The Henry Miller Odyssey

I saw this film a year or two ago and have not been able to find it again. It bears being seen several times.

Anyone who has read and enjoyed Henry Miller, or who appreciates Miller's place in 20th-century American literature, should see this film. It's basically one long interview with Miller, who by the time of its release was in his late 70s. He died at 88 in 1980.

Yet he is sharp as a tack here and as charming as ever. There are scenes with him swimming and cycling, and a visit with him to his old Paris haunts.

Nothing that I know of conveys what Miller was like in person as well as this film does. By his own admission, his writings, marvelous as they were, did not reveal him: "...the books you write. They're not you. They're not me sitting here, this Henry Miller. They belong to someone else. It's terrible." (Barbara Kraft, "The Last Days of Henry Miller," Hudson Review, Autumn 1993, vol. 46(3):477)

Listening to Miller, seeing him gesticulate, watching him move and reflect--indispensable complements to his writing for any serious admirer of his work.