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Girlfriends (1978 film)

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Girlfriends
Theatrical release poster
Directed byClaudia Weill
Screenplay byVicki Polon
Story by
  • Claudia Weill
  • Vicki Polon
Produced byClaudia Weill
Starring
CinematographyFred Murphy
Edited bySuzanne Pettit
Music byMichael Small
Production
company
Cyclops Films
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • August 11, 1978 (1978-08-11) (New York City)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$500,000[1]

Girlfriends is a 1978 American comedy drama film produced and directed by Claudia Weill and written by Vicki Polon. The film stars Melanie Mayron as Susan Weinblatt, a Jewish photographer who experiences loneliness once her roommate Anne (Anita Skinner) moves out of their apartment in New York City. It was the first American independent film to be funded with grants, but private investors helped complete the film.[2]

Although the film began shooting in November 1975,[2] it took almost three years to complete because the initial budget of $80,000 ran out.[3] After the film was picked up for distribution by Warner Bros., it was released on August 11, 1978.

In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[4][5][6]

Plot

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Photographer Susan Weinblatt supports herself by shooting baby pictures, weddings, and bar mitzvahs while she aims for an exhibit of her work in a gallery. She shares an apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side with her best friend, Anne Munroe, an aspiring writer.

After selling three of her pictures to a magazine, Susan thinks she has left the world of portraits and wedding photography behind her. However, her life begins to fall apart when Anne moves out and marries her boyfriend, Martin, and she struggles to sell her photographs.

Susan develops a crush on Rabbi Gold, who works at the bar mitzvahs and weddings she photographs. The two kiss, but before they start an affair, she accidentally meets his wife and son, which puts a damper on their relationship.

After scamming her way into a meeting with a gallery owner, Susan is recommended to another gallerist, and she is able to get her own show. She also gets a boyfriend, Eric, whom she met at a house party. She later fights with Anne as the latter is jealous of her independence while Susan resents Anne's marriage and child. Later, she fights with Eric over her insistence on maintaining her own apartment instead of moving in with him.

At her gallery show, all of Susan's friends and family come to support her except for Anne, who Martin tells her has gone to the countryside alone in order to work. Susan goes to the countryside, and Anne apologizes for not attending her show and reveals that she had an abortion that morning, not wanting more children. The two drink tequila shots and play games, but are interrupted by Martin's arrival.

Cast

[edit]

Production

[edit]

The film started as a 30-minute film funded by a grant from the American Film Institute, but upon completion, Weill realized that she wanted to explore what would happen next in the story. That short film eventually became the first seven minutes of the feature film.[7] Original funding for the feature film came from National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts, totaling $80,000. Principal photography was effectively six and a half weeks, but those days were stretched over the span of a year because the production kept running out of money. When the grant money ran out, Weill had to seek private investors to help complete the film. Once the film was finished, she took the film to Hollywood studios, and she sold it to Warner Brothers for world distribution. They also signed a contract with Weill to direct two more features.[2]

Release

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Girlfriends premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, as well as screening at Cannes and other festivals.[2] It opened in New York City on August 11, 1978.[8] The film was re-released in select theaters in the United Kingdom on July 23, 2021, by Park Circus.[9]

Reception and legacy

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Girlfriends received positive notices from critics. A review in Variety wrote, "This is a warm, emotional and at times wise picture about friendship, a film deserving of a wide audience. It's documentary filmmaker Claudia Weill's first feature, although there's no reason to apologetically pigeonhole this movie as a 'promising first feature.' It's the work of a technically skilled and assured director."[10] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and called it "a nice little picture" that "plays out its drama in an episodic, European style – small vignettes leading forward in time."[11] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times described it as "a candid, intelligent, informed, affectionate, deeply affecting and wryly funny examination of the lives of young career women in Manhattan now."[12] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that the film "suffers from such a threadbare screenplay and tentative personality that one can't help marveling at its shlumpy appeal."[13] Geoff Brown of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "The clarity of Weill's focus, along with the witty script and keen performances, keeps Girlfriends for the most part likeably spry and intelligent."[14]

Stanley Kubrick brought up the film in 1980 when being interviewed by Vicente Molina Foix at Kubrick's house:[15]

Foix: Are you interested in the new paths or trends within current Hollywood production being tried by people like Coppola, Schrader, Spielberg, Scorsese or DePalma?

Kubrick: "I think one of the most interesting Hollywood films, well not Hollywood – American films – that I've seen in a long time is Claudia Weill's Girlfriends. That film, I thought, was one of the very rare American films that I would compare with the serious, intelligent, sensitive writing and filmmaking that you find in the best directors in Europe. It wasn't a success, I don't know why; it should have been. Certainly I thought it was a wonderful film. It seemed to make no compromise to the inner truth of the story, you know, the theme and everything else...

