Thoughts on Patty Hearst

 

via Giphy/Courtesy Atlantic Releasing

"Miss Hearst, one of my fields is lie detection. Someone who is simulating would try to make things sound more favorable. I'm convinced you're telling the truth. The only surprising thing is that you're hear to tell it. Very strong men under far less tortuous conditions have just curled up and died."
"... Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Patty Hearst, starring Natasha Richardson, directed by Paul Schrader and written by Nicholas Kazan, based off of Hearst's autobiography, doesn't solve its central mystery. Scenes and narration suggest why heiress and college student Patty, kidnapped in 1974 by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), began acting as an urban guerrilla. If you take the movie at face value, like I mostly did, then Patty became Tania and engaged in activities including bank robbery in order to survive. Her body and mind were so affected by captivity and brainwashing that she didn't escape even when it seemed possible. Still, there's some ambiguity. Patty herself mostly kept out of the movie's production, New York reported. She knew it could have been made without her okay, did like producer Marvin Worth, contributed 12 pages of script notes largely concerning the SLA's demeanor and rhetoric and when it didn't look like anyone would arrange it, offered to meet Richardson.

"I had this image that I wanted to check with her, that she was reduced to a child in this strange world. And she said that was exactly right."

-- Natasha Richardson

By her own admission, Patty initially reacted negatively to the movie's ending, where she plots from prison to be rehabilitated in the public's eyes. It is like Mommie Dearest's last scene, but it also has something that Hearst largely lacks: historical perspective. Schrader and Kazan devote themselves to the depravity of what happened to Patty rather than providing significant insight into herself and the SLA members. We're asked to fill in the blanks for these people's mentalities and motivations after viewing strange, evocative behavior. For example, Teko (William Forsythe) wearing blackface seemingly out of self-loathing for being white and hero worship towards Cinque (Ving Rhames). Women in the SLA range from hostile to Patty (Frances Fisher as Yolanda, Teko's wife) to implied bisexuals (Dana Delaney as Gelina) to allies (Jodi Long as Wendy). Besides Gelina, Patty is also lusted after and apparently raped by Cujo (Peter Kowanko).

*Gelina is brushing a blindfolded Patty's hair*

"Oh, you look so pretty."

"Well, thanks."

"*delighted, throaty laughter* Yolanda washed your corduroys. We never wear blue jeans. Cinque says they don't instill respect in the people. Blacks never wear jeans, have you ever noticed that? It's true. *starts holding Patty's hair and shoulders* You know, everyone in the cell feels much closer to you now. *leads Patty to closed toilet, sits her down* And part of being in a cell is being comradely to the other people. *touches Patty's cheek* I feel so sorry for you being around us and not being able to join in. Don't you have sexual feelings?"

"Of course."

"Cujo wants to get it on with you."

Richardson, often resembling a young Jane Krakowski, sticks to her thesis. She plays Patty as severely disoriented, mostly focused on immediate survival. One of the most upsetting scenes has Patty babbling in the closet she was kept in. Roger Ebert acknowledged how common it is for people to conform. "Becoming a revolutionary might have been, for her, a form of good manners." I liked Richardson's performance, especially when she was opposite Rhames and Fisher. The acting almost saves Patty Hearst, but in the end, the movie is weighed down by its coyness and Schrader's excesses. One early shot is of Cinque and Fahizah (Olivia Barash) outside the closet. He's pontificating ("The revolution is happening right now, bitch! In good ol' fascist, Ameri-ca!") and she stands guard. They appear to be in a cheese grater.

via The Cinema Archives/Courtesy Atlantic Releasing

Is it interesting to look at? Yes. I'm just bothered that interesting shots (Schrader loved low lighting and Dutch angles) took precedence over coming right out about Patty herself. Schrader: "... the moment you start weighing the argument on the yes or no side, it rings false." Reading between the lines quickly got tiresome. Then again, maybe the answer was there all along.

"You know, I've finally figured out what my crime was."

"There was none. You were kidnapped."

"Yes, but I lived. Big mistake. Emotionally messy."

"Is that what you really think?"

"Yeah. ... Pardon my French, Dad, but ... fuck 'em."

Not Recommended.

Thoughts:
-- "*Patty goes from wishing she'd be shot already, to ...* NOOO! *sits up in closet* No! No, can't, I'm, your, calling card, passport, to immortality, and I'm fun too, pinch, can, sperm, receptacle, *swings head back and forth* really, really, tight, 'What can we do to her now, any ideas?' 'Yeah, yeah, I got it, let's, let's ...' *breaks down sniffling, crying and whispering in a mix of paranoia and despair*"

-- Box Office: This grossed $1.2 million on an unknown budget.

-- Awards Watch: Patty Hearst premiered at Cannes, where Patty herself met John Waters. He was moved by the movie and apologized for assuming she was guilty. If I remember right, he said in one edition of The Book of Lists that the movie was the best defense Patty ever received.

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "It is stylized at times, utterly direct and both shocking and grimly funny," Vincent Canby wrote. "Almost empty of spontaneity," according to Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times. Hal Hinson felt that Schrader had no sympathy for Patty or the situation and hated the ambiguity about her actions. "It's an admission of failure," he wrote. "(Patty) remains the great American blank," according to David Denby. "There's nothing here to build a movie around."

-- Critic's Corner, Natasha: "Absolutely smashing," according to Canby. Ebert: "Remarkable."

-- Also of note: Hinson thought Rhames was a terrible actor.

-- The wigs. My god, the wigs.

-- Marvin Worth produced many other biopics or similar: Lenny. The Rose. Malcolm X. Norma Jean & Marilyn. Gia.

-- "*Patty, Teko and Yolanda are driving in Disneyland's neighborhood* How 'bout we get a couple pictures on Tania sitting on Mickey Mouse's lap?" "Yeah. Just like pigs to glorify a mouse."

-- Next: The Last Temptation of Christ. On deck: Clara's Heart.