Children of a Lesser God
Encyclopedia
Children of a Lesser God is a 1986 American romantic
drama film
directed by Randa Haines
and written by Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff
. An adaptation of Medoff's Tony Award
-winning stage play of the same name
, the film stars William Hurt
and Marlee Matlin
as two employees at a school for the deaf
: a hearing speech teacher and a deaf custodian, respectively, whose conflicting ideologies on speech and deafness create tension and discord in their developing romantic relationship. Marking the film debut for deaf actress Matlin, Children of a Lesser God is notable for being the first film since the 1926 silent film You'd Be Surprised
to feature a deaf actor in a major role.
After meeting deaf actress Phyllis Frelich
in 1977 at the University of Rhode Island
's New Repertory Project, playwright Medoff wrote the play Children of a Lesser God to be her star vehicle
. Based partially on Frelich's relationship with her hearing husband Robert Steinberg, the play chronicles the turmoiled relationship and marriage between a reluctant-to-speak deaf woman and an unconventional speech pathologist for the deaf. With Frelich starring, Children of a Lesser God opened on Broadway
in 1980, received three Tony Award
s, including Best Play
, and ran for 887 performances before closing in 1982.
Enjoying the vast success of his Broadway debut, Medoff, with follow writer Anderson, penned a screenplay adapted from the original script. Though many changes were made, the core love story remained intact. The film version premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
on September 13, 1986, and was released widely in the United States on October 3 of the same year. Not unlike its source material, the film generally gained praise from the hearing and deaf communities alike. It received five Academy Award
nominations, including Matlin's win for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
. Only 21-years-old at the time, Matlin is the youngest actress to receive the award and the only deaf Academy Award recipient (in any category) to date.
) is a troubled young deaf woman working as a cleaner at a school for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in New England
. An energetic new teacher, James Leeds (William Hurt
), arrives at the school and encourages her to set aside her insular life by learning how to talk.
As she already uses sign language, Sarah resists James's attempts to get her to talk. Romantic interest develops between James and Sarah and they are soon living together, though their differences and mutual stubbornness eventually strains their relationship to breaking point, as he continues to want her to talk, and she feels somewhat stifled in his presence.
Sarah leaves James and goes to live with her estranged mother (Piper Laurie
) in a nearby city, reconciling with her in the process. However, she and James later find a way to resolve their differences.
The title of the film comes from the twelfth chapter of Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Idylls of the King
." The stanza in which the line is contained reads as follows:
with the Rothesay Netherwood School
serving as the main set. Aside from locations in Saint John and Rothesay Netherwood School, various sets were constructed by Saint John local, Keith MacDonald.
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Randa Haines
Randa Haines
Randa Haines is a film and television director and producer. She is perhaps most famous for directing the critically acclaimed feature film Children of a Lesser God , which starred William Hurt and Marlee Matlin, for which Matlin won the 1987 Academy Award as best actress...
and written by Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff
Mark Medoff
Mark Medoff is an American playwright, screenwriter, film and theatre director, actor, and professor. His play Children of a Lesser God received both the Tony Award and the Olivier Award...
. An adaptation of Medoff's Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-winning stage play of the same name
Children of a Lesser God (play)
Children of a Lesser God is a play by Mark Medoff, published in 1980 focusing on the conflicted professional and romantic relationship between deaf former student, Sarah Norman, and her teacher, James Leeds. The play was specially written for the Deaf actress Phyllis Frelich, based to some extent...
, the film stars William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
and Marlee Matlin
Marlee Matlin
Marlee Bethany Matlin is an American actress. She is the only deaf actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for Children of a Lesser God. Her work in film and television has resulted in a Golden Globe award, with two additional nominations, and four Emmy...
as two employees at a school for the deaf
Schools for the deaf
For a list of deaf schools, see :Category:Schools for the deafFor a list of deaf universities and colleges, see :Category:Deaf universities and colleges...
: a hearing speech teacher and a deaf custodian, respectively, whose conflicting ideologies on speech and deafness create tension and discord in their developing romantic relationship. Marking the film debut for deaf actress Matlin, Children of a Lesser God is notable for being the first film since the 1926 silent film You'd Be Surprised
You'd Be Surprised (film)
You'd Be Surprised is a silent film released in 1926 starring Raymond Griffith. The film, a murder mystery-comedy, was well received, and included title cards written by humorist Robert Benchley....
to feature a deaf actor in a major role.
After meeting deaf actress Phyllis Frelich
Phyllis Frelich
Phyllis Frelich is an American actress, and, with Marlee Matlin, one of the two pre-eminent deaf actresses in the United States. Frelich was born in Devils Lake, North Dakota to deaf parents and is the oldest of 9 children...
in 1977 at the University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
's New Repertory Project, playwright Medoff wrote the play Children of a Lesser God to be her star vehicle
Star vehicle
A star vehicle has historically been a movie, play, TV series, or other production whose primary purpose, besides turning a profit, is to enhance someone's career. Vehicles are most commonly produced when a young or inexperienced actor has signed a long-term contract with a major studio...
. Based partially on Frelich's relationship with her hearing husband Robert Steinberg, the play chronicles the turmoiled relationship and marriage between a reluctant-to-speak deaf woman and an unconventional speech pathologist for the deaf. With Frelich starring, Children of a Lesser God opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1980, received three Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s, including Best Play
Tony Award for Best Play
The Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...
