Themes: Age Disparity Romance, Teachers and Students
Main Cast: Dennis Hopper, Amy Irving, Amy Locane, Julie Harris, Gary Busey
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Based on the novel Farmer by Jim Harrison, this drama concerns Joseph Svenden (Dennis Hopper), a one-time farmer in his late forties who took up teaching when he permanently injured his leg in an accident. Joseph's life is orderly, precise, and rather dull. He teaches with as much enthusiasm as he can muster, lives in the farmhouse where he grew up, and has been engaged for the last six years to Rosealee Henson (Amy Irving). Rosealee is the widow of his best friend, and, for a variety of reasons, both she and Joseph are reluctant to set a date (she devotes much of her time to caring for her ailing mother). One day Joseph is met in his barn by Catherine Wheeler (Amy Locane), a new student in his senior class. Catherine attempts to seduce Joseph, who dutifully refuses, only to request a second chance a few moments later, which Catherine eagerly grants him. This unexpected event brings out a newly adventurous side in Joseph, though he suddenly has a new set of complications to go along with it; he discovers that his school is closing, and Catherine's parents are predictably angry when they find out about their daughter's liaison. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
From the start of Carried Away, it's clear that the two lead characters are locked in a slow dance of waiting. Joseph and Rosalee are teacher colleagues caring for ailing, aging mothers, which circumstance has extended their engagement to such a length (six years) that a kind of stale familiarity has set in. Enter Catherine Wheeler, a transfer student with an overactive libido; she sees Joseph not just as another lover, but as an instrument of revenge against her hard-line military father (played by Gary Busey) and alcoholic mother (Gail Cronauer). (It's implied that Catherine's instability, not her father's profession, has been the reason the family has moved so many times.) Director Bruno Barreto choreographs these dance steps with subtlety, allowing us to understand fully the motives of every character, no matter how selfish they are. It's his most powerful film, which he followed with the well-received political drama Four Days in September. Dennis Hopper tamps down his usual flamboyance to play a man with limited options and even less willpower; Amy Irving is persuasive as a woman desperate for real happiness and watching her one chance starting to slip away. When the two characters take off their clothes to make love, it's not an erotic scene, because you sense that they are stripping away something more than pieces of fabric to get to the truth of their relationship. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Hal Holbrook - Dr. Evans; Gail Cronauer - Beverly Wheeler; Christopher Pettiet - Robert Henson; Priscilla Pointer - Lily Henson
Credit
Catalaine Knell - Co-producer, Dale Herd - Co-producer, Grania Preston - Costume Designer, John Wildermuth - First Assistant Director, Bruno Barreto - Director, Bruce Cannon - Editor, Bruce Broughton - Composer (Music Score), Peter Paul Raubertas - Production Designer, Declan Quinn - Cinematographer, Lisa Hansen - Producer, Amy Irving - Producer, Bruno Barreto - Producer, Paul Hertzberg - Producer, Robert Dattila - Producer, David O. Daniel - Sound/Sound Designer, Ed Jones - Screenwriter, Jim Harrison - Book Author
Joseph Svenden is a middle-aged schoolteacher who lives on a farm with his dying mother. In his simple life there are no excitements, even in long-time relationship with a widow. However, when 17-year old beauty enrolls in his class, Joseph would soon end up in her arms. After that, Joseph is torn between the passion and feeling that he is doing something wrong. [1]
