I was really looking forward for this picture since i heard that Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange would star together. But when i eventually went to see it i must say i was a bit disappointed. I don't say that the movie was bad ,but the fact that i expected much more from it , make me regard it an average movie. The direction was very poor and the editing unacceptable. The adaption seemed to lack in many ways and Jennifer Jason Leigh was unbearable. But seeing Pfeiffer ang Lange together on screen made me forget everything. These two great actresses proved for once more their talent. When you see them together on screen you forget all the disadvantages the movie has and there's nowhere else you want to be. They both deserved Oscar nominations and Lange probably the award too. Jason Robards though not as good as in some of his previous roles was great too.
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CineMan-813 October 1998
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anaconda-4065816 November 2015A Thousand Acres (1997): Dir: Jacelyn Moorehouse / Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jason Robards, Colin Firth: Drama regarding physical reference of structure and also the spanning of lives. A father leaves land to his three daughters in his will. His youngest daughter is an attorney who believes that he is making a mistake. His middle daughter remembers nights with incest and the desire for vengeance. The oldest cannot recollect these memories. When their father decides to take his land back, revenge becomes an option. Fine setup is reduced to predictable and unnecessary depression. Subplots dealing with incest, cancer and land settlements are poorly handled. Director Jacelyn Moorehouse does the best, and what works is the quality of the performances. While the resolution is hardly pleasant, it deals with a problem facing many households. Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer are at total odds yet supportive of one another, while Jennifer Jason Leigh is viewed as gullible when she defends her father. Jason Robards plays their cranky ill unpleasant father responsible for much heartache. Colin Firth plays a potential romantic element sighted by a couple of the women for a little crazy action. It is never fun to watch two daughters at odd with a parent as seen here but their pain is real or denied. Themes warrant reflection and understanding. Score: 7 / 10
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DukeEman21 January 2002A Jane Smiley novel, loosely based on Shakespeare's KING LEAR about the Cook family and its dark secrets. Director Moorhouse seems tamed in her approach, allowing the characters to step forward and take a bow. And how could you go wrong with the talents of Pfeiffer, Lange, Leigh, Firth, Carradine and Robards?
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Red7Eric23 September 1998When I found out that Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Jason Robards were teaming for a film based on a Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, I went out and read the book immediately. "A Thousand Acres" was one of the best reading experiences of my life, and while the film couldn't capture the book in its entirety (no film could, unless it were six hours long), I really enjoyed it. Michelle Pfeiffer should have received another Oscar nomination for her fearless portrayal of Rose Cook Lewis, the character modeled after Shakespeare's evil Regan from "King Lear." While all of the performances are solid, they seem somehow timid next to Pfeiffer, who once again proves that she is most definitely not just another pretty face.
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paul-nemecek3 July 2018The two primary questions I use in evaluating a film are: "Is it a story worth telling?", and "is it a story well told?" When I apply these questions to Jocelyn Morehouse's A Thousand Acres (adapted from the novel by Jane Smiley), the answers are: yes, yes and no. The basic story is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear. This story provides fertile soil for a tragic, but compelling story as told in Jane Smiley's novel as she moves the setting of the story to the cornfields of Iowa.
This revisionist King Lear has an aging farmer (played by two-time Oscar winner Jason Robards) proposing to divide his farm among his three daughters as a way of minimizing the costs of inheritance taxes. The youngest daughter expresses some reservations, and is immediately cut out of the partnership. When the farm is divided between the other two daughters, the stage is set for a tragedy of epic proportions. As the story unfolds, the family relations are strained and broken by greed, betrayal, death, abuse, miscommunication, and ghosts from the past.
When Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer read Jane Smiley's novel, they purchased the screen rights. Women are at the center of this project from beginning to end. This is actually somewhat refreshing, since Hollywood is not known for sensitivity in its portrayal of females or in its understanding of female viewpoints. Unfortunately, this has led some to dismiss the film as a "chick flick." While there are no male characters in the film for whom we feel much compassion or sympathy, the film is really about Ginny (as played by Jessica Lange). If the viewer follows the dramatic arc of this character, it is easier to find the heart of this film.
Finding the heart of the film appears to be a problem. Roger Ebert gave the film two stars (out of a possible four), Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a letter grade of F. Others--myself included--liked it a bit better than that.
