Precious (film)
Encyclopedia
Precious is a 2009 American drama film
directed by Lee Daniels
. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher
of the 1996 novel Push
by Sapphire
. The film stars Gabourey Sidibe
, Mo'Nique, and Paula Patton
. The film marked the acting debut of Sidibe.
The film, then without a distributor, premiered to acclaim at both the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
and the 2009 Cannes Film Festival
, under its original title of Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire. At Sundance, it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama, as well as a Special Jury Prize for supporting actress Mo'Nique. After Precious screening at Sundance in February 2009, Tyler Perry
announced that he and Oprah Winfrey
would be providing promotional assistance to the film, which was released through Lions Gate Entertainment
. Precious won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival
in September. The film's title was changed from Push to Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, to avoid confusion with the 2009 action film Push
. Precious was also an official selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival (particularly the Un Certain Regard category).
Lionsgate gave the film a limited release in North America on November 6, 2009 (the release was expanded on November 20). Precious received largely positive reviews from critics: the acting, the story, and its message were generally praised. In the film's opening weekend in limited release, it grossed $1.8 million, putting it in 12th place at the box office. As of February 2010, the film had grossed over $47 million domestically, ranking no. 65 for 2009, recouping its $10 million budget, and making it a box office success. Precious received six nominations, including Best Picture
, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 82nd Academy Awards
. Supporting actress Mo'Nique and screenwriter Geoffrey S. Fletcher
won in their respective categories.
) lives in the New York City
ghetto
of Harlem
with her dysfunctional and abusive mother, Mary (Mo'Nique). She has been impregnated twice by her father, Carl (Rodney "Bear" Jackson), and suffers long-term physical, sexual, and mental abuse from her unemployed mother. The family resides in a Section 8
tenement
and subsists on welfare
. Her first child, known as "Mongo", which is short for Mongoloid
, has Down syndrome
and is being cared for by Precious' grandmother, though Mary forces the family to pretend Mongo lives with her and Precious so she can receive extra money from the government.
Following the discovery of Precious' second pregnancy, she is taken out of school. Her high school principal arranges to have her attend an alternative school
, which she hopes can help Precious change her life's direction. Precious finds a way out of her traumatic daily existence through imagination and fantasy. In her mind, there is another world where she is loved and appreciated.
Inspired by her new teacher, Blu Rain (Paula Patton
), Precious begins learning to read. Precious meets sporadically with a social worker named Miss Weiss (Mariah Carey
), who learns about incest
in the household when Precious lets slip who fathered her children. Precious gives birth to her second child and names him Abdul. While at the hospital, she meets John McFadden (Lenny Kravitz
), a nursing assistant who shows kindness to her. After her mother hits Precious and deliberately drops three-day-old Abdul, Precious fights back long enough to get her son and flees her home permanently.
Shortly after leaving the house, Precious stops at a window of a church and watches the choir inside sing a Christmas song. She begins to imagine herself, and her dream boyfriend, singing a more upbeat version of the Christmas song. Later on, Precious breaks into her school classroom to get out of the cold and is discovered the following morning by Miss Rain. The teacher finds assistance for Precious, who begins raising her son in a halfway house
while she continues academically.
Her mother comes back into her life to inform Precious that her father has died of AIDS
. Later, Precious learns that she is HIV positive
, but Abdul is not. Feeling dejected, Precious meets Miss Weiss at her office and steals her case file. Precious recounts the details of the file to her fellow students and has a new lease on life. Mary and Precious see each other for the last time in Miss Weiss' office, where Weiss questions Mary about her abuse of Precious, and uncovers specific physical and sexual traumas Precious encountered, starting when she was three. Mary begs Miss Weiss to help get Precious back, but she refuses upon finding out the extent of the abuse. The film ends with Precious still resolved to improve her life for herself and her children. She severs ties with her mother and plans to complete a GED test to receive a high school diploma equivalent.
In September 2007, 24-year-old Gabourey Sidibe
was cast as Claireece 'Precious' Jones — The film's casting director Billy Hopkins was responsible for finding her at an open call audition held at New York City's Lehman College. She was chosen over 300 others who auditioned in nationwide casting calls and having had no prior acting experience.
