A Thousand Acres

A Thousand Acres (1997:***) This sober drama lasted about a week in theaters and was dismissed as dreary soap opera by most critics. There are echoes of "King Lear" in the story of a wealthy farmer who decides to divide his estate among his three daughters. But I thought the reviews overestimated the extent to which the story uses the Lear parallels. It's just a catalyst for a strong drama of family conflicts and repressed memories coming to the fore that soon goes its own way. There are some script problems: the youngest daughter's loyalty to her cruel father seems quite inexplicable, and as a lawyer you would think she'd know better than to put a hopelessly senile person on the witness stand. The fine cast does pretty well, especially Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer, although as usual Jennifer Jason Leigh is barely adequate as the youngest sister. Maybe watching this on a stormy Sunday night helped put me in the mood, but I rather enjoyed this one.

Given the way the film begins - lots of slow tracking shots of the thousand acres - I expected this to be a dull but worthy effort only brightened by Michelle Pfeiffer (the reason I bought the tape). To an extent this was true - Pfeiffer's character was by far the most interesting. Her anger throughout, although utterly justified, carried an air of self-destruction and manipulation that made the story most watchable. There were points when I wondered if the film was going to miss any tragedian tricks (perhaps I mean soap opera headlines: death, abandonment, loss with no true deliverance, etc), but it was the believability of Pfeiffer and the ugly familiness achieved by the rest of the cast that carried it, showing peaks of humanity through the weight of the film's atmosphere.

The two primary questions I use in evaluating a film are: "Is it a story worth telling?", and "is it a story well told?" When I apply these questions to Jocelyn Morehouse's A Thousand Acres (adapted from the novel by Jane Smiley), the answers are: yes, yes and no. The basic story is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear. This story provides fertile soil for a tragic, but compelling story as told in Jane Smiley's novel as she moves the setting of the story to the cornfields of Iowa.

This revisionist King Lear has an aging farmer (played by two-time Oscar winner Jason Robards) proposing to divide his farm among his three daughters as a way of minimizing the costs of inheritance taxes. The youngest daughter expresses some reservations, and is immediately cut out of the partnership. When the farm is divided between the other two daughters, the stage is set for a tragedy of epic proportions. As the story unfolds, the family relations are strained and broken by greed, betrayal, death, abuse, miscommunication, and ghosts from the past.

When Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer read Jane Smiley's novel, they purchased the screen rights. Women are at the center of this project from beginning to end. This is actually somewhat refreshing, since Hollywood is not known for sensitivity in its portrayal of females or in its understanding of female viewpoints. Unfortunately, this has led some to dismiss the film as a "chick flick." While there are no male characters in the film for whom we feel much compassion or sympathy, the film is really about Ginny (as played by Jessica Lange). If the viewer follows the dramatic arc of this character, it is easier to find the heart of this film.

Finding the heart of the film appears to be a problem. Roger Ebert gave the film two stars (out of a possible four), Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a letter grade of F. Others--myself included--liked it a bit better than that.

The film is clearly not without its problems. Film adaptations are difficult because richly textured stories must be trimmed and abridged to fit a two-hour time span for the typical film. Most of the criticisms of A Thousand Acres revolve around underdeveloped characters, subplots left hanging, and unclear story lines. I suspect some of this is the result of commercial tampering and trimming by the producers. Some of the blame clearly goes to director Jocelyn Morehouse who doesn't do enough to help us care about some of the characters. When tragedy strikes, it is almost as if we are reading about strangers in a newspaper.

The performances by Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer (Pfeiffer plays the second sister, Rose) are so compelling that the film remains engaging in spite of its flaws. Jessica Lange gives what may be the performance of her already Oscar-rich career (Tootsie and Blue Sky). This is a different kind of role for Pfeiffer and she clearly rises to the occasion. A Thousand Acres is worth seeing if you are interested in a good story that comes close to being well told.

I didn't actually have high hopes for this film because I had read some critics reviews when it first came out. I have not read the novel either. I thought the film was very well done and was moved by it. I agree that many of the supporting characters are underdeveloped but I could overlook that because I knew what was motivating the main characters. The two lead actresses are brilliant, especially Jessica Lange, who deserved an Oscar nomination for this. I loved the way her character slowly changed through the movie and Lange can evoke so much emotion in the viewer with something as small as a hand gesture. Pfieffer is strong as well although the story mainly revolves around Ginny and I don't really see why Pfieffer gets first billing here. I strongly recommend the film, espeically on dvd.

This movie was absolutely wonderful. To tell you the truth, I wasn't very excited about having to watch this movie; I didn't see it as being my type, but that just proves that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Jessica Lange and Michelle Pheiffer brought the plot to life with their incredible acting abilities. I'm glad Jennifer Jason Leigh didn't have a big part though, as I am not too fond of her. There is a surprise about the father in the movie too, if you have not yet seen it. It is a wonderful film, and I recommend seeing it.