What an almost sorry ass kind of picture that gets some salvation to the quality of the performers. But as for the story, boy, "BUtterfield 8" takes
sadness, pain and misery to a whole new level with a troubled script that doesn't go anywhere, jumps plausible explanations and gets weary the more the doomed
love story progresses.
Here, the prostitute Gloria (Elizabeth Taylor, in her first Oscar winning performance) is involved in a romantic relationship with rich married lawyer Weston (Laurence Harvey) and trouble ensues since they cannot find ways to cut their ties and solve their problems with other people. In the woman's case it's her almost platonic passion with her childhood friend (Eddie Fisher) - who happens to be engaged with a jealous woman - and dealing with her own family with a lovely mother who pretends she doesn't care that her daughter is a call-girl; the man takes too long to realize he needs to get a quick divorce and make arrangements to get a job promotion at his firm.
You know that kind of melodramatic story where a nice couple is destined to fail simply because they got nothing in common and they can't handle the obstacles of life. Their relation only works in the forms of lenghty dialogues where they play with each other, the kisses and maybe in bed. At first she's insecure of mantaining a relation with this guy because he treats her just like another of her clients, just wants to buy her; and he acts in fits of rage and jealousy because he can't stand dealing with the fact she's a woman several men he knows also know her and enjoy her company - her services I mean.
After a weekend where both disappeared from the world and went into a hotel, then traveled on his boat, Weston and Gloria return to their daily lives convinced their love is strong and now they can solve all the problems they have in order to stay together for good. If only...That's when the film makes the creepiest and most unexplained twist of all time: Gloria's all head over heels with her friend while Weston goes into a wild rage because his wife's expensive coat went missing when in fact he knows that he left with Gloria several nights ago when they spend the night at the hotel, which brings us back to the beginning of the movie when Taylor wakes up alone in the room, completely lost and sees that Harvey left money for her and she was pissed with him. Anyway, that jumpcut from their good moment to the point where they have plenty of bickering and goes separate ways was a terrible decision made by the writers, poorly made and it almost hurt the film in irreparable ways.
The construction of certain scenes is very erratic but the dialogues and the performances makes of "BUtterfield 8" a decent experience that deserves some view. Taylor, Harvey, Fisher, Mildred Dunnick (perfect as the mother), Kay Medford et all are all very good in their roles, they manage to convince us about their problems, loneliness, passions, ambitions and anxieties. But this is the story that we've seen already, it has done before time and again, and we all know it does not end well for the couple. It's too predictable for its own sake. By the end when it got to the conclusion I was rooting for a minor change of events that could make me enjoy this as a mature film, but nope it had to go down as a moralistic fable from the early 1960's. It was bittersweet when it could be a lot more sweeter and hopeful since Hollywood is the place where movies makes us dream and fantasize. Here, we aren't allowed to that.
On a final note, Elizabeth Taylor disliked the film, she was forced to do it due to contractual obligations with the studio but in the end the movie was a hit and she won her first Oscar (very undeserving since the comedic performances were way better than the dramatic ones in that year). She's good but not great, just like the film. It's good but it missed some points to almost become a bad movie. In this mild review I'm just exposing some views, not sure if I can suggest it to anyone, maybe to die-hard fans of the people involved with it. Enjoy it if you can. 6/10.
Here, the prostitute Gloria (Elizabeth Taylor, in her first Oscar winning performance) is involved in a romantic relationship with rich married lawyer Weston (Laurence Harvey) and trouble ensues since they cannot find ways to cut their ties and solve their problems with other people. In the woman's case it's her almost platonic passion with her childhood friend (Eddie Fisher) - who happens to be engaged with a jealous woman - and dealing with her own family with a lovely mother who pretends she doesn't care that her daughter is a call-girl; the man takes too long to realize he needs to get a quick divorce and make arrangements to get a job promotion at his firm.
You know that kind of melodramatic story where a nice couple is destined to fail simply because they got nothing in common and they can't handle the obstacles of life. Their relation only works in the forms of lenghty dialogues where they play with each other, the kisses and maybe in bed. At first she's insecure of mantaining a relation with this guy because he treats her just like another of her clients, just wants to buy her; and he acts in fits of rage and jealousy because he can't stand dealing with the fact she's a woman several men he knows also know her and enjoy her company - her services I mean.
After a weekend where both disappeared from the world and went into a hotel, then traveled on his boat, Weston and Gloria return to their daily lives convinced their love is strong and now they can solve all the problems they have in order to stay together for good. If only...That's when the film makes the creepiest and most unexplained twist of all time: Gloria's all head over heels with her friend while Weston goes into a wild rage because his wife's expensive coat went missing when in fact he knows that he left with Gloria several nights ago when they spend the night at the hotel, which brings us back to the beginning of the movie when Taylor wakes up alone in the room, completely lost and sees that Harvey left money for her and she was pissed with him. Anyway, that jumpcut from their good moment to the point where they have plenty of bickering and goes separate ways was a terrible decision made by the writers, poorly made and it almost hurt the film in irreparable ways.
The construction of certain scenes is very erratic but the dialogues and the performances makes of "BUtterfield 8" a decent experience that deserves some view. Taylor, Harvey, Fisher, Mildred Dunnick (perfect as the mother), Kay Medford et all are all very good in their roles, they manage to convince us about their problems, loneliness, passions, ambitions and anxieties. But this is the story that we've seen already, it has done before time and again, and we all know it does not end well for the couple. It's too predictable for its own sake. By the end when it got to the conclusion I was rooting for a minor change of events that could make me enjoy this as a mature film, but nope it had to go down as a moralistic fable from the early 1960's. It was bittersweet when it could be a lot more sweeter and hopeful since Hollywood is the place where movies makes us dream and fantasize. Here, we aren't allowed to that.
On a final note, Elizabeth Taylor disliked the film, she was forced to do it due to contractual obligations with the studio but in the end the movie was a hit and she won her first Oscar (very undeserving since the comedic performances were way better than the dramatic ones in that year). She's good but not great, just like the film. It's good but it missed some points to almost become a bad movie. In this mild review I'm just exposing some views, not sure if I can suggest it to anyone, maybe to die-hard fans of the people involved with it. Enjoy it if you can. 6/10.