Mariah Carey
was cast as Ms. Weiss, Precious's social worker who supports her during her struggles. In September 2008, Carey described her character as "not really a likable person, but she does bring this to the surface." Carey and Daniels had previously worked together on Tennessee
. Daniels said that he cast Carey because he was "so impressed" by her performance in Tennessee. Sapphire
(the author of the novel) makes a cameo appearance as a woman at a day care center near the end of the film. According to director Daniels, Helen Mirren
, who starred in his previous film Shadowboxer
, was originally set to play the part of Ms. Weiss, but obtained a role in a "bigger project."
Paula Patton
was cast as Ms. Blu Rain, Precious's alternative school teacher. Patton said that her character teaches Precious to "learn and read and write from the very beginnings, and pushes her to believe in herself, and pushes her to realize that anything is possible." Mo'Nique was cast as Mary Lee Johnston, Precious's mother, who is verbally and physically abusive. Mo'Nique and Daniels had previously worked together in Shadowboxer. Bill Sage
was cast as Mr. Wicher. Sage had co-starred with Carey in Glitter
, as well as previously working with Daniels on Tennessee. Robert De Niro
's wife Grace Hightower
was cast as a social worker; the film marks her film debut. She previously appeared on NYPD Blue
.
In October 2007, Stephanie Andujar
, 23, was cast as Rita, a 16-year-old former heroin addict and prostitute, who attends the same alternative school in Harlem as Precious and later befriends her. During Andujar's audition, Daniels was so impressed that he interrupted her dialogue and stated, "I want you in my movie." Lenny Kravitz
was cast as John McFadden, a nurse who shows kindness to Precious. This film is Kravitz' feature film acting debut.
and co-produced by Daniels' company, Lee Daniels Entertainment, and the Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness-owned Smokewood Entertainment Group. The two production companies had previously collaborated with Daniels on Tennessee
(2008). Precious had, in total, twelve producers: Daniels, Oprah Winfrey
, Tom Heller, Tyler Perry
, Lisa Cortes, Gary Magness, Valerie Hoffman, Asger Hussain, Mark G. Magges, Berrgen Swason, Simone Sheffield and Sarah Siegel-Magness. In September, 2007, Carey confirmed that the film's writer, Barsocchini, was still working on the script, which was in its early stages. Principal photography
(filming) for the film took place on location in various parts of New York City
. The production budget was $10 million.
After Precious was screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in January, it was picked up for distribution by Lions Gate Entertainment
and received promotional assistance from Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions
and Tyler Perry's 34th Street Films. Precious was the first theatrical film to be affiliated with Perry's company. In February 2009, Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company
filed lawsuits contesting ownership of the rights to release Precious. Both companies claim that they had purchased distribution rights to Precious: The Weinstein Company claimed that they had "secured" their rights while Lionsgate stated that they owned the rights to the film's distribution in North America. Precious sales agent Cinetic Media denied Weinstein's claims, stating that they failed to finalize the deal.
wrote and produced "Push", the film's original main theme music. Later announcements confirmed that the song would be replaced by Mary J. Blige's "I Can See In Color". Leona Lewis
' song, "Happy
" (from her album Echo) is featured in the film's trailer
. Daniels stated that the artists featured on the film's soundtrack were selected because they "resonate not only in Precious's world, but speak to your soul no matter who you are". Two other songs, performed decades earlier by Queen Latifah
and Mahalia Jackson, were also chosen for the film's soundtrack. The soundtrack features LaBelle
(Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash, and Patti LaBelle
), Donna Allen, Jean Carn, Sunny Gale, and MFSB.
