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      Puzzle of a Downfall Child

      R Released Dec 16, 1970 1h 44m Drama List
      Reviews 61% 100+ Ratings Audience Score A distraught fashion model (Faye Dunaway), once the best, recalls her empty life of alcohol, drugs and sex. Read More Read Less

      Critics Reviews

      View All (3) Critics Reviews
      Judith Crist New York Magazine/Vulture The film is as static, boringly camp-elegante and fatuous as a stack of flop issues of Vogue. Oct 1, 2019 Full Review Sarah Boslaugh TheArtsStl ...an unusual film that was not a big hit during its initial release, but which deserves reconsideration today as an early example of the American New Wave. Rated: 7/10 Dec 15, 2020 Full Review John Mahoney Los Angeles Free Press While the debut directorial effort of former fashion photographer Jerry Schatzberg often impresses in its own right, no amount of now dated technical inflation can disguise the film's basic anemia or a plot which is still tattered and threadbare. Jan 13, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

      View All (7) audience reviews
      steve d I don't think it amounted to very much. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Sad, beautifully shot movie. Perhaps even Faye Dunaway's best role? I gotta think on that but boy is she perfect in this. A really surprisingly empathetic film - Lou clearly has issues but the movie never dismisses her as much as the men around her seem to do. You get the sense most of her problems come from her obsession with male affirmation. She needs to be told she's attractive, she needs to sleep with somebody to confirm her attractiveness, she needs attention, she needs people to be after her - but can you blame her when it's literally all she knows? Starting with when she's 15 and some creep older man uses his star power to assault her... she's been conditioned to need to be needed, but she realizes she doesn't actually want what she wants and it throws her entire world into chaos. It makes me think of the Serge Gainsbourg quote: "We take women for what they are not, and leave them for what they are." Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Faye Dunaway is amazing.: talent, beauty and intelligence. Jerry Schatzberg's first movie is impressive. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member PORTRAIT D'UNE ENFANT DECHUE. Ressorti sur les ecrans parisiens, ce film de Jerry Schatzberg de 1970 est une oeuvre forte et puissante tiree d'une histoire vraie. Ancien mannequin super celebre, Lou Andreas Sand s'est isolee dans une maison au bord de l'ocean. Elle recoit la visite de son ami photographe Aaron Reinhardt avec qui elle tente de faire le point sur sa vie. On voyage alors dans un puzzle ou son existence est tour a tour mensonge et realite, grandeur et decadence, fierte et humiliation. La formidable Faye Dunaway, grande star de l'epoque, nous emporte des les premieres secondes du film avec sa voix incroyablement sensuelle et sophistiquee, son jeu si intensement parfait que la plus grande partie du film est faite de ses gros plans. On est totalement subjuge par cette beaute parfois glamour, parfois pathetique, se trahissant elle-meme tant elle cherche a cacher ses demons. Si le film a un peu vieilli dans sa realisation, la puissance du fond demeure: la beaute est-elle un don ou un fardeau? Celle de Faye Dunaway nous marque a jamais. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Great portrait of beauty, is it a gift? Is it a curse? Is getting old a punishment for our life style? A very subtle cinematography and a touching performance by Faye Dunaway. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member It's easy to see why Dunaway took off later on, but the look into fashion photography is more dreary than anything. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

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      Puzzle of a Downfall Child

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis A distraught fashion model (Faye Dunaway), once the best, recalls her empty life of alcohol, drugs and sex.
      Director
      Jerry Schatzberg
      Screenwriter
      Jerry Schatzberg, Carole Eastman, Carole Eastman
      Rating
      R
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Dec 16, 1970, Original
      Runtime
      1h 44m