Beloved (1998)

"...a sumptuous film, with rhythms and textures that match the strenuous beauty of Morrison's sentences...  Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian
"...extraordinary cast is supported by a setting rich in authentic, gritty historical detail and an exquisitely evocative score...  L.J. Strom, Boxoffice Magazine

Editor's Note Oprah Winfrey collaborated with director Jonathan Demme (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) for this African American ghost story, set in 1870s Ohio. Demme adapted it from Toni Morrison's Pulitzer-winning book. Former slave Sethe (Winfrey) lives with her daughter Denver (Kimberly Elise) in a house haunted by the malignant spirit of Sethe's long-dead infant. Sethe is also haunted by memories of her life of slavery at Sweet Home, the Kentucky plantation where she was raised. Enter Paul D. (Danny Glover), a fellow slave from Sweet Home, who stays at the house to start a new life with Sethe and Denver. Unfortunately their plans for happiness are foiled with the unexpected arrival of Beloved (Thandie Newton), a mysterious woman that may be the physical manifestation of Sethe's dead child. Horrifying secrets are revealed leading to a shattering climax. Exquisite cinematography by Tak Fujimoto gives the film its stark beauty, and the performances are all splendid, particularly Winfrey's, and Newton's as the strange, hissing girl-child. Evocative recreations of the time, and disturbing flashbacks to the terrors of Sweet Home are interwoven to create a harrowing, vivid portrait of a life of freedom still haunted by ghosts of America's shameful past.

	Danny Glover
	Lisa Gay Hamilton
	Oprah Winfrey
	Kimberly Elise
	Thandie Newton
	Toni Morrison - Based on Novel By
	Colleen Atwood - Costume Designer
	Jonathan Demme - Director
	Tak Fujimoto - Director of Photography
	Andy Keir - Editor
	Rachel Portman - Musical Score
	Ronald M. Bozman - Producer
	Kristi Zea - Production Designer
	Akosua Busia, et al. - Screenplay

Jonathan Demme directs this sumptuous dark drama based on Toni Morrison's award-winning novel of the same name. The story exposes the events that transpire when a stranger named Beloved mysteriously appears on the Ohio land occupied by a former slave named Sethe and her daughter, Denver. When her arrival begins to stir memories of the past and strange occurrences begin to unfold, the truth of her identity eventually surfaces, throwing their lives into chaos. Rolling Stone
"...[A] film of shocking immediacy and surpassing tenderness..." 10/29/1998 p.79-80

Entertainment Weekly
"...Grab[s] you by the throat....In a just world, both Newton and Elise would have vied for Best Supporting Actress..." 04/16/1999 pp.62-3

USA Today
"...Expressionistic photography, meticulous editing and one of the year's most memorable scores..." 10/16/1998 p.7E

Premiere
"...[Winfrey has] assembled everything perfectly..." 10/01/1998 p.28-9

New York Times
"...[A] transfixing, deeply felt adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel....Mr. Demme succeeds uncannily well in bringing the novel's pulse to the screen..." 10/16/1998 p.E1

Box Office
"...Morrison's wrenching story has been filmed with remarkable skill and restraint..." 12/01/1998 p.47-8

Los Angeles Times
"...Newton hits the right unnerving notes with her work here....Her Beloved is a truly disconcerting, unfathomable presence....It gives the film the critical sense of unease the book has..." 10/16/1998 p.C1

Reel Views 8 of 10
...a powerful and disturbing motion picture... the kind of film that stays with a viewer for days after the end credis... the movie deals with difficult subjects without flinching or sugar-coating the truth. Beloved is for those who want substance from a movie... - James Berardinelli

Portland Oregonian 8 of 10
Like the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from which it is adapted, Jonathan Demme's film of Beloved is dark and tender, blessed and vexed, difficult and absorbing, fearsome and lovely... It's a sumptuous film, with rhythms and textures that match the strenuous beauty of Morrison's sentences; like the novel, it's told in flashbacks, songs, glimpses of a past too gruesome to remember in its whole. You doze off during this one, and you might miss something extremely crucial. - Shawn Levy