Lionsgate, in association with Matriarch/Geffen Records
released the soundtrack online as a digital download on November 3, 2009, and in stores on November 23. Daniels confirmed that there are plans to release Blige's "I Can See in Color" as a single from the soundtrack. The song was written by Blige, Raphael Saadiq and LaNeah Menzies and is produced by Raphael Saadiq
. People Magazine Daily noted that the film "mainly had a music supervised soundtrack, but not much of a score, so there were popular songs placed in the movie." Peter Travers, of Rolling Stone
, described the song "I Can See In Color" as being "...a knockout song...expressing the goal of Precious to see the world in color."
from January 15, 2009, until January 25 in Park City, Utah
. At Sundance, Precious was listed under its original title of Push: Based On The Novel By Sapphire; however, the title was later altered to avoid confusion with another 2009 film entitled Push
. Precious appeared in the Un Certain Regard
, an award section recognising unique and innovative films, at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival
in May, 2009. At Cannes, the film received a fifteen-minute standing ovation from the audience after the film was screened. Daniels commented that, at first he was "embarrassed" to show Precious at Cannes because he did not want "to exploit black people" and wasn’t sure if he "wanted white French people to see our world." After the success at Precious screenings at Sundance, reporters took note that the film could mirror the success of other films that had been screened and praised at the festival. S. James Snyder, of Time
, compared Precious's success at Sundance to that of 2008's The Wrestler and Slumdog Millionaire
; both films later were nominated for multiple Academy Awards
, and Slumdog itself won Best Picture at the 81st Annual Academy Awards.
Winfrey used her status as both a celebrity and a media personality to give the film what was described by Ben Child of the Guardian.co.uk
, as a "high-profile promotional push". At a press conference Winfrey announced her intention to lead a promotional campaign on behalf of Precious along with her other various platforms, hoping to be able to "bring in different audiences" by promoting the film on her show
, in her magazine
and on her satellite-radio channel. Katie Walmsley of CNN
remarked, based on the film's positive reception at the Toronto Film Festival, that the film "at the very least, [because of] the [Toronto] award will guarantee "Precious" substantial distribution, as well as exposure for two-time director Daniels." The trailer for Precious was shown during previews of the film's producer Perry's film I Can Do Bad All By Myself
in September 2009.
(MPAA) in the United States, specifically for graphic depiction of "child abuse including sexual assault, and pervasive language". During its opening weekend, the film earned $1,872,458, which placed twelfth on that weekend's box office list, despite only showing on 18 theaters. The film saw a 67.5% decrease in its second week of release, earning only $5,874,628 at 174 theaters (about ten times more theaters and at least four more days than than the previous weekend) , which catapulted it up to third place in that weekend's box office, with a per-theater average of $33,762. On November 20, 2009, the film received a wider release, showing at 629 theaters (thus tripling the number of theaters showing the film). In its third week, Precious, as studios had previously estimated, placed sixth at the box office, with the revenues estimated 11,008,000 - an 87.4% increase from the previous week.
After riding that three week wave of success, Precious began to see a decrease in box office earnings. However, the film holds the record as the highest grossing picture to open in fewer than 100 theaters and holds the record for the highest grossing average per screen for films shown in fewer than 50 theaters. Brandon Grey of Box Office Mojo
described Precious as having had a "robust expansion" in its second week of release, and he confirmed that the film holds the record for having the second-highest grossing weekend for a movie playing at fewer than 200 sites, behind only Paranormal Activity. Precious grossed a total of $40,320,285 in over six weeks of release. The film opened at ninth place in the United Kingdom, with revenues totaling £259,000 in its opening weekend from limited release of 47 cinemas, generating a £5,552 screen average.
and Blu-ray Disc
formats on March 9, 2010, reaching number one on the top DVD sales chart in the United States with 1.5 million DVDs sold in its first week of release. It also reached the top position on the rental chart for iTunes
and Amazon.com
.
reports that 91% of 213 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average
of 7.8 out of 10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 91%, based on a sample of 32 reviews. The site's general consensus is that "Precious is a grim yet ultimately triumphant film about abuse and inner-city life, largely bolstered by exceptional performances from its cast."
Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 79 based on 35 reviews.
