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After carving out eccentric, obtuse molds for her personality while co-starring in Robert Altman's "Nashville" and Alan Rudolph's "Welcome to L.A.", Geraldine Chaplin finally earned a full-bodied (though still utterly eccentric) leading role in Rudolph's "Remember My Name", which was produced by Robert Altman. Chaplin plays an ex-convict and sociopath seeking a reunion with her former husband, a carpenter who has remarried and resides on the west coast; lacking interpersonal skills of any kind, she decides to get his attention by stalking he and his wife and breaking into their house. Intriguing, if unpleasant, modern-day melodrama with noir-ish overtures, made memorable by Chaplin's high-wire performance. Tough and unyielding, and possibly schizophrenic, Chaplin creates a portrait of a woman obsessed by the past, and wilting under the untouchable persona she has created for herself. The narrative goes a little batty in the final stretch, leading to a perplexing conclusion; however, the film's detached tone is very deliberate and assured--it creates a monotone ambiance which is hard to shake off. Director Rudolph, who also wrote the screenplay, seems to feel this material very deeply. It's a twisted and melancholy valentine. **1/2 from ****

I suppose the main criticism you can level against a film like REMEMBER MY NAME is that it has a distinctly tame, quiet, television-movie style feel to it, so that the drama feels oddly muted for a movie made for the cinemas. It's a late '70s stalker story along the lines of PLAY MISTY FOR ME, although not quite as good as the Eastwood movie.

What REMEMBER MY NAME does have going for it is an excellent cast of past and future stars who enliven an otherwise ordinary tale. The story involves a seemingly happily married couple who are disturbed by the arrival of the husband's old flame who seems obsessed with resuming their relationship. What follows is quietly gripping in places, although the film as a whole is let down by a non-existent ending and a definite lack of incident.

Anthony Perkins is excellent at playing these mild-mannered characters hiding dark secrets but the real acting honours go to Geraldine Chaplin, who invests her disturbed character with real authenticity; she's absolutely frightening in the part. The supporting cast includes plenty of faces who would go on to become famous in the future: Tim Thomerson, Dennis Franz, and best of all a skinny Jeff Goldblum. Blaxploitation actor Moses Gunn also has a role.

An interesting and well-acted psychological drama about an unhappily married man (Perkins) who finds himself stalked by his first wife (Chaplin), a mentally unbalanced woman who spent the last 12 years in prison for murder. You've seen this kind of insane-female-admirer plot before, but here it's handled more intelligently and tastefully than usual. It remains refreshingly unpredictable all the way through.

Chaplin is particularly impressive, managing to exude fragility, menace, and just plain craziness all at once. It's a solid performance if you're willing to overlook her ever-changing accent (is her character supposed to be American or English?). The film also features an overbearing blues soundtrack that, while decent enough in itself, sounds like it belongs in another film. Still, it's a good movie, probably worth viewing more than once.

Frequently the maker of intriguing films (The Moderns, Equinox, Trouble In Mind) and protégé of the great Robert Altman (who produces here), writer-director Alan Rudolph's 1978 film also fits this mould. Here, we have showcased a stunning central performance by Geraldine Chaplin (the actress also a regular Altman collaborator) as the enigmatic, volatile Emily, seemingly returning from we know not where (prison?) and set on disrupting the life of Anthony Perkins' construction worker, Neil Curry, and his wife Berry Berenson's Barbara. Rudolph sets up his film as an effective mystery/thriller - albeit in his customary offbeat style - keeping us guessing as to the stalking Emily's intents, motives and history, creating a mood and unsettling presence, at times reminiscent of something like Michael Haneke's Hidden. The personal malaise obviously being suffered by Emily is also broadened out to encompass feelings of greater societal paranoia (post-Vietnam and Watergate?), alluded to via the film's running TV commentary, referencing (of all things) a Budapest earthquake.

Rudolph's cast is consistently impressive, Perkins attempting to maintain calm in the face of Emily's increasingly prominent and disruptive presence, Berenson convincing as the wife asking the increasingly urgent questions, whilst Moses Gunn is probably the most sympathetic character here with his well-meaning landlord to Emily, Pike, who has genuine concern for Emily's state of mind. It is this state of mind on which Rudolph focuses our attention, with Chaplin quite superb, whether flirting romantically to Alan Autry's fellow worker, Rusty, creeping silently deadpan and undetected around the Curry household, or exacting (sometimes violent) retribution against (a young, lanky) Jeff Goldblum's store manager, Mr Nudd, or Alfre Woodward's shop worker, Rita. As is often the case with Rudolph I've found, the payoff may not fully justify the impressive, here slow, scene setting and build-up. This rather proves (again) to be the case with Remember My Name - the journey is worth catching, nevertheless.

Drama about a seriously disturbed woman (Geraldine Chaplin) who has just been released from jail. She then proceeds to stalk and terrorize her ex-husband (Anthony Perkins) and his new wife (Berry Berenson--Perkins real life wife).

A familiar storyline that is done at a snails pace. Everything moves so slowly and all the actors appear drugged out. I had trouble staying awake! Even worse is a terrible music score that had me turning off the sound completely. It all leads to a thoroughly predictable conclusion that annoyed me. This gets three stars for good direction and good acting by the three leads despite the material.