The film is clearly not without its problems. Film adaptations are difficult because richly textured stories must be trimmed and abridged to fit a two-hour time span for the typical film. Most of the criticisms of A Thousand Acres revolve around underdeveloped characters, subplots left hanging, and unclear story lines. I suspect some of this is the result of commercial tampering and trimming by the producers. Some of the blame clearly goes to director Jocelyn Morehouse who doesn't do enough to help us care about some of the characters. When tragedy strikes, it is almost as if we are reading about strangers in a newspaper.
The performances by Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer (Pfeiffer plays the second sister, Rose) are so compelling that the film remains engaging in spite of its flaws. Jessica Lange gives what may be the performance of her already Oscar-rich career (Tootsie and Blue Sky). This is a different kind of role for Pfeiffer and she clearly rises to the occasion. A Thousand Acres is worth seeing if you are interested in a good story that comes close to being well told. -
lib-46 July 1999Not even a great cast can save this maudlin movie. The book was very good, but the movie is sappy and long and boring. I don't understand why they never told Caroline of her father's unspeakable sins. The book deserved better.
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gpeevers16 April 2019Compelling emotional drama about a farm, a family and their past. Jessica Lange, Michele Pfeiffer and Jennifer Jason Lee are the three daughters of widower Jason Robards who has decided to pass the farm on to them, cue the music because from here on there is more melodrama than a weeks worth of soaps.
The biggest strength of the film is the acting with strong performances from Lange and Pfeiffer and a good supporting cast. The biggest weakness is that the behavior of some of the supporting characters is not explained - and there is a lot to be explained. The film takes the time to provide the reasons for the behavior of the two leads but nothing about the rest.
Overall worth seeing, especially if you like to cry while watching a film (the audience i saw it with certainly did). -
Spleen12 November 2001The story is derived from "King Lear"; the setting is a farm in Iowa. Here's a test for this kind of thing: if you find yourself asking, "Why did so-and-so do such-and-such," and the answer is, "because that's what happened in 'King Lear'," you know that the film has failed. Well, that IS what happens here. The father figure in this story isn't living his own life, he's mimicking a fictional one. But there's more wrong with the film than this.
Jocelyn Moorhouse is ambitious - far more ambitious than I think she realises. She's trying to take the King Lear story and completely change the setting. This is a task in itself. The likeliest result is that the transplanted story will die, and nobody will quite be able to work out why (although there are enough successful transplants, like "West Side Story", to make it worth trying). But she's ALSO attempting a revisionist retelling. In the version of "King Lear" she wishes to create, Reagan and Goneril command our sympathy, and Cordelia is a villain. This is a task in itself, too.
Succeeding at either task is hard; succeeding at both at once is impossible. In fact, succeeding at one while so much as attempting the other, is impossible. If we are to look on the very same events from a different moral perspective then the events must BE the very same events - which means there can be no tampering with setting. If the story is to be transplanted, alive, into a different setting, its moral heart must keep beating the whole while - which means there can be no tampering with ethical perspective. Moorhouse was bound to fail in not just one but in both of her endeavours. And so she did. ...Naturally, it's possible to attempt both tasks, fail at both tasks, yet by some fluke hit upon a work of art that's good for independent reasons. I mention this because I haven't read Jane Smiley's novel, which, for all I know, IS good for independent reasons. But the film isn't. If there was nothing else wrong with it, there would still be no getting around the fact that it's just so thoroughly, excruciatingly DULL. The very fields of corn are even more boring than they would be in real life - which needn't be the case, since off the top of my head I can think of four films ("The Wizard of Oz", "North by Northwest", "The Straight Story", "Kikujiro") in which the cornfields aren't boring at all. -
djbenton-123 February 2006Having watched this film years ago, it never faded from my memory. I always thought this was the finest performance by Michelle Pfeiffer that I've seen. But, I am astounded by the number of negative reviews that this film has received. After seeing it once more today, I still think it is powerful, moving and couldn't care less if it is "based loosely on King Lear".
I now realize that this is the greatest performance by Jessica Lange that I've ever seen - and she has had accolades for much shallower efforts.
A Thousand Acres is complex, human, vibrant and immensely moving, but surely doesn't present either of the primary female leads with any touch of glamour or "sexiness". I don't think this is well received in these times.
