Review of Suddenly Last Summer (2012) by Andre L — 24 Dec 2018

Katherine Hepburn floats into view and the film comes to life. A widow who is mourning the loss of her only son, as she meets with a Doctor who specializes in Lobotomies that she is keen on supporting financially, so that he might help lobotomize her neice to help with her delusions. This is just a small taste of the plot that unfolds, but as you can hear, the story being told here is not your run-of-the-mill Hollywood tale, which is both a good and a bad thing.

The film has a very unique story to tell but never goes full throttle in telling that story, pulling too many punches, leaving the viewer to have to fill in the blanks with imagination. I can sort of condone this considering the mystery of the film, which involves uncovering a man's hidden homosexuality, would have been considered taboo in 1959, and wouldn't have lent to being nominated for any Academy Awards.

Speaking of which, both Katherine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor gave Oscar nominated performances and they truly deserve the praise. Taylor plays the neice who is being threatened with a lobotomy for knowing something that she shouldn't, but has no desire to share what she knows. She really shows the inner struggle of coping with her knowledge and the cinematography adds a second layer of Melodrama to her performance. Hepburn does a great job of protraying a delusional mother who's fighting to keep herself ignorant of the actions of her son. The only other main performance, that of Montgomery Cliff, leaves something to be desired. It's not entirely his fault, performing with two powerhouses, and still standing out is not an easy task, plus the screenplay makes most of his dialog a combanation of long strings of questions and him repeating the ends of Taylor's and Hepburn's sentences.

Besides these points, the writing was profoundly witty at times and melodramatic when needed, which is what is expected of a screenplay by Tennessee Williams.

Overall I enjoyed this film, but I think I would have enjoyed it more as a stage play... so long as it still starred Katherine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor... what a sight that would be.