I loved this movie, despite its being so downbeat and sometimes depressing. I thought Elizabeth Taylor was fantastic, and I found myself rooting for her, in spite of her character's instability, and her having tricked Montgomery Clift into marriage. I thought their screen chemistry was more powerful than his with Eva Marie Saint, who came off as insipid in her role of rejected sweetheart. (It's like comparing sparkling champagne to flat ginger ale.)
The scenes in the institution were stark and haunting, as was that very unique doll collection. So much fear and tragedy, as well as a two-edge maternal sword: if her mother was a slave woman, then she's part black (anathema to a southern belle); if she's her father's legal wife, then she's inherited mental illness. Top it off with the clash of cultures between her and her northern husband, and suspicion that he still loves his still single ex, and you just know they'll be no Hollywood happy ending.
Yet you'll still watch.
The scenes in the institution were stark and haunting, as was that very unique doll collection. So much fear and tragedy, as well as a two-edge maternal sword: if her mother was a slave woman, then she's part black (anathema to a southern belle); if she's her father's legal wife, then she's inherited mental illness. Top it off with the clash of cultures between her and her northern husband, and suspicion that he still loves his still single ex, and you just know they'll be no Hollywood happy ending.
Yet you'll still watch.