Perhaps one reason for this film's underwhelming response lies in the fact that the writer (Jane Smiley(, screenplay (Laura Jones), and director (Jocelhyn Moorehouse) are all women. I know that, in my younger days, I wouldn't have read a book written by a woman. I didn't focus on this fact until years later.
If you haven't seen this movie or gave it a chance in the past, try watching it anew. Maybe you are ready for it. -
mark.waltz15 August 2022There's no greater memory for someone who grew up in the country for those beautiful breezy days of spring or fall (and sometimes a non-humid summer) when picnic tables are lined in red gingham clothes, lawn chairs are strewn around for arriving guests and the smell of the grill mixes with flowers, later joined by the chirping of crickets. Close neighbors join in for glorious get-togethers, joyous music plays and a family genuinely gets along. The scene of sisters Jessica Lange and Michelle Pfeiffer, their husbands, Pfeiffer's children and a few friends is a celebration of the deed of the thousand acres of farm being turned over by their father, Jason Robards, to them.
The happiness is short lived with a very bitter argument occuring out of the blue after Robards receives a phone call from his estranged youngest daughter, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and drunkenly assails Lange and Pfeiffer, insisting that he's going to get the farm back. Secrets are revealed between the sisters that are very horrifying, turning this modern King Lear into a real monster. Robards is incredible spilling the vile he feels, and it comes down to his anger over aging, the power he's suddenly lost and their making demands on him that takes away the parental rights that he abused when the girls were young.
It was a fabulous casting idea to put Pfeiffer and Lange together as sisters. They are fabulous together, really seeming like they came from the same womb. Leigh, not as much of a focus, is the definitive outsider, having gotten away, yet suddenly wanting not just a piece of the pie, but the entire orchard that made the apples. Jocelyn Moorhouse does a fabulous job of turning this modern adaption of "King Lear" into a well done analogy of family secrets.
Colin Firth, Keith Carradine and Kevin Anderson provide noble support. Pat Hingle is amazing in a smaller role as a character obviously based on the Duke of Cornwall in "King Lear". This was better for me the second time around, perhaps because I'd seen two full versions of "Lear" on the New York stage in the past ten years. The beauty of the land never leaves you, this coming from someone who grew up in a small town surrounded by the beauty and yes, the secrets. It never leaves you even though you can never go back. -
Nat-216 January 1999This movie has more on its plate than a sumo wrestler and the result for the viewer is indigestion. There are some good performances, but the subplots are extraneous and largely unresolved.
In addition, I found all the characters unlikeable, and if you can't identify with at least one character, there isn't much to get excited about. All in all, this is a classic example of trying to do too much with too little. -
impavida9 October 1998I was very moved by the gentle power of this movie and by the mood it created. I think it should have gotten a great deal more credit than it did. I agree that Michelle Pfeiffer should have been nominated, but I think all the performances were outstanding, and that Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange portrayed the deep affinity and conflicts of sisters with great emotional depth and sensitivity. Although I didn't read the book, I found the modern concept of King Lear very cool. I certainly will never look at the play quite the same way again!
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dasa10817 October 2023The feminist wave transforms stories from Shakespeare into odes to emancipation and empowerment. Taking this into account we have a very good cast with a story about three sisters who have a dark secret that affects both their present and their relationship with each other. The male roles serve as support for the stars who in this case have full freedom to show their best histrionics to move and outrage. Despite everything, the one who steals the film is Jason Robards who exudes gall and is a formidable exponent of the fact that great actors are recognized from afar. When he detonates the truth there we can see who is credible and who is not. Recommended for masochists and people who like to suffer from other people's traumas.
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Mattias16 September 2002The cast is superb but the script is hopeless. It scatters its potential in all directions: a bit of courtroom drama, breast cancer, a farmboy lover and a childhood of sexual abuse until your head is spinning. And it's not the fault of the cast, Jessica Lange in particular is superb.