John Anderson, of Variety
, said "to simply call it harrowing or unsparing doesn’t quite cut it" having felt that the film is "courageous and uncompromising, a shaken cocktail of debasement and elation, despair and hope." Anderson cited Carey's performance as "pitch perfect" and Patton's role as Ms. Blu Rain as "disarming." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly
, praised Carey's performance, describing it as having been "an authentically deglammed compassion" and praised the film for 'capturing' "how a lost girl rouses herself from the dead" and for Daniels' showing "unflinching courage as a filmmaker by going this deep into the pathologies that may still linger in the closets of some impoverished inner-city lives." Gleiberman described the film as being a movie "that makes you think, 'There but for the grace of God go I.' [...] It's a potent and moving experience, because by the end you feel you've witnessed nothing less than the birth of a soul" and felt that the "final scene of revelation" between Sidibe's and Mo'Nique's characters was strong enough to be able to leave viewers "tearful, shaken, [and] dazed with pity and terror."
Roger Ebert
, of the Chicago Sun-Times, praised Mo'Nique and Sidibe's performances. Ebert described Mo'Nique's performance as being "frighteningly convincing" and felt that "the film is a tribute to Sidibe's ability to engage our empathy" because she "completely creates the Precious character." He noted that Carey and Patton "are equal with Sidibe in screen impact". Ebert praised Daniels because rather than casting the actors for their names
, "he was able to see beneath the surface and trust that they had within the emotional resources to play these women, and he was right." Betsey Sharkey, of the Los Angeles Times
describes the film as being a "rough-cut diamond... [A] rare blend of pure entertainment and dark social commentary, it is a shockingly raw, surprisingly irreverent and absolutely unforgettable story." Claudia Puig, of USA Today
says that while there are "melodramatic moments" in the film, the cast gives "remarkable performances" to show the audiences the film's "inspiring message." Peter Travers, of Rolling Stone called Mo'Nique "dynamite", a performance that "tears at your heart."
Mary Pols of Time
praised the film's fantasy sequences for being able to show the audience a "joyous Wizard of Oz energy" that is able to "open the door into Precious's mind in a way even [the author] Sapphire couldn't." Pols felt that, while not implying that the film has "a lack of compelling emotional material" but that the film's "few weak moments" are the "ones that dovetail with typical inspirational stories." Marshall Fine, of Huffington Post, praised the film as being "a film that doesn't shy away from the depths to which human beings can sink, but it also shows the strength and resilience of which we are capable, even at our lowest moments." Scott Mendelson, also of the Huffington Post, felt that when you put the "glaring issues aside," the film "still works as a potent character study and a glimpse inside a world we'd rather pretend does not exist in America." But while the film "succeeds as a powerful acting treat and a potent character study, there are some major narrative issues that prevent the film from being an accidental masterpiece." Mendelson described the film as being "an acting powerhouse" based on its many emotional themes.
Veteran critic Jack Mathews wrote, "Without being familiar with the source material, you really have no idea how much work went into the adaptation or how well it was done.... 'Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire'...First-time screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher did yeoman's work turning Sapphire's graphic, idiomatic novel into a coherent and inspiring story about the journey of an abused Harlem teenager.""
Precious has also received some negative responses from critics. Writing for the New York Press
, Armond White
compared the film to The Birth of a Nation
as "demeaning the idea of black American life", saying it was the "con job of the year". In two separate articles, The New York Times
cited White's article as the most powerful negative review, adding that in a recent interview he had remarked that the film's popularity is due to the fact that "black pathology sells". Courtland Milloy, of The Washington Post said Precious was "a film of prurient interest that has about as much redeeming social value as a porn flick." David Edelstein
, of New York Magazine, commented that while the film has "elements" that are "powerful and shocking", he felt the movie was "programmed" and that the film had "its own study guide." Keith Uhlich, of Time Out New York, felt that the film did not live up to its "long hype", and felt that it was "bewildering" to discover the film's praise at the Sundance Film Festival because Uhlich characterized the film as having "shrug-worthiness." Dana Stevens
of Slate felt that the film's "eagerness" to "drag" the audience "through the lower depths of human experience" leaves the audience "with no space to be able to come to their own conclusions." Stevens noted that while the film is about improvement and self-actualisation, "it wields an awfully large cudgel."
Peter Bradshaw wrote for The Guardian
that the film catalogues a "horrendous, unending nightmare of abuse" and then abruptly turns into an episode of Fame
.
Sukhdev Sandhu said in The Daily Telegraph
that he found the film "a dispiriting mix of cliché and melodrama", although he acknowledged that the film does feature some superb acting.
