That Cold Day in the Park
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Altman
Screenplay byGillian Freeman
Based onThat Cold Day in the Park
1965 novel
by Richard Miles
Produced byDonald Factor
Leon Mirell
StarringSandy Dennis
Michael Burns
Susanne Benton
CinematographyLászló Kovács
Edited byDanford B. Greene
Music byJohnny Mandel
Production
company
Distributed byCommonwealth United
Release date
June 8, 1969 (US)
Running time
113 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Canada
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,200,000[1]

That Cold Day in the Park is a 1969 psychological thriller film directed by Robert Altman and starring Sandy Dennis. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Miles and adapted for the screen by Gillian Freeman, it was filmed on location in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the events occur. The supporting cast includes Michael Burns, Luana Anders, John Garfield Jr., and Michael Murphy. The picture was screened at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival outside of the main competition.[2]

Plot

Frances, a woman who had inherited her late parents' Vancouver apartment, notices a nineteen-year-old boy sitting in the rain in a nearby park and invites him inside. The boy does not speak but appears to understand everything. Frances allows him to bathe and eat, then buys him new clothes the next day. That night the boy visits his parents and younger siblings, then returns to his small houseboat with his older sister, Nina, and explains what has happened to him.

The next day, the boy returns bearing homemade cookies and unexpectedly encounters Frances' maid, Mrs. Parnell. Frances invites him in and sends Mrs. Parnell away. Mrs. Parnell remarks that the cookies are burnt before leaving, but Frances opens an expensive bottle of wine to accompany the cookies. She holds one-sided conversations and flirts with the boy, developing a strong attachment. The following day the boy allows Nina to use Frances' bath while she is away having a contraceptive diaphragm fitted and dispensed at a local family planning clinic.

When Charles, an older suitor from Frances' lawn bowls group, visits that night, she locks the door to the boy's room while she rebuffs the man's advances until he leaves. She then inserts the diaphragm and enters the boy's room, asking him to make love to her. However, she is distraught to find that the bed is merely stuffed with dolls.

The boy sneaks back into his room and sleeps until the next day, when he finds that all of the doors and windows have been nailed shut. He confronts Frances, who apologizes but insists that she wants things to remain as they are, leaving him locked in the house as she goes out to a bar. She notices a woman sitting alone and invites her to come spend the night with the boy, but the woman becomes upset. A man overhears and helps Frances find a prostitute named Sylvia at a nearby diner. Frances brings Sylvia home and locks her in the room with the boy, then listens through the door as they have sex. Overcome with emotion, Frances enters the room and stabs Sylvia through the heart, killing her. The boy desperately searches for an exit but Frances tells him that he can stay with her and that he does not have to be afraid.

Cast

Themes

Writer Frank Caso identified themes of the film as including obsession, schizophrenia and personality disorder, and linked the film to director Robert Altman's later films Images (1972) and 3 Women (1977), declaring them a trilogy.[3]

Critical reception

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a negative review,[4] declaring that while it was well-shot, the plot was too convoluted and absurd to generate any suspense:

The plot is too improbable to be taken seriously, and yet director Robert Altman apparently does take it seriously. And so we get a torturous essay on abnormal psychology when, with less trouble, we could have had a simple, juicy horror film. There are some of the same exploitation angles as Rosemary's Baby (clinical discussions of reproduction, an eerie apartment, strange games), but they just don't work. In a straightforward horror movie, you can push pretty far before the audience starts laughing; they want to be scared. But That Cold Day in the Park doesn't declare itself as a horror film until too late, and the audience is already lost.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 'Park' a Lark in Vancouver Loynd, Ray. Los Angeles Times 22 Dec 1968: b26.
  2. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: That Cold Day in the Park". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-04-10.
  3. ↑ Caso, Frank (2015). "Strange Interlude". Robert Altman: In the American Grain. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1780235523.
  4. 1 2 Ebert, Roger (July 22, 1969). "That Cold Day in the Park". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved February 7, 2023 – via RogerEbert.com.
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