This fictionalized story is based on the family life of writer James Jones. It is an emotionless slice-of-life story. Jones is portrayed as Bill Willis, a former war hero and now successful author. He drinks too much and is starting to experience health problems. Living in France with his wife, daughter and an adopted son, the family travels an unconventional road that leaves all of them as outsiders among others. Preaching a sexual freedom, his daughter's sexual acceptance begins at an early age and betrays her when the family moves to Hanover in America. Her sexuality is definitely not the normal for American teens. It gives her a bad reputation and causes her to become an outcast. Meanwhile, her brooding brother struggles with his own inner turmoils about his early desertion in life. Only within the tight knit confines of his family is he comfortable to even speak.
James Jones is also the author of From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line. Kaylie Jones has written a recent biography, "Lies My Mother Never Told Me' that was spectacular. Her biography of her parents and her mother in particular, tell a different story of her childhood and her life with alcoholic parents. This film does justice to her father, James Jones known as Bill Willis in this film and played by Kris Kristofferson. Her mother played by Barbara Hershey, gives a complete performance as a mother who drinks too much. This is not discussed nor is it addressed in this film.
This film and the book by Kaylie Jones were taken from a conversation that Kaylie had with her father. He was a glorious man that kept the family together. Kaylie and her father talked together all the time. He was her best friend in one sense. He advised her and was always right it seemed. Her relationship with her mother is not revealed in this film. They seemed to have a simplistic mother and daughter relationship but this was far from the truth. The film opens in Paris, where the family was living while James Joyce was writing and working. Every night the parents would host a party and Kaylie as Channe in this film would hide in a chair until she fell asleep. The adopted brother is not revealed well. He just simply appears when in reality this was discussed with the family. He was a little boy that had no home. The James family accepted him wholeheartedly as does the Willis family. He had some difficulty in school because he was bored and that is revealed very well. He was hidden in a closet because he would not do what the teacher asked? How barbaric is that? But, you must remember this happened in the 1960’s. 3 1/2* (I liked this movie)
127 min, Drama directed and written by James Ivory and also written by Kaylie Jones and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala with Kris Kristofferson, Barbara Hershey, Leelee Sobieski, Jane Birkin, Dominique Blanc, Jesse Bradford, Harley Cross, Isaach De Bankole, Macha Meril, Nathalie Richard, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Bob Swaim.
Note: Imdb 6.8* out of 10* with 2268 reviews, Roger Ebert 3 1/2*, Rotten Tomatoes 77% with 26 critic reviews, 72% with 1000+ audience scores, Metacritic 65 out of 100 with 23 critic reviews, Letterboxd 3.3* out of 5*.
Special Note: The family is watching Thunderbolt and Lightfoot on TV. It was not released in theaters until 1974 but we later see a date on a gravestone of 1973 (which means the TV scene was probably set in 1972, since there was an intervening New Year's Eve scene). Billy is shaving with shaving cream on his face while talking with Channe but in the very next shot the shaving cream is gone?
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