Puzzle Of A Downfall Child

Very much a film of its period (1970), when Alain Resnais’ subjective and lyrical editing patterns were at the height of their influence, this is the first feature of former fashion photographer Jerry Schatzberg. It deals with the memories and imaginings of a fashion model (Faye Dunaway) who’s attempting to recover from a nervous breakdown in a beach cottage, and shares the fragmented, mosaic form as well as some of the melancholia of the 1968 Petuliathough not much of its saving humor. I didn’t warm to this film, but given the quality of some of Schatzberg’s subsequent work, especially Scarecrow and Reunion, and the claims made for this picture by Michel Ciment, Schatzberg’s biggest champion, it may deserve a second look. The script is by Five Easy Pieces’s Adrien Joyce, writing under the pseudonym Carol Eastman; the secondary cast includes Barry Primus, Viveca Lindfors, Barry Morse, and Roy Scheider. (JR)

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