FAYE
(director: Laurent Bouzereau; cinematographer: Travers Jacobs; editor: Jason Summers; music: Tyler Strickland; cast: Faye Dunaway. Sharon Stone, Mickey Rourke, Johnny Depp, Liam O’Neill, James Gray, Maria Callas, Rutanya Alda, Roger Ebert, Paddy Chayefsky, William Holden, Peter Wolf, Barbet Shroeder, Frank Perry, Roman Polansky, Jack Nicholson, Joan Crawford, Pauline Kael, Sidney Lumet, Tom Snyder; Runtime: 91; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Laurent Bouzereau, Markus Keith, Hawk Koch; HBO; 2024)
“The fascinating bio-pic gave me pause as to why I liked her or didn’t.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Laurent Bouzereau (“Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind”/”Mama’s Boy”) directs this compelling doc on the career and life of Hollywood legend Faye Dunaway, who grew up in a small town in Florida. It gives us the full star treatment of her disposition, her frank opinions on her films, her bipolar disorder, how Hollywood treats its actresses, and many unknown details of her personal life. The fascinating bio-pic gave me pause as to why I liked her or didn’t. She might be difficult to deal with on the set or in real life, but her career is impressive, especially since she played so many different types of roles and I believe excelled in all her acting ventures. She’s also not afraid of being completely open about revealing things about herself, which I found refreshing.
The biopic covers her career from the 1960s through the current century. It skips over her first marriage and divorce to Peter Wolff, lead singer of the J. Geils rock band, who was younger than Faye. In more detail, it covers her marriage to the Brit photographer Terry O’Neil and their adopted son Liam O’Neill. They would also divorce, after living separately in London and New York. He would die after the split. Liam fills us in on growing up with parents he adored.The doc covers her big films such as “Bonnie & Clyde,” “Chinatown,” and “Network” — for which she won Best Actress in 1977. It also covers her friendly relationship with Joan Crawford, and not backing down on her frantic, over the top performance, playing Crawford as a monster mom in Mommie Dearest, the much criticized film based on her step-daughter’s tell-all book (I agreed with the insightful critic Pauline Kael, that she got the characterization right).
I posted below the iconic photo her husband took of Faye at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the early morning hours after winning the Best Actress Oscar for Network.
It played at the Cannes Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 7/24/2024 GRADE: B+
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