Portrait d'une enfant déchue

Dud story about a fashion model falling apart is given such a handsome, chilly look, precise editing and lovely music passages that one is nearly tempted to call "Puzzle of a Downfall Child", at the very least, half a success. Still, Faye Dunaway isn't charismatic enough to carry the weight of a leaden character portrait, one wherein the heroine feels her soul fragmenting yet also questions whether she still possesses a soul to lose...or perhaps never had one to begin with (she is a lapsed Catholic, after all). Dunaway's model (with the self-made-up name of Lou Andreas Sand!) is flashing back on her career while an ex-paramour and colleague tape-records her shallow reminiscences of bitchy, badgering photographers and lovers. Her earliest memories (particularly her first modeling assignment posing with an unleashed falcon) are quite vivid, but there's no substance or self-effacing humor in Carol Eastman's screenplay (penned under the alias of Adrian Joyce). Director Jerry Schatzberg, who worked on the original story with Eastman, allows Dunaway too much room to wail and wither and carry on, and after awhile she's as isolated from us as she is from her work. Adam Holender's cinematography and Michael Small's music are each exquisite, and Evan Lottman's editing also deserves praise; however, these attributes are in the service of a barren melodrama so removed from reality that the episodes are practically devoid of anything interesting. It's almost as if that's the point. *1/2 from ****

Just as in Mahogany, audiences are supposed to forget the very well-known fact that models start their careers young. You can't say, "I want to be a model" when you're in your thirties and get discovered. Most models have to retire at that age because they're too old. So, when Faye Dunaway wants to become a model in Puzzle of a Downfall Child, we have to just nod and smile. We also have to nod and smile when she's caught unawares by how critical the modeling industry is. She's told to lose fifteen pounds, and she acts shocked. Models are torn to shreds on a daily basis. It's not a glamorous industry, despite the beautiful clothes and photographs. Why are we nodding and smiling? Because Faye Dunaway gives a great performance and we want to watch it. She tells her story in flashbacks to a journalist, so the film is a bit "1970s", but her acting is worth the funky zooms and long, aimless walks along the beach.

There's an incredible scene that acting teachers and coaches should show their students. Faye is on the phone with Roy Scheider, and she wants him to come over to her place. He keeps refusing, and with every line of dialogue, Faye gives a different expression. She could have just played the entire scene as "pleading" and read the lines as written, but instead, she said one line straight-forward, another teasing with a passive aggressive accusation, and another as a distraction, and yet another with desperation. I had a teacher once who told his students to write the motivation in the margin next to every line of dialogue. It's as if Faye were teaching that course, and to see her breaking down is a lovely piece of acting.

If you like that classic 1970 style of filmmaking, stories about successful models who have regrets along their climb to the top, or want to see a different Faye Dunaway than Mommie Dearest or Network, definitely check this one out.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why someone doesn't put this film out on DVD or video. Puzzle of a Downfall Child is a hauntingly spare film about the breakdown of beauty. Although less well known than The Panic in Needle Park, it is Jerry Schatzberg's masterpiece. His use of non-linear storytelling coupled with some incredibly dreamy flashback sequences made me feel as if, like heroine Lou Sands, I too was coming slightly undone. For Faye Dunaway fans (and really who isn't a fan of Faye's?), this film showcases not only her incredible beauty--the eyelashes are to die for--but also her talents as an actress. She is more believable as an actress portraying a model than any model portraying an actress could ever hope to be. If it should ever make its way to an art-house near you, you will do yourself a disservice if you miss it. After I left the theater, I kept thinking of that trite adage about how they don't make them like they used to.

Fashion model Lou Andreas Sand (Faye Dunaway) struggles with work and life. She struggles with relationships, with men, and with sex. She struggles with loneliness and with mental breakdown.

It's all about Faye Dunaway. It's a character study. It's well-made. Faye is bringing the same damage as she will in Chinatown. She's magnetic.

it saddens me to know that not many people will be able to witness the talent and beauty Faye brings to this tortured character!!! When was this released? 1970, when she was at her height, I am not from this time period, so I was wondering if anyone remembered what the critical reception of the film was? Why wasn't it a success? I was moved incredibly. and there must be some way to buy the movie without just watching it on you tube!!! Stunning Faye. i made so many screen shots!!!

This movie is for anyone that is interested in photography. The still shots themselves are amazing; the cinematography is incredible too. It is simple but raw etc. Faye is just so beautiful in this film and her story of madness is brilliant.