Anyone who knows film knows the difference between story and treatment.
Does anyone see this as a different story but the same treatment as Bergman's The Virgin Spring?
Oops, guess that sounds snobbish. But the style and the setting really do remind me of Bergman.
Funny that you should mention it, but I just watched "The Virgin Spring" a couple nights ago, and I can totally see where you're coming from. I also just watched Antonioni's "L'Eclisse" yesterday, and it seemed that "Tomorrow" had a somewhat similar mood and pacing to that movie. I couldn't believe how "artsy" it seemed, for an American movie. It wasn't rushed at all, and the director wasn't embarrassed to use long moments of silence, or long pauses of the camera on people's faces or on the landscape or elements of nature. Although I felt sorry for Robert Duvall having to maintain this over-the-top accent throughout the entire movie (I would have felt so awkward, if I were him), I really was entranced by the film and just could not stop watching (I had needed to get in bed earlier, and I could have stopped the movie and watched it later, but I just got pulled along, scene-by-scene.) Great comment, Jacksflicks!
shareSomehow your reply to my post slipped through the cracks, and I've only read it now. Thanks for the kind words and thoughtful comment. See further ruminations below.
shareYes. The slow, deliberate pace is pure Bergman. And "Tomorrow" is a gem too.
I better watch the last half tonight.
On second thought, The Virgin Spring was kind of a one-off for Bergman. (Like you say, a gem.) So maybe I should have compared Tomorrow specifically to The Virgin Spring rather than broadly to Bergman. (Though you can do this stylistically, as you pointed out with the pacing.)
Well, The Seventh Seal was set at about the same time. After these two, though, he was more into contemporary settings. Sure, he did period pieces like Fanny and Alexander and Cries and Whispers, but no more of this way-distant past. Also, he shifted from the existential crises of men -- The Virgin Spring, Wild Strawberies -- to the existential crises of women -- The Silence, Persona, Scenes from a Marriage, Cries and Whispers. His creative arc seems to have paralleled his own involvement with women.
Anyway, treatment and story...one usually thinks, Same story, different treatments: you know, like Gilda and Notorious or Peeping Tom and Psycho or Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Black Robe, or the two Capote biopics that came out on top of each other. But the way I posed them -- different story, same treatment -- that's a toughy.
I guess it's just that while watching Tomorrow I kept thinking about The Virgin Spring, of how the unfairness of a tragedy -- the murder of a cherished daughter, the death of one's new love and claiming away of her offspring -- is met with wrathful retribution or arbitrary justice -- the killing of an innocent boy along with his guilty brothers, the saving of the no-account offspring from a guilty verdict. Then, there are the stark, primitive settings, which are interchangable. You could also see Duvall and Von Sydow in each other's roles.
Same skeleton, different lives.
The female lead in Tomorrow reminded me of the actresses in Bergman films.
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Tomorrow 7/10
This story is already over
Yeah, they all have that half-starved look. ;)
shareOn the DVD commentary there's a conversation about this film and it's stars and both Horton Foote and Robert DuVal agreed that Olga Bellin was a real terror to work with. She insisted on doing things one way - Her way! DuVal said she was the one actresss he would never work with again. Foote and DuVal looked at each other nodding in agreement. She must have been a real bitch. Ms Bellin didn't like film and she didn't really work the stage to often either. She had personal difficulties I think....
Whither goest thou, America, In thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
On the other hand, someone has quoted Duvall as saying it's one of his favorite films. Discounting the possibility that for the sake of business it's a good idea for an actor always to say a particular film of his is "one of my favorites," it would suggest that he and Foote were able to compartmentalize Miss Bellin and enjoy the rest of the project.
You know that animus between cast members is often exploited to dramatic advantage, but I'm not sure how that would work in Duvall's and Bellin's case, since I can only see affection between their characters. Of course there's the comic cliché of the great screen lovers who can't stand each other off-camera.
DuVall himself has said that "Tomorrow" is one of his very favorite films, alng with "Lonesome Dove". No obvious or traditional love themes went on in the film. I don't think they even touched each other aside from that scene where they were talking about the house with the flowers all around and Fentry mentions maybe one day he could build a house like that, then she reaches up and fixes the safety pin on his shirt. . . . beautiful.. The speaking without words in this film was used to the fullest extent and worked flawlessly. It's what makes the picture so beautiful, so very special. This films could have had not one word of dialogue and gotten the message across. The acting and atmosphere, the waiting for things to take shape and the nuance was just that good.
Whither goest thou, America, In thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
It reminded me a lot of Robert Bresson's films; particularly Au Hasard Balthazar and Mouchette.
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