The great problem is that the films cost so much now; in America it's almost impossible to make a good film – which means you have to spend a certain amount of time on it, and have good technicians and good actors – that aren't very, very expensive. This film that Claudia Weill did, I think she did on an amateur basis; she shot it for about a year, two or three days a week. Of course she had a great advantage, because she had all the time she needed to think about it, to see what she had done. I thought she made the film extremely well."

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 58 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Intelligently written and beautifully acted, Girlfriends captures the rhythms of female friendship – and late '70s New York – with a deftly assured hand."[16]

Accolades

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Award Year Category Recipient Result Ref.
Locarno Film Festival 1978 Bronze Leopard Melanie Mayron Won
[17]
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films Girlfriends 9th Place
[18]
Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award Claudia Weill Won
[19]
Utah-USFilm Festival Grand Jury Prize Dramatic Claudia Weill Won
[20][21]
British Academy Film Awards 1979 Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles Melanie Mayron Nominated
[22]
David di Donatello Special David Claudia Weill Won
[23]
Golden Globe Awards New Star of the Year – Actress Anita Skinner Nominated
[24]

Home media

[edit]

Girlfriends was released on DVD in the United States (Region 1) on May 28, 2010, as part of the Warner Archive Collection.[25]

In August 2020, it was announced that the film would be made available for the first time on Blu-ray via The Criterion Collection, which was released November 10, 2020. The set contains a new 4K restoration, as well as new special features, including cast and crew interviews, two short films: Joyce at 34 and Commuters, theatrical trailer, and essays by critic Molly Haskell and scholar Carol Gilligan.[26][27]

References

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  1. ^ Klemesrud, Judy (August 4, 1978). "'Girlfriends' Director on Female Friendship". The New York Times. p. A12. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Starr, Cecile (August 6, 1978). "Claudia Weill: From Shoestring to Studio". The New York Times. p. D11. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  3. ^ Sweeney, R. Emmet (March 7, 2017). "Best Friends Forever: Girlfriends (1978)". Streamline. Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  4. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (December 11, 2019). "National Film Registry Adds 'Purple Rain', 'Clerks', 'Gaslight' & More; 'Boys Don't Cry' One Of Record 7 Pics From Female Helmers". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  5. ^ "Women Rule 2019 National Film Registry". Library of Congress. July 30, 2020 [December 11, 2019]. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  6. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  7. ^ Myers, Victoria (May 30, 2018). "Claudia Weill on Directing Theatre, Film, and Television". The Interval. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  8. ^ "Girlfriends (1978)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  9. ^ "Girlfriends to return to cinemas in a new restoration". Park Circus. June 18, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  10. ^ "Film Reviews: Girlfriends". Variety. May 10, 1978. p. 23. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  11. ^ Siskel, Gene (September 29, 1978). "'Girl Friends' story told with affection". Chicago Tribune. Section 3, p. 3. ISSN 1085-6706.
  12. ^ Champlin, Charles (August 20, 1978). "'Girl Friends': On 'Rocky's' Road". Los Angeles Times. Calendar, p. 1. ISSN 0458-3035.
  13. ^ Arnold, Gary (September 27, 1978). "Shlumpy Appeal of 'Girl Friends'". The Washington Post. p. B10. ISSN 0190-8286.
  14. ^ Brown, Geoff (September 1978). "Girlfriends". The Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 45, no. 536. p. 175. ISSN 0027-0407.
  15. ^ Castle, Alison; Kubrick, Stanley (2005). The Stanley Kubrick Archives. Cologne: Taschen. p. 460. ISBN 978-3-8228-2284-5.
  16. ^ "Girlfriends". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  17. ^ "1978 – 31st Locarno Film Festival". Locarno Film Festival. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  18. ^ "1978 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  19. ^ "Awards Archive". Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  20. ^ Hicks, Chris (January 28, 2000). "Sundance's spirit found in 'Whole Shootin' Match'". Deseret News. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  21. ^ Hicks, Chris (January 29, 2015). "Chris Hicks: Sundance Film Festival's roots go back more than 30 years". Deseret News. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  22. ^ "Film in 1979". BAFTA Awards. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  23. ^ "Motore di ricerca" (in Italian). David di Donatello. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  24. ^ "Girl Friends". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
  25. ^ "Girlfriends DVD". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  26. ^ "Criterion Announces November Titles". Blu-ray.com. August 18, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  27. ^ "Girlfriends (1978)". The Criterion Collection. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
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