You know that Lifetime movies of late have gotten quite “lite.” But this week we get a woman of substance, Georgia O’Keefe, played by a woman of substance, Joan Allen. The movie mostly covers her life with Alfred Stieglitz (Jeremy Irons) who supported her work before any one else did. He also became her soulmate and husband even though he was much older than she was. Their relationship was to say the least, difficult. He was a dog. He slept with lots of women (and by the way left his wife to be with O’Keefe) and made excuses for his infidelities by saying he was doing it to get money for the gallery. Yeah right. While he wanted her to be successful, he wanted her to be with him. He flaunted his relationships in her face so much so that she had a nervous breakdown. She realized that in order to survive as an artist, and as a person, that she needed to get away from him.
O’Keefe found serenity when she moved to Santa Fe where she lived for decades. She is truly a unique, original, feminist icon and hopefully this film will open her up to a new audience.
Coincidentally (or not) Georgia O’Keefe’s abstracts are now on display at the Whitney Museum in NYC through January.
Film premieres Saturday, September 18 at 9pm on Lifetime.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Definitely gonna watch this, but why is it airing on Lifetime? It looks too good for basic cable and I’m disappointed that it has been relegated to Lifetime channel, but I mean no offense to anyone who loves Lifetime movies.
it’s not about relegated as much as it is about who is purchasing (for distribution) films. The major MOW channels are Lifetime and Hallmark.
I’m glad to see Hallmark doing better that usual, but I also know that MOWs are made in much less time with much less filmic beauty than features for theatrical distribution.
Like the MOW on Lifetime with Diane Keaton playing a Meth addicted, meth dealing mom, I wish it had the funds behind it to develop into a theatrical release. It could have been an Oscar worthy film had it not been a MOW.
**I meant Lifetime doing better than usual with films like this.
This biopic will probably get much higher viewership on Lifetime that it would as a theatrical release. And many more households have Lifetime in their cable package than the pay services like HBO or Showtime.
I was predisposed to love this story, because of the subject and the onscreen talent, but it let me down completely at every turn and in every discipline.
I was deeply saddened to witness the poorest execution in filmmaking that I seen in recent memory. In a word, ‘stunned.’
The script must be to blame, but truthfully I do make the giant leap that what was on the page was in fact shot. If it was not, then poor direction and editing are at fault. How is it possible to have done such a bad job is beyond me.
Ms. Allen’s (who is a superior actor) crying scene as O’keefe breaks down at the mural, I could only image her motivation was from having seen the dailies of this ill-written and poorly directed, tragedy.
I watched the entire film -my wife had the remote control, and kept saying, “I must get better.” It was so poorly crafted at every level, I am surprised it got out of the can at all.
With that kind of talent and subject matter, it is criminal what I witnessed on the screen and it saddens me so.
The WGA and DGA should be notified and a couple of memberships should be immediately revoked.
I had to watch the marathon of “Super Nanny” just to erase the experience from my memory.
I really liked the movie. I thought Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen were believable as a couple. If this was theatrically released, it would get very limited distribution. If it was on HBO or Showtime, very few people would see it. Being on basic cable, more people will see it. I hope Joan Allen gets an Emmy nomiation.
I am not a fan of the movie and I went in with great expectations. An interesting subject, great actors….but somewhere, something went wrong.
Some of the early “set ups” seem in error (poetic license?). O’Keefe sees her work in the gallery in NYC and wants it taken down. In reality, O’Keefe and Stieglitz had been corresponding and she sent him the pictures for showing.
The movie didn’t seem to know what it wanted to be. Was it a relationship movie? If so, what did we learn about their relationship other than that she was a seeming independent woman who allowed herself to be treated badly (and in public). Why? Because she loved him or needed him to promote her work?
Was it a movie about the creative process? If it was, it was even a bigger failure than that of their relationship. I got nothing relating to her creative passion, other than she liked New Mexico and flowers.
This must have been written badly and edited badly. Whether it was acted badly depends on how bad the writing and directing was. Irons and Allen should sue.
Just watched Georgia O’Keefe for the second time (TVO). It won’t be my last. It was wonderful–much too good for TV. I want my own copy. I went on line and ordered a print. I can’t get enough of her. What an artist!!!! Joan Allen and Jermey Irons did a fantastic job.