Summary
InThe Great Lillian Hall, the titular character is a legendary Broadway actress who gets diagnosed with dementia while rehearsing to open a major production. Jessica Lange stars as Lillian Hall, delivering a brilliant performance as a woman whose mood and mental state changes throughout the film. With Lily Rabe and Kathy Bates also featured,the HBO movie is anAmerican Horror Storyreunionthat was 10 years in the making. Other cast members include Pierce Brosnan, Jesse Williams, Michael Rose, and Cindy Hogan.
The Great Lillian Hallis one of the few successfulJessica Lange moviesfollowing her exit fromAmerican Horror Storyalmost a decade ago. With seven reviews,The Great Lillian Hallcurrently has a critic rating of 100% onRotten Tomatoes, and with fewer than 50 reviews, an audience rating of 93%. These percentages could change over time, but initial reviews are overwhelmingly positive. The reviews rave about Lange’s performance, which has been deemed award-worthy.The Great Lillian Hallis an original HBOmovie available for streaming on Max.
The Great Lillian Hall Has A Connection To Marian Seldes
Lillian Hall Is Not A Real Person
The Great Lillian Hallwas directed by Michael Cristofer and features an original screenplay by Elisabeth Seldes Annacone. This was the feature film screenwriting debut for Seldes Annacone. The writer’s aunt was stage and film actress Marian Seldes, a five-time Tony Award nominee and one-time winner for 1967’sA Delicate Balance. Seldes made her Broadway debut in 1947’sMedeaand had her final performance in 2008’sLa fille du régimentbefore her 2014 death at 86.
Lillian Hall was a completely original character,despite some similarities with Seldes’ story.The Great Lillian Hallisn’t a biopic and Lange didn’t base her role on Seldes, as shown through Lange’s singular performance. Seldes was the subject of a documentary by R.E. “Rick” Rodgers about her final years that showed her progressing dementia. Theater writer James Grissomcalled the documentary a “violation” of Seldes and “an invasion, a protracted abuse of a woman who is not defended at any point.”
InThe Great Lillian Hall, her director, David (Williams) also makes a documentary about her, focusing on her final play and the dementia that overtook her life and career. This could be incidental, as the documentaries did not share a similar perspective. While Seldes’ documentary featured interviews from her only daughter, who mocked her mother, Lillian’s daughter, Margaret (Rabe), praised her mother. David’s documentary was meant to highlight Lillian’s brilliance despite her diagnosis, not just invade her privacy.
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Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard Was A Real Play That Opened In 1904
The Play Was Seen As A Comedy And A Tragedy
The play Lillian Hall stars in and spendsThe Great Lillian Hallpreparing for isThe Cherry Orchardby famed Russian writer Anton Chekhov.The Cherry Orchardis about an aristocratic Russian landowner, the character Lillian played, who returns to her family estate with a huge cherry orchard before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. She allows the estate to be sold, with the play having themes about class, memory, and letting go.
Chekhov wrote the play, but it was first directed by Konstantin Stanislavksi. Chekhov and Stanislavksi disagreed on the play’s genre, with the writer seeing it as a comedy and the director seeing it as a tragedy.The Cherry Orchardwas Chekhov’s final play and was last performed on Broadway in 2016 with Diane Lane. In 1981, it was adapted into a TVmovie starring Judi Dench, and in 1999, Charlotte Rampling starred in her own film adaptation.The Cherry Orchardwas the perfect choice forThe Great Lillian Halldue to its history and message.
