Du venin dans les veines

If you take it for what it is,a feast of camp,then this movie (and particularly Lange) is much fun to watch.Probably influenced by Davis's (see "hush hush sweet Charlotte") and Crawford's end of career ( see "straitjacket"),Jessica Lange gives an over the top performance of the bitchiest mother-in-law you can think of.Always a beaming smile on her face even when she 's at her most sadistic.Her bubble head son seems not to have overcome his Oedipus complex;when at the turning of the year,"Auld lang syne" is played,he dances with his mom.As for the wedding ,he seems to marry her. Besides,being able to lead a normal life

after what we learned from his "education" is hard to believe ;a boy like him would have normally ended up like cousin Sebastian in "Suddenly last Summer".

This extravaganza has also intellectual pretensions:in the church ,Martha keeps on reciting her act of contrition while quoting the Ruth Book in the Bible;in her troubled mind ,her unfortunate daughter-in-law becomes Ruth ,whose affection to mother-in-law Naomi reflects her own situation.

If you're not a highbrow,and if you like old-fashioned cheesy melodramas "Hush" is made for you.If you're a "pulp fiction" fan,well,please pass by.

I've just finished watching this movie and the only thing I can think is "I should have done anything else in those 90 something minutes." What was that? I can't even say the plot wasn't OK because there was no plot at all. And how about the preview, full of shots that are not on the film, and give the wrong impression about it. How come Jessica Lange got involved in something like that? Was she in debt with someone?

"Hush" is the kind of film that's so easy that it should work right on the first view but it's not the case. I remember watching it a few years ago and finding one of the most boring things I've ever seen except for the outstanding acting of Jessica Lange. Fate pulls its strings sometimes and one of those nights when you're desperate for something to show up on TV and there you go, there was this and I got a little gripped into seeing it again, this time paying more attention to details. Well, it turned out to be quite a good film, undeserving the low rating that is getting now.

A twisted and thrilling tale about acceptance and skeletons in the closet? You can say that. Gwyneth Paltrow plays the lovable Helen, a successful and beautiful woman, loved by a man who's also both of the fore-mentioned qualities, the great Jackson (Johnathon Schaech) of the powerful Baring family. But he has a mother, the surprising Martha (Jessica Lange) of whom Helen always tries to please to the best since Jackson and his mom has some strong bonds between them and she wants to be part of this quite perfect family. Habitual to flicks of the same caliber, there's secrets, tension between both women and a certain disdain the old lady feels for the younger and it's up to Helen to discover what's the problem with the Baring family. Her only great ally is Jackson's grandmother (Nina Foch, excellent), father of Martha's late husband, and keeper of some family secrets that can storm a big mess in everyone's lives.

There isn't much to be said about "Hush" except that the cast is great, even though they're not at their greatest moment. Except Lange and Foch who are brilliant, and the memorable special appearance of Hal Holbrook as the doctor. But it's Lange who steals the show playing a pitiful villain, sometimes adorable, other times really cruel but most of the time always in control of the situation. The plot should include more characters to make this more tense and less concentrated in those three main characters. The relationship between Jackson and Martha could've go to more controversial ways, cause everything seems to indicate that (the scene where he's covered in mud and she cleans him, they're like pretending it's just a silly joke. There's something going on there).

I know Jonathan Darby has directed better films (like the criminally underrated and almost forgotten "The Enemy Within" with Forest Whitaker) but what he makes here is quite good, never cheap and at the most entertaining to watch for its cast and the beautiful cinematography. 8/10

From the low score it has got from the IMDB users, i didn't expect too much. I only watched it to see Gywneth Paltrow. Indeed, the first half of the film was not too impressive. The scenes tended to be fragmented. As more of the plot was unveiled, the film became intense and engaging. I think this film deserves slightly more points than it has got.

Jessica Lange commenced her career by following in the (admittedly light) footsteps of Fay Wray. She seems determined to end it by stomping in the heavier footfalls of middle-period Joan Crawford. As the cyclonic star of this film, Lange runs the gamut. She flings her arms around, tugs at her hair, reverts to that coy, sideways glance that implies she's only about, oh, forty five, bellows out in growling chest tones, sobs hysterically - she does, to state it simply, the lot.

Which leaves her co-stars understandably bewildered. Gwyneth Paltrow manages to look more annoyed than frightened, and when, in the best Scooby Doo manner, she neatly ties up the loose threads of the plot, annoyance gives way to abject boredom. With her dead fish eyes and droning monotone, Gwyn obviously wants the whole thing over with more than we do. Quite an achievement.

And few could blame her. Of all the silly premises that have been put on film, the monster mother is surely the silliest. Its mighty hard to believe that Jessica's Ken doll son has managed to go thirty years without once telling the old cow to put a sock in it. Perhaps I'm a bit obtuse but I still don't quite get the bit about the murder with the suction pump (or whatever it was.) At any rate if some post natal, gormless drip can figure it out surely it shouldn't be taxing the police too much to make an arrest.

That would imply real life of course, and Hush has nothing to do with that. If you're in the market for an aged, raging southern belle then you can't go past this, but have a look at the genuine article - Joan Crawford in "Queen Bee" - first.