Music Box
Released December 22, 1989 Starring Jessica Lange (as Ann Talbot), Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest, Donald Moffat, Lukas Haas, Cheryl Lynn Bruce Directed by Costa-Gavras 123 min. Box Office gross - $6.2 million See complete credits at Internet Movie Database Trailer |
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Acclaimed Greek film director Constantin Costa-Gavras is known for his political dramas such as Z (1969) and Missing (1981). In Music Box, the subject of man's inhumanity to man during World War II is explored as a lawyer must defend her Hungarian immigrant father who has been accused of heinous war crimes.
Asked about what the film meant to her, Lange said, "The only thing I know about this film is that it's a love story. It's about this woman's devotion and love and commitment to her family and to her father. I always have to find the simplest line, the most organic emotional thread."
This was Lange's first ethnic role and, with dark hair and little makeup, she gives a raw and intense performance. Her character goes from total denial toward the accusations against her father to a gradual horror that they might indeed be true. She earned her fifth Academy Award nomination but would lose to Jessica Tandy (for Driving Miss Daisy).
Critical Sampling:
"She has the will and the technique to take a role that's really no more than a function of melodrama and turn this movie into a cello concerto." - Pauline Kael, New Yorker
"Lange gives her most powerful performance since 'Frances'... She taps equal depths of emotions, but she has to find her way through a complex web of intrigue to find them. The result is a more measured and credible performance, one that builds by relentless increments.." - Brian D. Johnson, Macleans
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Asked about what the film meant to her, Lange said, "The only thing I know about this film is that it's a love story. It's about this woman's devotion and love and commitment to her family and to her father. I always have to find the simplest line, the most organic emotional thread."
This was Lange's first ethnic role and, with dark hair and little makeup, she gives a raw and intense performance. Her character goes from total denial toward the accusations against her father to a gradual horror that they might indeed be true. She earned her fifth Academy Award nomination but would lose to Jessica Tandy (for Driving Miss Daisy).
Critical Sampling:
"She has the will and the technique to take a role that's really no more than a function of melodrama and turn this movie into a cello concerto." - Pauline Kael, New Yorker
"Lange gives her most powerful performance since 'Frances'... She taps equal depths of emotions, but she has to find her way through a complex web of intrigue to find them. The result is a more measured and credible performance, one that builds by relentless increments.." - Brian D. Johnson, Macleans
Back to Films & Television