Lilith (film)
| Lilith | |
|---|---|
 original film poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Rossen |
| Produced by | Robert Rossen |
| Written by | Robert Rossen |
| Starring |
Warren Beatty Jean Seberg Peter Fonda Kim Hunter Jessica Walter |
| Music by | Kenyon Hopkins |
| Cinematography | Eugen Schüfftan |
| Edited by | Aram Avakian |
Production company |
Centur Productions |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,100,000[1] |
Lilith is a 1964 film written and directed by Robert Rossen. It is based on a novel by J. R. Salamanca and stars Warren Beatty, Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda, Kim Hunter and Gene Hackman.
Plot
Set in a private mental institution, Chestnut Lodge in Rockville, Maryland, the film tells of a trainee occupational therapist, a troubled ex-soldier named Vincent Bruce (Beatty), who becomes dangerously obsessed with seductive, artistic, schizophrenic patient Lilith Arthur (Seberg). Bruce makes progress helping Lilith emerge from seclusion and leave the institutional grounds for a day in the country and accompanies her on other excursions in which she is alone with him. She attempts to seduce him, and eventually Bruce tells Lilith he is in love with her. Lilith also seduces an older female patient and enchants a couple of young boys on one of her outings. Bruce triggers the suicide of another patient (Fonda) out of jealousy over the patient's crush on Lilith. This brings up memories in Lilith of her brother's suicide, which she implies was due to an incestuous relationship that she initiated, and she goes on a destructive rampage in her room and winds up in a catatonic state. Bruce presents himself to his superiors for psychiatric help.
Production
Chestnut Lodge would not permit filming on location so those scenes were done in a vacant mansion rented by the production company, Centur Productions, on the North Shore of Long Island (Locust Valley). Location shooting in Maryland was done in a private home in Rockville as well as in the downtown area, plus scenes at Great Falls on both the Maryland and Virginia sides of the Potomac River, as well as a staged carnival scene at Barnesville, Maryland. This was Rossen's last film.
Preservation
The Academy Film Archive preserved Lilith in 2000.[2]
Cast
- Warren Beatty as Vincent Bruce
- Jean Seberg as Lilith Arthur
- Peter Fonda as Stephen Evshevsky
- Kim Hunter as Dr. Bea Brice
- Anne Meacham as Mrs. Yvonne Meaghan
- Jessica Walter as Laura
- Gene Hackman as Norman
- James Patterson as Dr. Lavrier
- Robert Reilly as Bob Clayfield
Reputation
In The New Biographical Dictionary of Film David Thomson describes Lilith as "an oddity, the only one of [Rossen's] films that seems passionate, mysterious and truly personal. The other films will look increasingly dated and self-contained, but Lilith may grow."[3]
Accolades
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
- 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated[4]
See also
References
- ↑ Anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Top Grossers of 1965", Variety, January 5, 1966 p 36
- ↑ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
- ↑ David Thomson The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002, London: Little, Brown, p. 760.
- ↑ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-19.
External links
- Lilith at the Internet Movie Database