Billy Wilder directed Fedora, a defiantly and proudly old-fashioned drama starring William Holden and Marthe Keller.
The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on Tom Tryon’s novella.
Grade: C (*1/2* out of *****)
Once a great film star, the foreign-born Fedora has become reclusive after a career spanning four decades. At the height of her fame, Fedora withdrew to private island near Corfu.
People are socked when it is confirmed that Fedora committed suicide by throwing herself in front of a train. One of her mourners at her funeral is aging has-been Hollywood producer Barry “Dutch” Detweiler, who was once Fedora’s lover.
Dutch recalls visiting Fedora two weeks before her death at her villa in order to convince her to come out of retirement for a new adaptation of Anna Karenina. Dutch is suspicious when Fedora seems confused, disheveled, and cannot remember details of their love affair.
Fedora tells him she is a prisoner on the island, held captive by the elderly Polish Countess Sobryanski, her overprotective servant Miss Balfour, her chauffeur Kritos, and Dr. Vando, the cosmetic surgeon responsible for keeping Fedora looking so young.
All kinds of horrific (but predictable) revelations are made, and Dutch considers disclosing the sordid story to the press, but realizes he still loves Fedora and that she has been punished enough by the loss of her career and her guilt over her daughter.
In the end, Dutch says goodbye to the elderly Fedora, who dies six weeks after they part.
Wilder originally envisioned Marlene Dietrich as Fedora and Faye Dunaway as her daughter Antonia, but Dietrich despised the book and the script.
Wilder decided to cast former fashion model Marthe Keller as both mother and daughter, but the actress was in bad car accident, so he cast Hildegard Knef in the older role.
On May 30, 1978, the film world premiered at the Cannes Film Fest as part of a retrospective of the director’s work. Afterward, it was released in select US and European markets with little marketing.
In the film, Henry Fonda is the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who presents a lifetime achievement award to Fedora.
Fedora was a re-teaming of Wilder with Holden, who had collaborated on Sunset Boulevard, and like the earlier film, it harshly criticized Hollywood’s shabby treatment of its talent. However, unlike Sunset Boulevard, what Fedora attacked was Hollywood’s youth-oriented culture, not the disposability of perceived has-beens.
Cast
William Holden as Barry “Dutch” Detweiler
Marthe Keller as Fedora/Antonia
Hildegard Knef as Countess Sobryanski
José Ferrer as Dr. Vando
Frances Sternhagen as Miss Balfour
Stephen Collins as The Young Barry Detweiler
Gottfried John as Kritos
Arlene Francis as The Newscaster
Mario Adorf as The Hotel Manager
Michael York as Himself
Henry Fonda as President of the Academy
