FEDORA is a campy, misbegotten mess of a movie. The story feels like it should have gone through another rewrite or two before being committed to celluloid. The construction of the story itself is lumpy (the second half should have honestly been the first).
Most damning of all are the characters. I always say characters can survive being unlikable if they are also interesting-- unfortunately, the lot here are just plain awful without much in the way of interest. Say what you will of Norma Desmond-- she had a kind of pathos in her delusional nature and there was a sense of genuine tragic grandeur to her despite her narcissism. That and Gloria Swanson gave a performance for the ages. Here, Fedora is unsympathetic and uninteresting, played with no real flair or eccentricity or anything. About the best scenes involve her directing her own funeral as though it were a Hollywood epic, which is amusing.
To be honest, there is a lot that's potentially great here, mocking the shallowness of Hollywood culture with Wilder's trademark nastiness. Even the daughter's poignant romance with Michael York has a sense of mockery to it. However, the whole thing feels so tired and dated, and surely must have played so even in the 1970s. It feels like a bad TV movie, nothing like what you'd expect from the man who gave us SUNSET BLVD, SOME LIKE IT HOT, and THE APARTMENT.
Most damning of all are the characters. I always say characters can survive being unlikable if they are also interesting-- unfortunately, the lot here are just plain awful without much in the way of interest. Say what you will of Norma Desmond-- she had a kind of pathos in her delusional nature and there was a sense of genuine tragic grandeur to her despite her narcissism. That and Gloria Swanson gave a performance for the ages. Here, Fedora is unsympathetic and uninteresting, played with no real flair or eccentricity or anything. About the best scenes involve her directing her own funeral as though it were a Hollywood epic, which is amusing.
To be honest, there is a lot that's potentially great here, mocking the shallowness of Hollywood culture with Wilder's trademark nastiness. Even the daughter's poignant romance with Michael York has a sense of mockery to it. However, the whole thing feels so tired and dated, and surely must have played so even in the 1970s. It feels like a bad TV movie, nothing like what you'd expect from the man who gave us SUNSET BLVD, SOME LIKE IT HOT, and THE APARTMENT.