, and ran for 887 performances before closing in 1982.
Enjoying the vast success of his Broadway debut, Medoff, with follow writer Anderson, penned a screenplay adapted from the original script. Though many changes were made, the core love story remained intact. The film version premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on September 13, 1986, and was released widely in the United States on October 3 of the same year. Not unlike its source material, the film generally gained praise from the hearing and deaf communities alike. It received five Academy Award
59th Academy Awards
The 59th Academy Awards were presented March 30, 1987 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Paul Hogan....
nominations, including Matlin's win for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. Only 21-years-old at the time, Matlin is the youngest actress to receive the award and the only deaf Academy Award recipient (in any category) to date.
Plot
Sarah Norman (Marlee MatlinMarlee Matlin
Marlee Bethany Matlin is an American actress. She is the only deaf actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for Children of a Lesser God. Her work in film and television has resulted in a Golden Globe award, with two additional nominations, and four Emmy...
) is a troubled young deaf woman working as a cleaner at a school for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. An energetic new teacher, James Leeds (William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
), arrives at the school and encourages her to set aside her insular life by learning how to talk.
As she already uses sign language, Sarah resists James's attempts to get her to talk. Romantic interest develops between James and Sarah and they are soon living together, though their differences and mutual stubbornness eventually strains their relationship to breaking point, as he continues to want her to talk, and she feels somewhat stifled in his presence.
Sarah leaves James and goes to live with her estranged mother (Piper Laurie
Piper Laurie
Piper Laurie is an American actress of stage and screen known for her roles in the television series Twin Peaks and the films The Hustler, Carrie, and Children of a Lesser God, all of which brought her Academy Award nominations...
) in a nearby city, reconciling with her in the process. However, she and James later find a way to resolve their differences.
The title of the film comes from the twelfth chapter of Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Idylls of the King
Idylls of the King
Idylls of the King, published between 1856 and 1885, is a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom...
." The stanza in which the line is contained reads as follows:
I found Him in the shining of the stars,
I marked Him in the flowering of His fields,
But in His ways with men I find Him not.
I waged His wars, and now I pass and die.
O me! for why is all around us here
As if some lesser god had made the world,
But had not force to shape it as he would,
Till the High God behold it from beyond,
And enter it, and make it beautiful?
Or else as if the world were wholly fair,
But that these eyes of men are dense and dim,
And have not power to see it as it is:
Perchance, because we see not to the close;—
For I, being simple, thought to work His will,
And have but stricken with the sword in vain;
And all whereon I leaned in wife and friend
Is traitor to my peace, and all my realm
Reels back into the beast, and is no more.
My God, thou hast forgotten me in my death;
Nay — God my Christ — I pass but shall not die.
Production
The movie was shot primarily in and around Saint John, New BrunswickSaint John, New Brunswick
City of Saint John , or commonly Saint John, is the largest city in the province of New Brunswick, and the first incorporated city in Canada. The city is situated along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River. In 2006 the city proper had a population of 74,043...
with the Rothesay Netherwood School
Rothesay Netherwood School
Rothesay Netherwood School is an Atlantic Canadian, independent day and boarding university-preparatory school for grades 6-12 located in Rothesay, New Brunswick, Canada. It has been an International Baccalaureate World School since April 2007...
serving as the main set. Aside from locations in Saint John and Rothesay Netherwood School, various sets were constructed by Saint John local, Keith MacDonald.
Cast
- William HurtWilliam HurtWilliam McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
as James Leeds - Marlee MatlinMarlee MatlinMarlee Bethany Matlin is an American actress. She is the only deaf actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for Children of a Lesser God. Her work in film and television has resulted in a Golden Globe award, with two additional nominations, and four Emmy...
as Sarah Norman - Piper LauriePiper LauriePiper Laurie is an American actress of stage and screen known for her roles in the television series Twin Peaks and the films The Hustler, Carrie, and Children of a Lesser God, all of which brought her Academy Award nominations...
as Mrs. Norman - Philip BoscoPhilip Bosco-Personal life:Bosco was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of Margaret Raymond , a policewoman, and Philip Lupo Bosco, a carnival worker. Bosco went to high school at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City. He attended the Catholic University of Washington, D.C. Bosco married Nancy...
as Dr. Curtis Franklin - Allison Gompf as Lydia
Box office
Although budget details are not known, the film opened at number 5 at the North American box office with an opening weekend gross of $1,909,084. The film stayed in the Top 10 for 8 weeks and grossed a total of $31,853,080 in North America.Awards
- Academy Award (1987): Best Actress in a Leading RoleAcademy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
- Marlee Matlin - Golden Globe (1987): Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - DramaGolden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture DramaThe Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
- Marlee Matlin - Berlin International Film Festival37th Berlin International Film FestivalThe 37th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 20 February to 3 March 1987.-Jury:* Klaus Maria Brandauer * Juliet Berto* Kathleen Carroll* Callisto Cosulich* Victor Dyomin* Reinhard Hauff* Edmund Luft* Jiří Menzel...
(1987): Silver Bear - Randa Haines - Berlin International Film Festival (1987): Reader Jury of the "Berliner Morgenpost" - Randa HainesRanda HainesRanda Haines is a film and television director and producer. She is perhaps most famous for directing the critically acclaimed feature film Children of a Lesser God , which starred William Hurt and Marlee Matlin, for which Matlin won the 1987 Academy Award as best actress...