James Joyce's short story "The Dead" was turned into a film that marked John Huston's last project. It was a fitting end for a director that gave us so many magnificent films, including "The Maltese Falcon," "The Treasure of Sierra Madre," "Key Largo," etc.
"The Dead" is about a turn-of-the-century Irish dinner party and its aftermath for one couple, Gretta and Gabriel Conroy (Angelica Huston and Donal McCann). Attending are various relatives, an Irish tenor, and assorted friends. It's a lively gathering with food, conversation, singing, and poetry. As the dinner breaks up, the tenor (Frank Patterson) sings an Irish ballad, "The Lass of Aughrim." Gretta stops at the top of the stairs and, in the most stunning moments of the film, listens to his beautiful tenor singing. When she and her husband arrive home, she cries over a lost love, Michael Fury, whose passion for her was great, but it wasn't to be, and he let himself freeze to death in remorse. Gretta falls asleep, leaving Gabriel to stand at the bedroom window and watch the snow fall as he ponders life, its meaning, and all that matters...love. What might have been, and what isn't.
Such a staggering film, where the silences are more powerful than any words, about private pain, about love and loss, almost as if John Huston had come to some profound understanding before his death and shared it with the world.
Powerful in its quietness, "The Dead" will have a profound effect on you. Don't miss it.
"The Dead" is about a turn-of-the-century Irish dinner party and its aftermath for one couple, Gretta and Gabriel Conroy (Angelica Huston and Donal McCann). Attending are various relatives, an Irish tenor, and assorted friends. It's a lively gathering with food, conversation, singing, and poetry. As the dinner breaks up, the tenor (Frank Patterson) sings an Irish ballad, "The Lass of Aughrim." Gretta stops at the top of the stairs and, in the most stunning moments of the film, listens to his beautiful tenor singing. When she and her husband arrive home, she cries over a lost love, Michael Fury, whose passion for her was great, but it wasn't to be, and he let himself freeze to death in remorse. Gretta falls asleep, leaving Gabriel to stand at the bedroom window and watch the snow fall as he ponders life, its meaning, and all that matters...love. What might have been, and what isn't.
Such a staggering film, where the silences are more powerful than any words, about private pain, about love and loss, almost as if John Huston had come to some profound understanding before his death and shared it with the world.
Powerful in its quietness, "The Dead" will have a profound effect on you. Don't miss it.