BARBET SCHROEDER

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB

USA, 1987.  Golan-Globus Productions, Zoetrope Studios.  Screenplay by Charles Bukowski.  Cinematography by Robby Muller.  Produced by Tom Luddy, Fred Roos, Barbet Schroeder.  Music by Jack Baran.  Production Design by Bob Ziembicki.  Costume Design by Milena Canonero.  Film Editing by Eva Eva Gardos.  

Faye Dunaway makes a brilliant post-Mommie Dearest comeback with this searing look at two alcoholics (the other being Mickey Rourke) who have nothing but each other and a bottle. The script by Charles Bukowski is based on his own experiences, and in his role we watch Rourke spend time in bars with ultra-low lives (the old prostitute who doles out oral sex for twenty bucks in the bathroom being a particularly scary one), and spend his nights with Dunaway.  Rourke enjoys his life on the seamy side, resisting offers by Alice Krige to have the stories he writes published regularly for money:  he doesn’t want to give up his freedom for one that he’ll live in a “cage with golden bars”. No one shows us the unsavoury like Barbet Schroeder, and here he gives us a film that is never enjoyable but quite admirable.

Cannes Film Festival:  In Competition

Golden Globe Award Nomination:  Best Actress-Drama (Faye Dunaway)