A Delicate Balance
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A Delicate Balance
Plot
A Delicate Balance is the 1973 film adaptation of Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Katharine Hepburn and Paul Scofield play an old married couple, Agnes and Tobias, who much prefer to be alone. Each time someone visits them, their "delicate balance" is threatened. The first intruder is Agnes' inebriated sister, Claire (Kate Reid). The next is their much-divorced daughter, Julia (Lee Remick). The limit is reached when well-meaning friends Harry (Joseph Cotten) and Edna (Betsy Blair) show up unexpectedly and threaten to stay forever. In keeping with the austerity of the other American Film Theatre presentations, director Tony Richardson eschews his usual cinematographic pyrotechnics here. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviCast
Betsy Blair - Edna; Joseph Cotten - Harry; Katharine Hepburn - Agnes; Kate Reid - Claire; Lee Remick - Julia; Paul Scofield - Tobias; Sam WaterstonCredit
David Brockhurst - Art Director, Margaret Furse - Costume Designer, Andrew Grieve - First Assistant Director, Tony Richardson - Director, John Victor Smith - Editor, David Watkin - Cinematographer, Ely Landau - Producer, Neil Hartley - Producer, Henry T. Weinstein - Producer, Edward Albee - Screenwriter, Edward Albee - Play Author| A Deeper Love (2007 Film), A Dedicated Man (1986 Film) | |
| A Demon for Trouble (1934 Film), A Demon in My View (1992 Film) |
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A Delicate Balance (film)
| A Delicate Balance | |
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 DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Tony Richardson |
| Produced by | Ely A. Landau |
| Written by | Edward Albee |
| Starring | Katharine Hepburn Paul Scofield Lee Remick Kate Reid Joseph Cotten |
| Cinematography | David Watkin |
| Editing by | John Victor-Smith |
| Distributed by | American Film Theatre |
| Release date(s) | December 10, 1973 |
| Running time | 133 minutes |
| Country | United States Canada United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
A Delicate Balance is a 1973 drama film directed by Tony Richardson. The screenplay by Edward Albee is based on his 1966 Pultizer Prize-winning play of the same name.
The film was the second in a series produced by Ely A. Landau for his American Film Theatre,[1] a subscription-based program of screen adaptations of notable stage plays shown in five hundred theaters in four hundred cities.
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Contents
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Plot
The film spans three days in the life of Agnes and Tobias, an upper middle class couple who share their comfortable suburban Connecticut home with her acerbic alcoholic sister Claire. It is matriarch Agnes who helps the trio maintain a delicate balance in their lives, held together by habit, shared memories, and considerable consumption of dry martinis.
The seemingly peaceful facade of their existence is shattered with the arrival of longtime friends Harry and Edna who, suddenly overcome by a nameless terror, fled their home in search of a safe haven. The couple is followed by Agnes and Tobias' bitter, 36-year-old daughter Julia, who has returned to the family nest following the collapse of her fourth marriage. Their presence leads to a period of self-examination, during which all six are forced to explore their psyches and confront the demons hidden there.
Cast
- Katharine Hepburn as Agnes
- Paul Scofield as Tobias
- Lee Remick as Julia
- Kate Reid as Claire
- Joseph Cotten as Harry
- Betsy Blair as Edna
Critical reception
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "a fine, tough, lacerating production" and added, "Richardson's cast could hardly be better."[2]
TV Guide rated the film two out of four stars, calling it "unfortunately stiff, dull, and extremely stagy."[1]
Awards and nominations
Kate Reid was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture but lost to Linda Blair in The Exorcist.
References
External links
- A Delicate Balance at the Internet Movie Database
- A Delicate Balance at AllRovi
- A Delicate Balance at Rotten Tomatoes
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