lasttimeisaw RACHEL, RACHEL marks the director debut of Paul Newman, and invites Woodward back to the Oscar race after a decade hiatus since her win in her multi-personalities showcase in THE THREE FACES OF EVE (1957, 7/10), "hubby knows the best, right?". The film is also an interesting case in its award season, Woodward and Newman both won a Golden Globe (for LEADING ACTRESS in DRAMA and DIRECTOR) while the film missed a BEST MOTION PICTURE (DRAMA) nomination; then in the Oscars, it grabbed four nominations (for Woodward, Parsons and writer Stern) including a surprising one in BEST PICTURE while Newman is shut out. How unpredictable is that? The film is based on Margaret Laurence's novel A JEST OF GOD, it is all about Rachel (Woodward), an unassuming spinster in her 30s, living with her dependent widowed mother May (Harrington) in a rural town in Connecticut. Her diseased father Niall (Moffat) was an undertaker, and now they live in an apartment above the funeral home once owned by Niall. Rachel is a schoolteacher and her fellow unmarried college Calla (Parsons) is her best friend, who has recently found her strength in religion and insists Rachel should come with her to attend a service where a speak-in-tongues preacher (Kiser) urges Rachel to fully express her need of love. Then the film gallantly touches on the subject of lesbianism, quite a shock to watch but it is scintilla-tingly structured, but Rachel is not a lesbian, soon her repressed sexual urge finds a full vent from Nick (Olson), his childhood-schoolmate-turns- stud who lures her into steamy and sensual affairs, but a stable marriage? They are not on the same page. "You'll never leave anything, Rachel", is the ongoing monologue recurring in Rachel's head, also psychologically affected by the memories of morbid things she witnessed as a child due to her father's uncanny vocation. Rachel has been intricately designed as a damaged good who can never alter her path into a normal girl, she is hobbled by May's reliance and surveillance, who takes for granted that Rachel is the daughter for keeps, a child can take care of her in senility (while another daughter is married and their link grows distant), it is the usual love/hatred ambivalence an unmarried daughter feels for her over-protective mother, it is also the last barrier for Rachel's decision of a fresh start. Remarkably, the film takes a rather unbiased prospect towards all its characters, not just Rachel, even May, Nick and Calla, each has their defects but Newman injects humane realism into their behaviour and mind patterns, never let the drama stand in the way of characterisation, we might not agree with them, but we cannot blame them either. Particularly, as a labour-of-love, if it is not because of Newman's clout in the industry, this sort of independent film with a radically innovative guideline could not have been made at all in its time, it sends the message of woman's liberation with the brunt of its force, convincingly establishes Rachel as a specimen to encourage and enlighten. Ms. Woodward is sheer amazing, even better than her Oscar-winning performance in my opinion, denuded of any star flair to give such a vivid tour-de-force as a woman trapped by the stagnancy of status quo and social pressure, who eventually takes the reign of her own life, which credits must also ascribed to Newman's dedicative camera, relentlessly captures her most revealing moments for our pleasure. Parsons and Harrington - the former is fresh out of her Oscar-win for BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967, 9/10) - both are Oscar-worthy in their roles, while Olson deliciously parades with his rakish glamour and Kiser owns the screen with his scene-stealing expertise, it is also the screen debut for the latter. Sitting in the director's chair, Newman ungrudgingly conjures up camera tricks to embellish the movie with an artistic sheen -360 degree rotating shots, out-of-focus shaky angles and soft-focus frames, all tender the film a stimulating personality which differs from major studio work at then, simply a nonpareil should be embalmed and enshrined for admiration and reverence.

writers_reign I'm very pleased that the several reviews posted here are all positive. This is a fine film, a fine directorial review from an equally fine actor, an outstanding acting performance from his wife and great support from the entire cast. This is definitely art house material but none the worse for that. Director Newman reveals a wonderful sensitivity matched by his eye for pictorial images, the small New England town is captured to perfection yet is light years away from Peyton Place and the theme of time passing is conveyed subtly in scenes of pastoral/agricultural life following the seasons. It's difficult not to praise it too highly.

mark.waltz What some people might call a TV like movie, "Rachel, Rachel" was made before TV movies were becoming the place for slice-of-life dramas and character studies of troubled people. But when you've got Paul Newman as director, and his real-life wife Joanne Woodward playing a small town New England school teacher who is facing her problems of loneliness, that's made for the big screen, and "Rachel, Rachel" was one of 1968's most anticipated dramas. From the beginning, Rachel is not a conventional movie heroine. She is attractive, if not beautiful, and has a prim, if not frumpy, look to her. She also fantasizes quite a bit. Walking down the street on her way to school, she fears her slip is showing and that everyone is staring at her. She tells a boy that the principal is waiting to speak to her, then fantasizes about asking him to come home with her. She fantasizes about her lover (James Olson), and has flashbacks to her childhood with her undertaker father (Donald Moffat). Her now aging mother (Kate Harrington, in a beautiful performance) dominates her without being nasty, but it is obvious that she would like to escape from her.It is obvious that Rachel is an insecure lady who doesn't feel right in her place on earth, and when she decides to have an affair with Olson without marriage, she feels insecure as a lover and hopes she'll do better the next time. It says a lot about her feelings of despair when she is confronted by her mother, or a schoolteacher friend (the always excellent Estelle Parsons) who has more than feelings of friendship for her. Fresh off her performance as Blanche in "Bonnie and Clyde", Parsons is less shrill and more down to earth, yet equally troubled. The scene in the Evangelist church with Geraldine Fitzgerald (looking beautiful in her brief time on screen) and Terry Kiser (as the preacher) is excellent. There are few moments of 60's sub-realism, mainly in Woodward's fantasies, which are downplayed compared to most late 60's films that almost seemed acid laced in their photography and editing.1968 was a tough year for the Best Actress category at the Oscars; Woodward was nominated against Barbra Streisand, Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, and Patricia Neal, who all gave exciting performances. It's one of those few years where each of the actresses was equal and one wishes that each of them could take home the award. This is a dignified drama of self-awakening that doesn't always happen when one is young; Sometimes it happens again and again as we shed old temptations or habits, toss aside friends who stifle us, or move to a new community to get a new grip on where life is taking us.

Nazi_Fighter_David In a variation on her "Long Hot Summer" role, Woodward plays a sexually repressed schoolteacher in a small New England town who realizes that life is passing her by… She is thirty-five, a virgin, and dominated by her mother… During the summer, she has an affair with an old schoolmate… It proves disappointing, but she now knows that she can be loving, and determines to leave town and do something about her life—a move that seems only tentatively hopeful… Woodward gives her finest performance as the confused, frequently beaten but ultimately indestructible woman… She has an extraordinary ability to look natural or simple and still reveal an inner radiance…There are many touching moments: her timidness at the religious meeting; her awkward experiences with men; her late-night discussion with a likable male friend; and, most unforgettable, her face causing change from joyous expectancy to merely suppressed hysteria to a painful outburst of tears when she discovers that, contrary to her hopes, she is not pregnant... Newman shows a natural cinematic sense in his perceptive depictions of small town life, the frenzied activity of a revival meeting and the anxieties of a first sexual experience; and in his clever, rarely impressive juxtaposition of Rachel's present with her fantasies and childhood memories… He gets excellent performances from Estelle Parsons as another lonely teacher and James Olson as the cynical big-city man who lets Rachel down…Both Newman and Woodward won Golden Globe Awards… Woodward won the coveted New York Film Critics' Award, and was nominated for an Oscar