Send Comments to the Editors

U.S. Mail:
The Rice Thresher
6100 Main Street (MS-524)
Houston, TX 77005-1892

Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse ( How to Make an American Quilt) and starring Jessica Lange and Michell Pfeiffer, the movie is based on Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name.

The movie also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh as the intelligent and manipulative younger daughter, Caroline. Jason Robards, Colin Firth, Keith Carradine and Kevin Anderson compose the male cast.

The story is essentially a modernized version of King Lear -- a father decides to distribute his wealth, in this case 1,000 acres of land, between his three daughters, and thus collapses his family.

Smiley's story parallels Shakespeare's, but Smiley's version comes from the daughters' point of view. She chooses the same starting point, at which the youngest daughter, Caroline, initially refuses to take her father's offer of inheritance.

This first family conflict leads to many others, following the father's mental breakdown and the daughters' emotional strengthening. However, Moorhouse's direction is unconvincing. Succesive catastrophic events without transitions make the movie confusing and unbelievable.

Both Pfeiffer and Lange develop their characters commendably. Pfeiffer's role as Rose, the outspoken and forceful middle sister, is already a bit too extreme in Smiley's novel. Pfeiffer does an adequate job bringing an unconvincing character to life in the film.

Lange carefully portrays Ginny, the compliant older sister. Her emotional development is what drives the film, not the slew of climactic tragedies that follow one after the other throughout the last half of the movie.

Moorhouse fails tremendously to develop the character of the father (Robards). In the biggest faux pas of the film, Moorhouse leaves out important background information and conversations from the novel that add dimension to his character. Rather than coming across as the misguided alcoholic of the book, he seems unforgivably out of control.

Watching A Thousand Acres is like riding a roller coaster that's missing some crucial segments. Not only does it come across as nightmarish, but details keep falling through the cracks.

On the whole, you should not expect to leave this movie with much more than an upset stomach.

This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the September 26, 1997 issue.