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Ordinary People

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Ordinary People
Directed byRobert Redford
Written byJudith Guest (novel)
Alvin Sargent (screenplay)
Nancy Dowd (uncredited)
Produced byRonald L. Schwary
StarringDonald Sutherland
Mary Tyler Moore
Timothy Hutton
Judd Hirsch
Elizabeth McGovern
CinematographyJohn Bailey
Edited byJeff Kanew
Music byMarvin Hamlisch
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
September 19, 1980
Running time
124 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6,000,000 (est)

Template:Otherusesabout

Ordinary People is an Academy Award-winning 1980 American motion picture drama and the directorial debut of Robert Redford. The story is about the disintegration of an upper middle class family in Lake Forest, Illinois, following the death of the oldest son. It was based upon the 1976 novel by Judith Guest.

The film was a critical and commercial success, winning that year's Academy Award for Best Picture and various other major film awards.

Plot synopsis

The Jarretts, a WASP family from Chicago's North Shore, try to return to normal life after the attempted suicide of their teenage son, Conrad, who has recently come home following a long stay in a psychiatric hospital. Alienated from his friends and family, Conrad, having left the hospital, must still see a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, who learns that the boy had been involved in a sailing accident that killed his beloved older brother, Buck. Buck, a superior athlete and student to Conrad, clearly came first in everyone's estimation (including Conrad's). Calvin Jarrett, the father, awkwardly struggles to connect with his surviving son, who is tormented by clinical depression, survivor guilt, and post-traumatic stress disorder. His wife Beth, who clearly loved the dead son more, has shut off her emotions and vulnerability and has become obsessed with maintaining the appearance of perfection and normality.

As Conrad successfully works with Dr. Berger and learns to allow himself to have feelings, he starts dating Jeannine, a kind and nonjudgmental girl from his school choir, and begins to regain a sense of optimism. But the suicide of a friend threatens to send him spiraling back into depression.

Finally, Conrad is able to stop blaming himself for Buck's death, and the boy realizes his mother's frailties--and Dr. Berger advises him to accept her as she is. Calvin, aided by some sessions with Dr. Berger himself, realizes that he no longer loves Beth. As Beth packs to leave, her facade is momentarily shattered by a sob, but the mask returns.

Production

The film was shot in and around Lake Forest, Highland Park and Lake Bluff, and the school scenes were shot in Lake Forest High School. However, all of the pool scenes were filmed at Lake Forest College, due to a lack of space at Lake Forest High School.

Conrad's lunch with Karen was filmed at the Original Pancake House in Wilmette. A picture of Redford taken during production still hangs on the restaurant's wall.

Cal and Beth's lunch scene was filmed at the Zodiac Restaurant in Neiman-Marcus' Northbrook Court location. The scene of Beth riding an escalator is also shot in this same Neiman-Marcus location.

The house used as the Jarrett's is just around the corner from the house used in Risky Business two years later.

The film's use of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D as its theme music boosted that piece's popularity considerably.

Reception

Robert Redford and Timothy Hutton both won Academy Awards for their respective debuts: Redford as a director and Hutton as an actor. The movie marked Mary Tyler Moore's career breakout from the stereotype of the light-hearted comedienne. The film also won Best Picture.

Judd Hirsch's portrayal of Dr. Berger has also drawn praise from many in the psychiatric community as one of the rare times their profession is shown in a positive light in the movies,[1] although some consider his portrayal to be too positive, thus lending an air of one-dimensionality.[2]

This was also the first of two times director Martin Scorsese lost the Oscar to actors making their directorial debut (the other was ten years later with Kevin Costner on Dances With Wolves).

Over the years, ironically because of its popularity and dramatic effect, the film has lost esteem somewhat (probably unwarrantedly) because its distinctively somber style has been co-opted and endlessly imitated by the far more manipulative Domestic-Conflict-of-The-Week television film genre so prevalent during the 1980's and 1990's. Thus leading to something of a rivalry between "Ordinary People" fans and those of Raging Bull over the latter's Oscar loss.

Cast

Awards

Wins

Nominations

References

  1. ^ Martin, Linda B.; January 25, 1981; The Psychiatrist in Today's Movies: He's Everywhere and He's in Deep Trouble; The New York Times; retrieved September 13, 2006
  2. ^ Pies, Ron; 2001 Psychiatry in the Media: The Vampire, The Fisher King, and The Zaddik; Journal of Mundane Behavior; retrieved September 14, 2006.
Template:S-awards
Preceded by Academy Award for Best Picture
1980 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama
1981 		Succeeded by
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