Desperate Characters

Desperate Characters is a 1971 American drama film produced, written, and directed by Frank D. Gilroy, who based his screenplay on the 1970 novel of the same name by Paula Fox.

Sir Lew Grade had signed Shirley MacLaine to make a TV series Shirleys World. She asked Grade to fund the film which she did for minimal payment and a share of the profits Grade agreed. He says the budget was so low he managed to recoup his money.In his review in the New York Times, Vincent Canby said, I must confess that Desperate Characters left me, if not unmoved, then unenriched. Its as if its cheerlessness had been bottled straight, without the additive that transforms recognizable experience into art . . . In every respect, the screenplay is a vast improvement over Gilroys Pulitzer Prizewinning The Subject Was Roses. Its literary style, however, is similar, and its a style to which I . . . find it difficult to respond. His characters talk in great chunks of theatrical exchanges, and monologues, which not only deny the splendid accuracy of the situations and the settings, but also somehow make me suspicious of the integrity of the characters. This is especially true of the supporting characters, who are always telling us too much, remembering too many details out of the past, nudging us for sympathy and never letting us discover them at our own speed . . . I have a feeling that the director has perfectly served the writer. That is to say that Gilroy has realized the movie he intended to make. I wish I liked it more. ........

Source: Wikipedia