Afterglow **** (1997, Nick Nolte, Julie Christie, Lara Flynn Boyle, Jonny Lee Miller) – Classic Movie Review 12,144

Julie Christie was Oscar nominated as Best Actress and won several international awards for her standout performance in Alan Rudolph’s 1997 romantic comedy-drama film gem Afterglow.

Writer-director Alan Rudolph’s civilised, freewheeling, attractively offbeat 1997 romantic comedy-drama film gem Afterglow stars Nick Nolte, Oscar-nominated Julie Christie, Lara Flynn Boyle and Jonny Lee Miller. Rudolph’s script is about two unhappily married couples attracted to each other’s partners.

For her standout performance, Julie Christie was nominated for the 1998 Academy Award as Best Actress in a Leading Role and won several international awards. Afterglow is produced by Robert Altman, and it is both set and filmed in Montréal, Canada.

Nick Nolte plays repair contractor Lucky Mann, married to British former B-movie actress Phyllis (Julie Christie). When Lucky arrives at the apartment of ambitious businessman Jeffrey Byron (Jonny Lee Miller) to make a minor repair, unhappy Marianne becomes obsessed with him. Jeffrey is married to sexually Marianne (Lara Flynn Boyle), who desires children but is starved of affection by self-obsessed Jeffrey.

Quality, delicate and miniaturist acting and quality, emotionally and psychologically complex writing lead the way. There were awards but not enough. There were paying customers but not enough. It took $2,465,960 at the box office.

Nick Nolte as Lucky Mann, Julie Christie as Phyllis Hart, Lara Flynn Boyle as Marianne Byron, Jonny Lee Miller as Jeffrey Byron, Jay Underwood as Jeffrey’s friend Donald Duncan, Domini Blythe as Jeffrey’s secretary Helene Pelletier, Alan Fawcett as actor Jack Dana,  Michele Barbara-Pelletier as Marianne’s friend Isabel Marino,  France Castel as Isabel’s mother Gloria Marino, Genevieve Bissonette, as Cassie, daughter of Phyllis and Jack Dana, Yves Corbeil as Jeffrey’s business associate Bernard Ornay,  Claudia Besso as Bernard’s mistress Monica Bloom, and Ellen David as waitress Judy.

Lara Flynn Boyle’s character is named after Julie Christie’s character in her film Doctor Zhivago (1965).

Filming location: Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Production companies: Elysian Dreams, Moonstone Entertainment, Sandcastle 5 Productions.

It debuted at the Cannes Film Festival on 11 May 1997 and It was released by Sony Pictures Classics on 26 December 1997 in the US.

Runtime: 119 minutes.

Julie Christie was Oscar nominated as 1998 Best Actress in a Leading Role. She won the 1999 Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress, the 1998 New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress, and the 1998 Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She won the 1997 Silver Seashell for Best Actress at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Alan Rudolph won the 1997 Alma Award for Best Screenplay at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,144

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com