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ninja7728 November 2004SPOILERS... I had just finished this excellent book and was excited about seeing the film. In particular I was looking for resonant scenes like Larry's kitchen cabinets left out in the rain, the building chemistry between Ginny and Jess, the mounting sense of loss felt by Ginny when each of her family members betrays her, particularly the last wounding blow from Rose. The film rushes from scene to scene, never giving any moment time to resonate with emotion. The result is the feeling that you don't get to know or care about any of the characters. In the book I felt sorrow and shock when Pete died, in spite of his many flaws. In the film he is about as two-dimensional as you can get. Jessica Lange has chops as an actress and could have made Ginny into the sympathetic character she is in the book. Unfortunately, the screenplay and direction didn't allow for it. The film feels mechanical, almost like you can picture the director checking off each scene in her to-do list. Make the breast cancer known, check. Show attraction between Ginny and Jess by having him touch her neck, check. Show Larry deciding to give up the farm, check. I agree with those who said it felt like a Lifetime special. I'm disappointed because the actors are top-notch, especially the freakishly gorgeous Michelle Pfeifer and the criminally under-rated Jennifer Jason Leigh. The land was just as much a character in the book as any of the people, and I wonder what the director could have been thinking by not showing this more. In the end you feel like the sexual abuse and the death of a sister are manipulative plot devices to jerk out the tears. I blame the direction and the screenplay adaptation. Terrence Mallick could have done justice to this great book. I wonder what Jane Smiley thought.
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przgzr6 November 2005Jessica Lange and Michelle Pheiffer were the reasons I watched the movie. I was pleasantly surprised to see Carradine, Robards and Hingle were also there, and none of them disappointed me.
I was, however, disappointed that this is another one in the endless line of movies coping with incestuous abuse of children. This important and tragic theme became boring, because American movie makers can't imagine any other tragedy and dark secret a family might have. A thing that was a taboo for centuries became a top one subject in last two decades, abused as the children they show. Children abused for sexual, theme abused for commercial reasons. What's the worst, instead of waking us up and telling us, hey, these things happen, open your eyes, help children, help people - they make us yawn, say oh not again, I've seen it yesterday and the day, and week before, and we change the TV channel.
In fact, if you don't give up, you'll be awarded by much better elaboration of this subject than average, due to great actors in great roles, and not to the director. I haven't read the book, so I don't know if this hate against male gender represents the attitude of writer or director, but even the radical feminists usually don't go that far. There is not a single male character who doesn't turn to be a rubbish in few minutes after appearing on screen. Women may not be perfect, but men are pure crap. If there was a spider in the movie, it would be a predator in ambush catching a (female) fly if it was a male spider, or a victim of a (male) bird if it was a female spider.
Only a person who keeps so much hate in herself can create a character like Ginny. Her hate poisoned everyone's life, spreading sorrow and death. There is no excuse for her: Rose's childhood was no better than Ginny's yet she didn't devote her life to hurting others. You can't expect forgiving for what has been done to her, even Christian's forgiveness has limits. If she wanted to save other children or prosecute her father, no one would make an objection. Also, one would understand if she kept her destiny hidden and that caused her psychological problems, but she shared her secret with Pete (and that also brought misery to both of them). Finally, when her father was so senile that it was too late for revenge, even on her dying day she wanted to burden people who avoided being hurt and molested. Rose, however, understands that would do no good, and that hate destroys person who hates even more than the one who is hated.
Michelle Pheiffer made a great performance: we don't approve what's Ginny doing, but we understand her. She simultaneously provokes sorrow and anger in us. Jessica Lange is good as always, and the fact that Rose's motifs often aren't clear enough is not her fault. Why is Carradine in the background and finally thrown away by Rose (and director) stays a mystery for me. Probably because he is male.
Like former comments, I wrote some praises and some serious objections. The truth is in the middle: it is an average movie you probably won't regret if you watch it, but also shouldn't be sorry if you miss it. -
MetaLark9 July 2002**** Possible Spoiler ****
If you were making a serious movie involving a powerful, but aging father with three apparently ungrateful daughters, featuring actors of the highest caliber, with great cinematography and a beautiful Midwestern setting, now where would you go with it? Why, you'd fashion a modern tragedy after "King Lear" of course.
That's what I was expecting. That certainly wasn't what I got. What I got was 105 minutes of feminist tripe--one long harangue about man's inhumanity to woman. Why, there wasn't a decent male in the entire story.
You see early on where this film might be headed, but you can't believe anyone would waste all these fine actors and craftsmen on that trite scenario--you just want them to get on with the King Lear theme. But it never happens; and there's the real tragedy if you ask me.
Aside from the panorama of glorious rural heartland, about the only thing worth watching in this film was that wonderful chameleon, British actor Colin Firth, practicing his Midwestern accent. Now there was a treat.