Geraldine Chaplin's character has been in prison for years. She murdered her husband's (Tony Perkins') lover. She leaves prison institutionalized and inept and full of vengeance. She begin to stalk the ex- and his wife, damaging property and actually invading the home and confronting her. Of course, she has reason for anger in the most unbalanced of ways. Geraldine Chaplin does a great job in what is mostly a plodding film. We have to feel sorry for her in a way because she has been robbed of the tools to integrate into society and, instead, keeps the tunnel vision going. Perkins is, as usual, pretty weird, and still seems to have some feelings toward here. It's an intense, uncomfortable film, with a very good soundtrack.

You need not have to wade through any over-intellectualized reviews of this film! Breaking it down into basics: (1) it is a low-budget indie; (2)you can figure it out by at least midway through for those with above a lukewarm IQ; (3) some very wasted time; (4) not quite as satisfying as it could have/should have been, since the predator who is really a victim is completely unsympathetic Skip it unless you really enjoy slogging through old B&W B-movies which offer little more than simple revenge as character motivation.

When a loopy chick starts stalking a young couple, they aren't sure why. But the viewer sees just how wack she is, even with Pike, the building super, in her own building. Emily slaps, then hugs him...so he figures it out pretty quickly. She's just nuts. And follows Neil and Barbara (Tony Perkins, Bery Berenson) all over town. And into their house. Perkins had his big role in Psycho, back in 1960. Geraldine Chaplin is Charlie Chaplin's daughter. Started in ballet, moved into acting. Emily terrorizes everyone she meets... her coworkers, Barbara, but no one seems to call the cops. So she gets away with it. So much anger. And then finally, the secrets start to come out. And things really happen! The best part of this film was some great jazz music by Alberta Hunter. An early role for Jeff Goldblum. And fun trivia... Perkin's film wife was also his real wife ! This was her first film role. Berenson died in the nine eleven attacks in 2001, in new york city. Was young, only 53. Written and directed by Alan Rudolph. Frequently works with producer Robert Altman. Altman was nominated for seven oscars, finally given an honorary award in 2006. It's pretty good. Starts out slow but picks up steam.

Geraldine Chaplin was so believable. It made such an impact on me that I can still remember it. Especially wonderful for me was the background music and singing of Alberta Hunter. It was not a movie of violent revenge. It was sweet revenge. Sure, it would be called stalking today, but she was just checking out that ratty ex-husband.

Take "Play Misty For Me". Add "Fatal Attraction." Throw a blanket of art house boredom over them and, voila, you pretty much have this film, the fourth successful attempt by Alan Rudolph, one of 70s and 80s cinema's more gifted directorial con artists, to convince audiences that they are watching something profound rather than what they are actually viewing, something profoundly dull. I stuck with it for a while because the Alberta Hunter songs are fantastic (wish there were more of 'em) and because some of my favorite 70s/80s actors are in it, like Moses Gunn, Jeff Goldblum, Alfre Woodard and, of course, Tony Perkins. Problem is Goldblum, Woodard and Gunn aren't given much of anything to do, certainly nothing interesting, and you don't buy Perkins as a construction worker. Guy's so gaunt he looks like he can barely lift a hammer. So after fifty five minutes of a too mannered Geraldine Chaplin failing to do what Glenn Close or Jessica Walter did in the first ten minutes of their movies, namely scare me and/or get under my skin, I pulled the plug. Solid C.

This startling movie shows how an abrasive character can be created by simply not using the words please or thank you.

Geraldine Chaplin as Emily interacts with nearly every other character in the story like metal striking flint, she creates sparks by just entering the scene.

It takes a while to understand why she is intruding into the lives of married couple Neil and Barbara Curry (Anthony Perkins and Berry Berenson). But the story eventually comes to light and we realise Emily had an agenda all along.

The casting is against type. Just look at the films Tony Perkins made before and after "Remember My Name", where nearly all the characters he played could trace their roots back to Norman Bates. Here it's Geraldine Chaplin's Emily who is the character on the edge. She is the one with a touch of the Norman B's. Even though there is little violence, this film keeps the tension ramped up, much of it because of our expectations.

The film is discussed in a good biography by Ronald Bergan, "Anthony Perkins: A Haunted Star". He tells how Berry Berenson, Perkins real life wife, got the part of his wife in the movie when she inadvertently arrived with their children in producer Robert Altman's office. Altman asked her to play the part impressed with her natural qualities although she had never acted in a film.

Bergan's biography, which covers the conflicts in Perkins life, also tells how happy he and Berenson were before illness overwhelmed him. The book was published in 1995, before Berry lost her life in one of the planes on 9/11. At least Anthony Perkins was spared that knowledge.

"Remember My Name" is unique, with a soundtrack of songs by Alberta Hunter that acts like a strolling minstrel following the protagonists with tracks such as "You Reap Just What You Sow".

If you haven't seen it, "Remember My Name" makes for a brilliant discovery.

Recently released inmate Emily (Geraldine Chaplin) starts stalking construction worker Neil Curry (Anthony Perkins) and his wife Barbara (Berry Berenson, Perkins' real life wife).

This is missing the first scene which is Emily being released from prison. It's not set up properly. It needs to show who she is before the stalking starts. There is another problem. Chaplin's slight frame makes her less than threatening. She does all she can with acting but her character really needs to do something truly scary. She could be holding a knife and I wouldn't see that as threatening. I do see her mental instability but I don't see the danger. Other notable actors here are Moses Gunn, Jeff Goldblum, Tim Thomerson, and Alfre Woodard who is only starting out in her second movie. This is an interesting indie with some interesting performances and a future star starting out.