Affliction (1997 film)

Affliction
Theatrical film poster
Directed by	Paul Schrader
Screenplay by	Paul Schrader
Produced by	Linda Reisman
Starring	Nick Nolte Sissy Spacek James Coburn Willem Dafoe
Cinematography	Paul Sarossy
Edited by	Jay Rabinowitz
Music by	Michael Brook
Production companies	Kingsgate Films Largo Entertainment
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date	December 30, 1998 (1998-12-30)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$6 million
Box office	$6,330,054

Affliction is an US-American drama film produced in 1997, written and directed by Paul Schrader from the novel by Russell Banks. It stars Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn and Willem Dafoe.

Affliction tells the story of Wade Whitehouse, a small-town policeman in New Hampshire. Detached from the people around him, including a dominating father and a divorced wife, he becomes obsessed with the solving of a fatal hunting accident, leading to a series of tragic events.

Plot

The film begins with a voice-over narration by Rolfe Whitehouse, announcing the story of his brother Wade's "strange criminal behaviour" and subsequent disappearance.

Wade Whitehouse is a small-town policeman in New Hampshire. On Halloween night, Wade meets his daughter Jill from his divorced marriage, but he is late and the evening is overshadowed by disharmony. Jill eventually calls her mother to come and pick her up. When his ex-wife finally arrives, Wade shoves her lover against their car and watches them drive away with Jill. Wade vows to get a lawyer to help gain custody of his daughter.

The next day, Wade rushes to the scene of a crime. A hunting guide named Jack claims that the man with whom he was hunting accidentally shot and killed himself. The police believe Jack, but Wade grows suspicious, believing that the man's death was no accident. When he is informed that the victim was scheduled to testify in a lawsuit, his suspicion slowly turns into conviction.

A while later, Wade and his girlfriend Margie Fogg arrive at the house of Wade's father, Glen Whitehouse, whose abusive treatment of Wade and Rolfe as children is seen in flashbacks throughout the film. Wade finds his mother lying dead in her bed from hypothermia. Glen Whitehouse reacts to her death with little surprise. At the funeral wake, he gets drunk and loudly exclaims, "Not one of you is worth one hair on that woman's head!", resulting in a confrontation between Wade and him.

Rolfe, who has come home for the funeral, suggests at first that Wade's murder theory could be correct, but later renounces himself of this presumption. Nonetheless, Wade becomes obsessed with his conviction. When Wade learns that town Selectman Gordon Lariviere is buying up property all over town with the help from a wealthy land developer, he makes the solving of these incidents his personal mission. Suffering from a painful toothache and becoming increasingly socially detached, he behaves more and more unpredictably. He follows Jack, convinced that Jack is running away from something and is involved in a conspiracy. After a car chase, a nervous Jack finally pulls over, threatens Wade with a rifle, shoots out his tires, and drives off.

Finally, Wade is fired from his police job both for his constant harassment of Jack and his trashing of Lariviere's office. He collects Jill from her mother's house, where his ex-wife furiously castigates his plans to sue for full custody. At the local restaurant, he attacks the bartender in front of his daughter after he insults Wade. Then Wade takes Jill home to find Margie leaving him. Wade grabs Margie and begs her to stay with him, but Jill rushes up and tries to push Wade away. In response, Wade pushes Jill, causing her nose to bleed. She and Margie drive off. Wade is then approached by his father Glen, who congratulates him for finally acting as a "real man". The latent aggression between the men culminates in a fight in which Wade accidentally kills his father. He burns the corpse in the barn, sits down at the living room table and starts drinking, while the barn can be seen burning down through a window.

Rolfe's narration reveals that Wade eventually murdered Jack and left town (possibly to Canada, where Jack's truck was found 3 days later), never to return. Rolfe relates that the town later became part of a huge ski resort partly organized by Gordon Lariviere. He concludes that someday a vagrant resembling Wade might be found frozen to death, and that will be the end of the story.

Cast

• Nick Nolte as Wade Whitehouse
• James Coburn as Glen Whitehouse
• Brigid Tierney as Jill Whitehouse
• Holmes Osborne as Gordon LaRiviere
• Jim True-Frost as Jack Hewitt
• Tim Post as Chick Ward
• Christopher Heyerdahl as Frankie Lacoy
• Marian Seldes as Alma Pittman
• Janine Theriault as Hettie Rogers
• Mary Beth Hurt as Lillian Whitehouse Horner
• Paul Stewart as Mr. Horner
• Sissy Spacek as Margie Fogg
• Willem Dafoe as Rolfe Whitehouse
• Wayne Robson as Nick Wickham
• Sean McCann as Evan Twombley
• Sheena Larkin as Lugene Brooks
• Penny Mancuso as Woman Driver

Background info

Affliction was filmed in Quebec, with principal shooting ending in February 1997. Although first presented at the Venice Film Festival on August 28th the same year, Affliction did not see a theatrical release until some time later in most countries. After a limited release in New York in December 1998, it saw its regular US release in January 1999.

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews with an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a rating of 4/4.

"Affliction successfully and effectively navigates treacherous and complex psychological territory without ever missing a beat. […] the vividness of Wade's character is what makes this film especially compelling." – James Berardinelli, Reelviews.net

"[Nick Nolte] gives the performance of his career in Paul Schrader's quietly stunning new film […] Like The Sweet Hereafter, a more meditative and elegant but less immediate, volcanic film, Affliction finds the deeper meaning in an all too believable tragedy." – Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"[…] sensitive but rather dull adaption of Russell Banks' novel […] the narrative's too unfocused and low-key really to engage the heart or mind." – Geoff Andrew, Time Out Film Guide

Awards

James Coburn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Nick Nolte was nominated for both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for best actor. He was awarded the National Society of Film Critics Award, the New York Film Critics Circle Award, the Sant Jordi Award and was awarded Best Actor at the Valladolid International Film Festival.
Affliction was nominated in six categories at the Independent Spirit Awards.

External links

• Affliction at IMDb