3/10 -
First of all,, super amazing performance by both lead actress (michele and jessica). they both made this movie very strong , powerful and emotional.
the only very LITTLE thing i didnt like is the ending, i really wished it could be a little happy or good. but it was really sad ending. because the movie missed few things LEFT at the end.
Anyhow very good drama movie with very good quality production with good cast.
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The few things which didnt explain or left in the movie is... the relationship of that man (jess), who is having sex with both sisters. and then there is really no explanation or scene of third sister. i mean the whole movie is about all three sisters. i really wished if they could add some scenes or story of third sister.
The last major flaw in the movie is also in the end, when one sister who is working in restaurant then her husband came and told her about her sister mentioned the whole daddy issues to village. if so ? then why the 3rd sister didnt heard this ?. or if she did then there should be a scene of all three sister would be together to talk about this.
I really wished in the end or atleast in the hospital that all 3 sister would be together . -
thejoebloggs25 June 2002Sadly a great opportunity to utilise a superb cast to bring King Lear up to date. However, instead, we got a contrived family drama that appeared to dip into Lear when the writer had run out of ideas, the cast worked hard but it just didn't gel. Recently Stephen Harrigan showed how to adapt and update the classics with his screenplay for the magnificent TV movie "King of Texas".
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retromomma10 March 2007I watched this movie, having never read the book, and took the characters at face value, but having already been introduced to them, watched it again recently. I got a whole different viewpoint out of the film.
Without the burden of having to focus intently on each character, learning their quirks and foibles, allowed me to focus on the cultural issues laid out in the film. The farm families of Iowa are so intimately inter-related as they are in the area of Indiana where I grew up in the 40's and 50's that I immediately recognized the back-stories and motives behind the characters. Perhaps, Jane Smiley did mean for us to see beyond the superficial into the world these people had to live, but viewers are so caught up in the "Hollywood" aura of the individual actors that they miss a rich layout of a lifestyle that exists less and less as each decade passes. Another film with these characteristics is the "Bridges of Madison County". Try watching both of these films again with an eye to the whole picture. -
wxl5125 July 2013This just in, folks:
Women (all, no matter how depraved) are good; men (all, no matter how virtuous) are bad.
Meat- eaters bad, vegetarians good.
The ONLY reason I didn't rate it one star is the somewhat decent performances by Pfeiffer and Lange.
Talk about Hollywood trashing the heartland - as it is so fond of doing.
The producers and directors should collectively be hanged.
What more does IMDb require to write a review? -
Phillip-731 March 2000I didn't actually have high hopes for this film because I had read some critics reviews when it first came out. I have not read the novel either. I thought the film was very well done and was moved by it. I agree that many of the supporting characters are underdeveloped but I could overlook that because I knew what was motivating the main characters. The two lead actresses are brilliant, especially Jessica Lange, who deserved an Oscar nomination for this. I loved the way her character slowly changed through the movie and Lange can evoke so much emotion in the viewer with something as small as a hand gesture. Pfieffer is strong as well although the story mainly revolves around Ginny and I don't really see why Pfieffer gets first billing here. I strongly recommend the film, espeically on dvd.
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halaphoto23 January 2013As much of this movie was filmed in my local area with a few miles of where I live I was very excited to see it when it came out. The cast all did a terrific job and I find no fault with any of their performances. The movie started out really great but soon slipped into a dreary and depressing darkness of a rather sick plot that just seemed to get more depressing as it went along. I guess the book that it was based on was supposed to be pretty good, but can truly say I have no interest in reading it if it is anything at all like the flick. Iwas very happy to leave the theater, and had/have no desire ever to see the movie again even though many of the place sets were local and familiar. Not even that is worth watching this very well acted, but bad movie.
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ken-2013 January 1999A touching movie. It is full of emotions and wonderful acting. I could have sat through it a second time.
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(1997) A Thousand Acres DRAMA
Adapted from a book written by Jane Smiley, starring Jessica Lange as Ginny of the "Cook" family along with her two sisters, Rose (Michelle Pheiffer) and Caroline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and constant squabble over her father's, Larry (Jason Robarb) acre farm land after he leaves it with them, as there lives is living some place else. Colin Firth, Keith Carradine, Elizabeth Moss to Michelle Williams also stars she plays as Paddy
If you do not mind constant arguing between a father continued bickering with his three adult daughters then this film is for you. I do not know if the book had this much arguing , and that I do not care to find that out.