It's not easy to portray a character who might be crazy, might be well, might be both at the same time. Jean Simmons delivers an absolute tour-de-force performance that was gripping from start to finish.
Here's the deal, though. The character of Charlotte Bronn is such a brittle paranoiac that most people in her life would run, not walk, away from her after a while.
At the beginning of the film her stiff husband, Dan O'Herlihy, is checking her out of the Gov. Willliam J. Le Petomane Memorial Gambling Casino For The Insane.
She comes home to an over-bearing step-mother (Albertson), a beautiful step-sister (Fleming), and a tactless maid (Card). In short order we also meet the boarder, a non-tenured professor and protege (Zimbalist) of her husband. Only the latter seems to be fully at ease with Simmons, since he's never previously met her. Whereas the others are all walking on eggshells.
As the movie unfolds, Simmons becomes increasingly unhinged, spurred at times by the often self-serving gossip of "Ham" and her longtime friend Cathy (Barnes) that O'Herlihy is having an affair with Fleming.
I found Jake Diamond's (Zimbalist) affection for Simmons to be entirely ungrounded in reality. He's a great-looking young academic in a college town. Hamiltion Gregory's (Dunne) affection for Simmons at least has nostalgia going for it, but he could have any woman after his divorce, with his job as a Boston bank manager and that killer apartment.
Ultimately, while I found Simmons' portrayal mesmerizing and tragic, by the end I felt at least as much sympathy for O'Herlihy, Albertson and Fleming. This really is a family destroyed by mental illness, with no easy answers. Cut out of Harvard scenes and reduce the set changes a bit, and you would have a very moving night at the live theatre.
Of course, this is Hollywood. So we're treated to one final act of defiance from Simmons. How anybody could see that as her discovering self-empowerment rather than the next rung down the drain, I am mystified. That final scene outside is trite and entirely unrealistic.
Nevertheless, this is a movie for ''mature audiences only" as the TV disclaimers used to warn. ''Some subject matter may not be suitable for younger audiences. Viewer discretion if advised."
Furthermore, it illustrates the artistic bankruptcy of of the Academy of Motion Pictures that they gave the Oscar to hammy Susan Hayward, who on her BEST day wasn't fit to answer the mail for Jean Simmons, never mind prevail as Best Actress in 1959 for I Want To Live! Good lord, what an injustice.
Here's the deal, though. The character of Charlotte Bronn is such a brittle paranoiac that most people in her life would run, not walk, away from her after a while.
At the beginning of the film her stiff husband, Dan O'Herlihy, is checking her out of the Gov. Willliam J. Le Petomane Memorial Gambling Casino For The Insane.
She comes home to an over-bearing step-mother (Albertson), a beautiful step-sister (Fleming), and a tactless maid (Card). In short order we also meet the boarder, a non-tenured professor and protege (Zimbalist) of her husband. Only the latter seems to be fully at ease with Simmons, since he's never previously met her. Whereas the others are all walking on eggshells.
As the movie unfolds, Simmons becomes increasingly unhinged, spurred at times by the often self-serving gossip of "Ham" and her longtime friend Cathy (Barnes) that O'Herlihy is having an affair with Fleming.
I found Jake Diamond's (Zimbalist) affection for Simmons to be entirely ungrounded in reality. He's a great-looking young academic in a college town. Hamiltion Gregory's (Dunne) affection for Simmons at least has nostalgia going for it, but he could have any woman after his divorce, with his job as a Boston bank manager and that killer apartment.
Ultimately, while I found Simmons' portrayal mesmerizing and tragic, by the end I felt at least as much sympathy for O'Herlihy, Albertson and Fleming. This really is a family destroyed by mental illness, with no easy answers. Cut out of Harvard scenes and reduce the set changes a bit, and you would have a very moving night at the live theatre.
Of course, this is Hollywood. So we're treated to one final act of defiance from Simmons. How anybody could see that as her discovering self-empowerment rather than the next rung down the drain, I am mystified. That final scene outside is trite and entirely unrealistic.
Nevertheless, this is a movie for ''mature audiences only" as the TV disclaimers used to warn. ''Some subject matter may not be suitable for younger audiences. Viewer discretion if advised."
Furthermore, it illustrates the artistic bankruptcy of of the Academy of Motion Pictures that they gave the Oscar to hammy Susan Hayward, who on her BEST day wasn't fit to answer the mail for Jean Simmons, never mind prevail as Best Actress in 1959 for I Want To Live! Good lord, what an injustice.