for me it all began with the musical 'pippin'. jill played catherine. she had three songs. at that moment she had me forever. jill had two solos and one duet with john rubenstein portraying pippin. these songs will appear in my 'loving jill' video over the weekend and on my ipod forever.
the tv film 'hustling', 'gable and lombard' and 'silver streak' came next. but more on them later except to say that as carole lombard in the aforementioned 'gable and lombard' my love affair truly began.
and then in 1978....
the deal was cemented with her first major role as erica in 'an unmarried woman'. jill became the toast of the cannes film festival after it's premiere. she won best actress at that festival. the oscar money was on jill to win best actress in 1978. the oscar, heaven help us, went unwisely to jane fonda in the mediocre 'coming home'. another oscar crime.
i believe jill was too 'new york' for the mostly hollywood voter. it was this prejudice that cost her the oscar win. they just did not get jill or her character erica benton with their upper west side sensibilities.
i believe jill was too 'new york' for the mostly hollywood voter. it was this prejudice that cost her the oscar win. they just did not get jill or her character erica benton with their upper west side sensibilities.
about four minutes into the following scene you will see why she was at least oscar nominated. yes and why she should have won.
the following scene early in the film shows the dreams of the married woman. it's a charming and delightful scene that we have all imagined in some way or another. then dreams are shattered for awhile as she becomes an unmarried woman. erica benton as her portrayer would not let the bad permanently halt the future.
'an unmarried woman' began a string of roles for jill that showed smart,capable, independent women with a touch of the neurotic. hell that means she portrayed a real person. we all have our own nuerosis though try and hide them we might.
meet erica benton
to be continued
meet erica benton
to be continued
1 comment:
Erica exudes self confidence without narcissism which is very difficult to portray. Her obliviousness after the lunch scene ends with her crestfallen plunge into a new reality. There is nothing formulaic about the performance and therein lies its beauty. Mazursky made the film he wanted to make. There is nothing traditional in the notion that a woman doesn't necessarily need a man in her life. When Erica stepped out of her accustomed role as the dutiful wife and asserted her personhood she became controversial. Jill Clayburgh became a star at the very end of a decade of very impressive filmmaking that explored interpersonal relationships on a whole new level. The very strong intelligent films featuring female protagonists were not long in fashion due to economics and a return to more traditional styles of movie making.
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