Resurrection (1980 film)

Resurrection is a 1980 American drama film directed by Daniel Petrie, written by Lewis John Carlino, and starring Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard, Richard Farnsworth, Roberts Blossom, Lois Smith, and Eva Le Gallienne. It was produced by Renée Missel and Howard Rosenman.[2] The plot involves a woman who returns to life after dying momentarily in a car crash and finds that she has the power to heal people.

Resurrection
Promotional poster for Resurrection
Directed byDaniel Petrie
Written byLewis John Carlino
Produced byRenee Missel and Howard Rosenman
StarringEllen Burstyn
Sam Shepard
Richard Farnsworth
Roberts Blossom
Clifford David
Pamela Payton-Wright
Jeffrey DeMunn
Eva Le Gallienne
CinematographyMario Tosi
Edited byRita Roland
Music byMaurice Jarre
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • September 26, 1980 (1980-09-26)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3,910,019[1]

The film received two nominations at the 53rd Academy Awards: Best Actress (Burstyn) and Best Supporting Actress (Le Gallienne).[3] Burstyn was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Drama at the 38th Golden Globe Awards,[4] while Le Gallienne won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress.[5] It was further selected by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 1980.[5]

Plot

Edna Mae McCauley (Burstyn) survives a car accident that kills her husband and nearly kills her, but her brief out of body experience gives her the power to heal people. Paralyzed from the waist down, Edna returns home with her father to be cared for by family. At a party, she unwittingly heals a little girl with chronic nosebleeds, to the bewilderment of those around her. Edna eventually heals herself and slowly begins to walk again. She becomes an unwitting celebrity, the hope of those in desperate need of healing, and a lightning rod for religious beliefs and skeptics. Edna eventually begins a relationship with Cal Carpenter (Shepard) after she heals him from a stab wound he sustained in a fight, but Cal slowly becomes unstable because she does not place the healings within a religious context.

Cast

Reaction

Reception
Ellen Burstyn's performance received critical acclaim and earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Resurrection was acclaimed by critics, and currently holds an 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10.[6] AllMovie gave the film 4-stars-out-of-5 and called it "an affecting film with a brilliant performance by Ellen Burstyn," observing "very much an actor-driven film, this deliberately unflashy treatment of an emotionally charged subject is all the more persuasive for its style."[7]

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film a highly enthusiastic review on their weekly TV show Sneak Previews, with both critics praising Burstyn's performance and the handling of the subject matter.[8] In his annual movie guide, Leonard Maltin rated the film 31⁄2-stars-out-of-4, and noted the story as "beautifully realized," while praising Burstyn's "moving performance" as the "centerpiece of a wonderful and underrated film."[9]

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality & Practice wrote very positively of the film: "Resurrection is a very timely film in that it deals with health, sickness, healers (religious and non-religious), and the interest science has in this whole phenomenon. On a purely emotional level, this movie forces viewers to come to terms with their feelings about death, love, community, spirituality, and self-repair. Thanks to a stirring and remarkable performance by Ellen Burstyn, Resurrection lingers in the mind and heart long after the closing credits.[10]

Awards and nominations
Award Category Nominee Result Ref
Academy Awards Best Actress Ellen Burstyn Nominated [3]
Best Supporting Actress Eva Le Gallienne Nominated
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival Grand Prize Daniel Petrie Nominated [11]
Special Jury Award Won
Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Ellen Burstyn Nominated [4]
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films 10th Place [5]
Best Supporting Actress Eva Le Gallienne Won
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Supporting Actress 4th Place [12]
Saturn Awards Best Actress Ellen Burstyn Nominated [13]
Best Supporting Actress Eva Le Gallienne Nominated
Best Writing Lewis John Carlino Nominated
Best Music Maurice Jarre Nominated

Home media

Resurrection was released on DVD in 2010 as part of the Universal Vault Series of DVD-on-Demand titles.[14] The film was released for the first time on Blu-ray on November 5, 2019.[15]

A restored version of the film from a new 2K scan was released on Blu-ray by Australian label Via Vision Entertainment (Imprint) on February 22, 2023.[16] Among the special features produced for the release is newly recorded interviews with star Ellen Burstyn and film historian Kat Ellinger, an audio commentary by author and film historian Lee Gambin, and a limited edition slipcase on the first 1,500 copies produced.[16]

In other media

Book

A novelization was written by George Gipe and released in 1980.[17]

Television

The film was remade for television in 1999. Also titled Resurrection, it was directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and stars Dana Delany.[18]

References
  1. "Resurrection (1980)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  2. "The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Resurrection, 1980". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  3. "The 53rd Academy Awards (1981)". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  4. "Resurrection – Golden Globes". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  5. "1980 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  6. "Resurrection (1980)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  7. Costello, Michael. "Resurrection (1980)". AllMovie. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  8. "The Jazz Singer, A Change of Seasons, Seems Like Old Times, Resurrection, 1980". Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  9. Maltin, Leonard (2013). 2014 Movie Guide. Penguin Books. p. 1169. ISBN 978-0-451-41810-4.
  10. Brussat, Frederic; Brussat, Mary Ann. "Resurrection". Spirituality & Practice. Archived from the original on April 28, 2023. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  11. "Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival". IMDb. Archived from the original on March 18, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  12. "1980 New York Film Critics Circle Awards". New York Film Critics Circle. Archived from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2021.
  13. "Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films - 1981 Awards". IMDb. Archived from the original on July 18, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
  14. Gruenwedel, Erik (January 20, 2010). "Universal Bows 'Vault Series' On Demand DVDs". Home Media Magazine. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  15. "Universal: Resurrection and Cats Prepped for Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  16. "Resurrection (1980) – Imprint Collection #203". Viavision.com.au. Archived from the original on February 27, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  17. Resurrection: a novel. Internet Archive. New York: Pocket Books. 1980. ISBN 9780671832100. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
  18. Erickson, Hal. "Resurrection (1999)". AllMovie. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.