Wed, June 24 / 7 pm
Directed by Paul Newman
1968, USA, 101 min
For his first film as a director, Paul Newman chose this sensitive heartbreaking portrayal of a woman old before her time. Based on the novel Jest of God by Margaret Laurence it tells the story of a 35-year-old schoolteacher who lives at home with her mother and has done so ever since her father died, 14 years before. She lives quietly, going to work, taking care of her querulous mother, serving sandwiches for the bridge night. But Rachel feels like she is starting to lose it. She is starting to realize that she has never really lived. Rachel, Rachel was nominated for four Oscars: Best Picture, Actress, Supporting Actress and Screenplay.
Plays With:
House of the Wind / Dir. Sheldon Oberman, 1988, Canada, 17 min / A drama based on a poem by internationally acclaimed poet George Amabile. Shot in an abandoned community just outside Gimli, the film is about a writer who abandons civilization for
the gentle, natural beauty of a ghost town.
* Following the screening Winnipeg film and arts writer Alison Gillmor will host a discussion with all participants comparing the novel to the screen version.
The series From Novel to Screen is generously sponsored by the Manitoba Writer’s Guild and McNally Robinson Books.
