| Guinevere | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Audrey Wells |
| Written by | Audrey Wells |
| Produced by | Jonathan King Brad Weston |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Charles Minsky |
| Edited by | Dody Dorn |
| Music by | Christophe Beck Mikael Sandgren |
Production companies | Millennium Films Bandeira Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $632,283[1] |
Guinevere is a 1999 Americandrama film about the artistic and romantic relationship between a young student and her older mentor.
The film was written and directed byAudrey Wells (in herdirectorial debut) and starsStephen Rea,Sarah Polley,Jean Smart, andGina Gershon. The film was a 1999Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize nominee. It won theWaldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Wells' screenplay, which she tied withFrank Whaley's script forJoe the King.[2] It was also entered into the21st Moscow International Film Festival.[3]
Harper Sloane is a misfit in her snobbish, upper-class family of lawyers. She has just been accepted toHarvard Law School. At her sister's wedding, after being sent out from her hiding place in the storage room with a bottle ofchampagne, she meets Connie Fitzpatrick, abohemian photographer who takes an instant liking to her and nicknames her "Guinevere". Her visit to his loft in order to pick up the wedding photographs soon blossoms into a full-blown affair, and Harper eventually moves in with Connie as he instructs her in the ways of art, in particular photography.
After a brutal confrontation with Harper's mother, Deborah, and Harper's discovery that Connie has a history of relationships with young women, the film comes to a climax in a downtroddenL.A. hotel where Connie ends the relationship by kicking out Harper. She returns only once, four years later, as he is dying fromcirrhosis of the liver, and meets the other Guineveres he has had. On the rooftop, she describes her personal view of his kind ofheaven, which she affectionately titles "The Connie Special".
Guinevere was part of a broader co-production and distribution agreement betweenMiramax Films andMillennium Films, which was announced in August 1997. Millennium Films was established in early 1996 as a subsidiary ofNu Image, who intended to use it to produce higher-end films distinct from their earlier low-budget,direct-to-video projects. The filmBreak Up (1998) was the first project under the Miramax/Millennium partnership. It allowed for up to four co-productions annually, with Miramax handling distribution in English-speaking territories (except South Africa) and Nu Image handling foreign sales.[4][5]
With the exception of some exterior shots in thePacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, the film was mostly shot inLos Angeles.[6][7]
Guinevere received positive reviews, resulting an approval rating of 86% based on 35 reviews on the critics websiteRotten Tomatoes.[8]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[9]
Lisa Schwarzbaum ofEntertainment Weekly wrote, "This patient, perceptive, nonjudgmental love story about age difference is the first to convincingly explain the temporal physics ofMay-December romances. That writer-director Audrey Wells (who wroteThe Truth About Cats & Dogs) promotes the feminine point of view makes this incisive romantic drama all the more valuable. It’s the truth about men and girls."[10]
Edward Guthmann of theSan Francisco Chronicle opined the film is "a quiet character drama that illustrates the fragility of early love and the pain of a trust betrayed. Don't expect sitcom zingers, over mixed rock music or any other Hollywood youth-movie cliches -- this is a movie that disarms with its sincerity and frankness."[11]
Much praise was given to Sarah Polley, with Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times wrote, "Ms. Polley in particular captures the full emotional range of a young woman trying on the mantle of aGuinevere."[12]Kenneth Turan of theLos Angeles Times said Polley keeps the film and her character from falling into clichés.[13]
Marjorie Baumgarten ofThe Austin Chronicle noted the film occasionally "bogs down during several fuzzily romantic interludes", but "the twist on this story makes for interesting viewing."[14] She added, "As with her screenplay forThe Truth About Cats and Dogs, Wells takes some old clichés about the sexes (inTruth, it was the conflict between beautiful and plain-looking women) and turns them inside out."[14]
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deauville American Film Festival | Jury Special Prize | Audrey Wells | Won | [15] |
| Grand Special Prize | Nominated | |||
| Independent Spirit Awards | Best Supporting Female | Jean Smart | Nominated | [16] |
| Best Screenplay | Audrey Wells | Nominated | ||
| Moscow International Film Festival | Golden St. George | Nominated | [3] | |
| Sundance Film Festival | Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award | Won[a] | [2] | |
| Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic Feature | Nominated |
In the United States, it was released onVHS andDVD on March 14, 2000 byBuena Vista Home Entertainment (under the Miramax Home Entertainment banner).[17]
In December 2010, Miramax was sold byThe Walt Disney Company, their owners since 1993. That same month, the studio was taken over by private equity firmFilmyard Holdings.[18] In 2011, Filmyard Holdings licensed the Miramax library to streamerNetflix. This streaming deal includedGuinevere, and ran for five years, eventually ending on June 1, 2016.[19]
Filmyard Holdings sold Miramax to Qatari companybeIN Media Group in March 2016.[20] In April 2020,ViacomCBS (now known asParamount Skydance) acquired the rights to Miramax's library, after buying a 49% stake in the studio from beIN.[21]Guinevere is among the 700 titles they acquired in the deal,[22][23] and since April 2020, the film has been distributed byParamount Pictures.