card53
Joined Nov 1999
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card53's rating
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card53's rating
I haven't seen this film in 33 years, so I can't offer much insightful commentary. I only remember that this was one of the most perfect productions of one of Shaw's most wonderfully confounding plays. Harrison in his next-to-last performance--and in a Shaw role, no less. Harrison does Shaw. Of course he's brilliant.
Rosemary Harris and Dana Ivey were beyond perfect, as was the rest of the cast, but they deserve special mention.
The pleasant surprise in the cast was Amy Irving. I can't conceive that any actress ever so captured the 1000 layers of Ellie Dunn. Anyone who's seen this film has to agree that she deserved a better career. A brilliant actress whose main claim to fame was horror films (albeit some good ones), MICKI + MAUDE and being married to Spielberg. She's now doing occasional guest spots on TV series.
Please, somebody, release a DVD! I have to see this once more in my lifetime.
Rosemary Harris and Dana Ivey were beyond perfect, as was the rest of the cast, but they deserve special mention.
The pleasant surprise in the cast was Amy Irving. I can't conceive that any actress ever so captured the 1000 layers of Ellie Dunn. Anyone who's seen this film has to agree that she deserved a better career. A brilliant actress whose main claim to fame was horror films (albeit some good ones), MICKI + MAUDE and being married to Spielberg. She's now doing occasional guest spots on TV series.
Please, somebody, release a DVD! I have to see this once more in my lifetime.
One of a series of short-story adaptations directed by Bruce Schwartz, "I Stand Here Ironing" is a moving tale of a mother's regret over her inability to provide for her daughter. It is also that rare example of a film that surpasses in quality its literary source. Tillie Olsen's original story merely alludes to events that Schwartz is able to depict with nuance and detail.
It's a low-budget affair, but the direction and acting more than compensate for the barren production design. Schwartz has a knack for eliciting from his cast the perfect reaction shots that communicate volumes, and he knows how long to hold each take for maximum impact. The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Solene and Sarah LeVan, who combine to play Emily in the various stages of her childhood. (The LeVan sisters, two years apart IRL, are so identical that I was not aware that two actresses played the role until I saw the cast list on IMDb.)
All of Schwartz's short-story adaptations (produced for the Thompson / Wadsworth literature textbook series) are extremely well-made and worth seeking out, but "I Stand Here Ironing" may well be the mini-masterpiece among the lot.
It's a low-budget affair, but the direction and acting more than compensate for the barren production design. Schwartz has a knack for eliciting from his cast the perfect reaction shots that communicate volumes, and he knows how long to hold each take for maximum impact. The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Solene and Sarah LeVan, who combine to play Emily in the various stages of her childhood. (The LeVan sisters, two years apart IRL, are so identical that I was not aware that two actresses played the role until I saw the cast list on IMDb.)
All of Schwartz's short-story adaptations (produced for the Thompson / Wadsworth literature textbook series) are extremely well-made and worth seeking out, but "I Stand Here Ironing" may well be the mini-masterpiece among the lot.
