Due to bad professional and personal decisions, a downward spiral begins, from which he can no longer recover. Even his old friend and companion separates from him. Isaac suffers increasingly from dementia and only his son and gardener Martin, who is marked by a serious illness, manages to regain his father's trust and to manage his life to some extent. Martin has to witness how his father's mental disorders increase and suffers a sudden relapse of illness when his father is examined at home by a woman from the social service for his mental powers. Martin dies in the hospital. At the funeral ceremony, the remaining children and their father, who is temporarily with him, get close again. The film ends with them sitting peacefully and full of memories of their father on a park bench in the middle of the park, which was always the refuge of the late Martin, not far from their house.

Play

It premiered on March 17, 1991 under the direction of Daniel J. Sullivan . The actors were Ron Rifkin , Sarah Jessica Parker , Patrick Breen , Jon Tenney and Maria Tucci . Rifkin won the Drama Desk Award for “Outstanding Actor in a Play ” nomination .

Background to the film

For the feature film, Baitz and Sullivan teamed up again in 1996, in which Rifkin and Parker also took on their roles. The other roles were cast with other actors. Sullivan was nominated for one of the awards at the Deauville Film Festival. The film won the National Board of Review Award for Best Film Production in 1996.

Reviews

The Substance of Fire steers carefully away from sudsy psychologizing or pulsing melodrama. As it watches Isaac begin to lose his grip and his high-minded obsessiveness turn painfully self-destructive, the film wonders what place there is left in the modern world for people like Isaac, with their impossibly high and rigid standards. The gap dividing Isaac from his children is not a glib matter of the younger generation's embrace of sex, drugs and rock-and-roll, but of a profound shift in morality and in the hierarchy of values ​​between generations and continents. Aaron, Martin and Sarah are decent people, but the Holocaust hasn't scorched them directly. Between Europe and America, between the absolutes of the Holocaust and the comfy maw of American consumer culture, exists a gulf that can't be breached. The film belongs to Mr. Rifkin, whose voice and stiff carriage capture to perfection Isaac's Middle European accent and his mixture of fastidiousness and bristling pride. The film, to its credit, never tries to pluck your heartstrings. As it follows the Geldharts around New York, they are figures in a meditative dialogue on human values ​​that reaches no easy conclusions. Only at the very end does The Substance of Fire , which opens today at Carnegie Hall Cinemas, succumb to a sentimentality that until then has been scrupulously avoided. But this drippy little finale is so vague, and comes and goes so abruptly, that rather than spoiling the film, it merely leaves it hanging.

“ The Substance of Fire stands out pleasantly from psychological soap operas and superficial melodramas. When you see Isaac no longer in control and his profound obsession turning into agonizing self-destruction, the film asks the question of what place remains in the modern world for people like Isaac with their unreachably high and rigorous standards. It is a hasty judgment to blame the younger generation's inclination towards sex, drugs and rock'n roll for the gap between Isaac and his children; rather, it is the deeper layers of morality and value systems between the generations and the old and new continent. Aaron, Martin and Sarah are decent people, although the Holocaust is part of their lives too. Between Europe and America, between the absoluteness of the Holocaust and the comfortable life in the American consumer frenzy, there are simply worlds that cannot be overcome. The film suits Rifkin, whose voice, stiff demeanor to perfection, also adopts Isaac's Central European accent and is full of pedantic, rebellious pride. The film tries - and this is to be credited to him highly - never to get sentimental. The film portrays the money hardships in New York as thoughtful characters who brood over human values ​​without jumping to conclusions. Only at the very end does The Substance of Fire , which is showing today at Carnegie Hall Cinemas, succumb to the sentimentality that he otherwise so carefully avoided. But this maudlin finale is far too vague, comes and goes far too abruptly, to spoil the film as a whole. It only lets the film pause in the moment. "

- Stephen Holden in the New York Times, December 6, 1996

DVD release

  • The Substance of Fire , Miramax, 2003

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.playwrightshorizons.org