Truly Dreadful Film

just watch it!

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I found the relationship with the mother, Keaton's character, and her eldest daughter, Trini Alverado's character, fascinating. As Mrs. Soffel became more confused about her emotions and how she felt about her life, in general, she became more of what we think of nowadays, as an adolescent, not quite knowing her place in this world and where she fit in. She could see flaws in her present life, for the first time, and many of the possibilities out there for her in the world at large. Her daughter, on the other hand, was a stable "grown-up," knowing her exact place in the world, where she fit in, what was expected of her, and content knowing that this was to be her life, once and for all. And as Mrs. Soffel was becoming more and more dissatisfied with the status quo, SHE was becoming the rebellious teen and her daughter was becoming the stern mother who knew what was best. An interesting take on things!

I skimmed the other comments before writing this one in case I'd missed something, but I think my initial lukewarm reaction to the film, which I saw on Turner Classic Movies, is the one I'll stick with.I tuned into this movie because of Mel Gibson and also because I also happen to like Matthew Modine and Edward Hermann.One commenter said something about the director liking strong female characters, but I didn't see Mrs. Soffel as being strong. Yes, she was unfortunate to be born at a time when women were basically seen as appendages to men. Her husband was not terribly understanding. As the movie opens, she is ill. Then she seems to undergo a miraculous recovery after being bedridden for months. My interpretation of this is that she had probably been suffering from a depressive episode. Yes, Mrs. Soffel is weak. Instead of doing something positive to stir her out of her situation, she falls prey to a criminal, who, admittedly, may not have been all bad. I suppose she had formed some sort of romantic image of Ed Biddle. And perhaps he also had a romantic streak. Both characters are shown to be not at all realistic in the way they see life.I also found the film rather slow-moving, especially at the beginning. I almost stopped watching. Overall I found, though there were some touching emotional moments, especially at the end, that the movie lacked much of a plot and the characters lacked depth. With such a weak script, I think it would be difficult for me to see much for the actors to have worked with and cannot praise their performances. I wouldn't consider the movie to have been a complete waste of my time, but I couldn't really recommend it.

This is one of the best American films of the 1980's. It is based on the true story of the wife of the Allegheny County Jail warden, Kate Soffel (Diane Keaton) who falls in love with a sexually alluring working class inmate, Ed Biddle (Mel Gibosn) in turn of the century Pittsburgh and plots to help him and his brother, Jack (Matthew Modine) escape. Director Gillian Armstrong and screenwriter Ron Nyswaner brilliantly decided to deal with the story in an elliptical and indirect way. We aren't telegraphed anything. We don't know if the Biddle's are innocent. We don't really understand why Kate falls in love with Ed. We aren't directly told why Kate is so disappointed in her life. The filmmakers takes this personal story and turns it into a progressive feminist mood poem. It is extraordinary to see a post 1970's American film this complex and this progressive. Diane Keaton gives a remarkably complex and nuanced performance. The film is almost unimaginable with her in the leading role. Early in the film she communicates the torment and longing of Kate in a way that warrants comparisons with the greatest acting of the silent cinema. We see the depression and desperation in Kate's face in a way that rivals Maria Falconetti in Dryer's THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC and Lilian Gish in Victor Sjöström's THE WIND and D.W. Griffith's BROKEN BLOSSOM'S. One of the remarkably subversive aspects of the film is its relationship to Kate's Christianity (which becomes particularly pointed watched in the contemporary context and thinking about Mel Gibson's PASSION OF THE Christ fundamentalism). She is a bit scary creeping about the prison trying to sell doomed men on a faith that will set them free. The suggestion is that it is this same faith, or more precisely the way Christianity is used as a structuring device of patriarchy, that has trapped Kate into her own life sentence. When she becomes aroused by Ed everything shifts, she looks different, some kind of remarkable radiance shines forth from Keaton's face. Her bible lessons become a pretext for sexual release. She literally makes love to Ed through the bars with his brother nearby, which adds a remarkable charge of voyeurism to the proceedings. Mel Gibson has never been photographed more sensually then in this film. There is a scene late in the film, in which, he is lying in bed with the sunlight playing on his face that in which his beauty is almost angelic. He's photographed and contextualized the way male directors have often shot young classically beautiful women (think of Julie Christie in David Lean's Dr. ZHIVAGO, Joseph Losey's THE GO BETWEEN, or Donald Cammell's DEMONSEED or Faye Dunaway in Roman Polanski's CHINATOWN or Sydney Pollock's 3 DAYS OF THE CONDOR). Armstong also allows Gibson's sense of humor to peek out to suggest layers to this character. We never totally trust Ed, yet we root for him or at least root for Kate's vision of him.The cinematography by Russell Boyd is exceptionally original and the production design emphasizes the grimy oppressive nature of an industrial town. this was actually a critique of the film at the time of its release. It was too dark, mainstream reviewers said. Well actually its historically accurate. Pittsburgh was so soot filled and grimy that the street lights had to stay on all day long! This is the great environmental tragedy of the industrial revolution. Armstrong uses this look for strong dramatic effect and creates a kind of mood poem here that reminds me of the best work of Antonioni and of Werner Herzog remarkable NOSFERATU. Like in that great film we can never quiet situate ourselves, the oppressive dim look of the film suggests we might be in a kind of waking nightmare. Is the environment part of Kate's psychic and physical affliction? Who could be happy or healthy living in this kind of relentlessly dismal environ? When we finally leave Pittsburgh Boyd and Armstrong present us with some of the most lovingly photographed images of sun and snow in American cinema. The viewer so ready for these brighter images that they alter our the way we connect to the story. That this film was neither a critical nor a commercial success is a tragedy for the contemporary Hollywood cinema. Its failure became one of the many excuses for the overwhelming turn to the banal cookie cutter cinema that Hollywood is known for today. One hopes that cinephiles everywhere will reclaim ambitious films like MRS. SOFFEL as an example

"Mrs. Soffel", a movie much overlooked in the mid 1980s, deserves a reevaluation at present. With the advent of so many successful period films, "Mrs. Soffel" can be seen as a predecessor of sorts. The movie, a true story filmed on location in Pittsburgh, PA, is one of exquisite beauty and restrained passion. The emotions evoked by it are comparable to those produced by the more modern "The Age of Innocence" and "The Remains of the Day". The doomed couple, played by Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson have an extraordinary chemistry which smolders throughout the entire film. In addition, the cinematography is beautiful (for something filmed in 1984, it's almost remarkable how effective the atmosphere is!). Do not look towards this movie if you are seeking unbridled romance or breath taking action. The rewards of "Mrs. Soffel" are far more cerebral.