. Daniels won both awards for which he was nominated at the San Sebastián International Film Festival—the TVE Otra Mirada Award and the Audience Award. He was nominated in the category of Bronze Horse at the Stockholm Film Festival, and was the recipient for Best Feature Film from the Hawaii International Film Festival. Precious received five awards at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards
(ISA) in the categories for best film, first screenplay, direction, Actress and Supporting Actress. Precious received nominations from the 67th Annual Golden Globes for the film and for the performances of Mo'Nique and Sidibe; Mo'Nique won Best Supporting Actress. Precious was nominated in all three major categories at the 2009 Screen Actor Guild Awards
; best cast, best actress, and best supporting actress; Mo'Nique won. Precious was considered for the BAFTA
awards in several categories, including Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Leading Actress (Gabourey Sidibe), Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique). On February 2, 2010, the film received Academy Award nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards
, for Best Picture, Best Actress (Sidibe), Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique), Best Director (Daniels), Best Adapted Screenplay (Fletcher) and Best Film Editing (Klotz). On March 7, 2010, Mo'Nique (Best Supporting Actress) and Fletcher (Best Adapted Screenplay) won their respective Academy Awards. The film was also nominated for a GLAAD Media Award
for "Outstanding Film - Wide Release" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards
.
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 Lee Daniels
Lee Daniels
Lee Louis Daniels is an American actor, film producer, and director. He produced Monster's Ball and directed the film Precious, which received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Director; the film won two of the awards.-Early years:Daniels was born on Christmas Eve, 1959, in...
. Precious is an adaptation by Geoffrey S. Fletcher
Geoffrey S. Fletcher
Geoffrey Shawn Fletcher is an American screenwriter, film director, and adjunct film professor at Columbia University and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in New York City, New York...
of the 1996 novel Push
Push (novel)
Push is the 1996 debut novel of American author Sapphire. Thirteen years after its release, it was made into an acclaimed film that won two Academy Awards and was produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.- Plot summary :...
by Sapphire
Sapphire (author)
Sapphire is an American author and performance poet.- Early life :Ramona Lofton was born in Fort Ord, California, one of four children of an Army couple who relocated within the United States and abroad. After a disagreement concerning where the family would settle, her parents separated, with...
. The film stars Gabourey Sidibe
Gabourey Sidibe
Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe is an American actress who made her acting debut in the 2009 film Precious, a role that brought her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.-Early life:...
, Mo'Nique, and Paula Patton
Paula Patton
Paula Maxine Patton is an American actress. She is mostly known for her appearances in the films Idlewild , Déjà Vu , Mirrors , Swing Vote , Precious , Just Wright , and Jumping the Broom .-Early life and career:Patton was born in Los Angeles, to Joyce , a European-American...
. The film marked the acting debut of Sidibe.
The film, then without a distributor, premiered to acclaim at both the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and the 2009 Cannes Film Festival
2009 Cannes Film Festival
The 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 13 to May 24, 2009. French actress Isabelle Huppert was the President of the Jury. It was announced on March 19, 2009, that Pixar's film Up would open the festival...
, under its original title of Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire. At Sundance, it won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama, as well as a Special Jury Prize for supporting actress Mo'Nique. After Precious screening at Sundance in February 2009, Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
announced that he and Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
would be providing promotional assistance to the film, which was released through Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
. Precious won the People's Choice Award 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...
in September. The film's title was changed from Push to Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, to avoid confusion with the 2009 action film Push
Push (2009 film)
Push is a 2009 American science fiction thriller film directed by Paul McGuigan. The film stars Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, Joel Gretsch and Djimon Hounsou...
. Precious was also an official selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival (particularly the Un Certain Regard category).
Lionsgate gave the film a limited release in North America on November 6, 2009 (the release was expanded on November 20). Precious received largely positive reviews from critics: the acting, the story, and its message were generally praised. In the film's opening weekend in limited release, it grossed $1.8 million, putting it in 12th place at the box office. As of February 2010, the film had grossed over $47 million domestically, ranking no. 65 for 2009, recouping its $10 million budget, and making it a box office success. Precious received six nominations, including Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 82nd Academy Awards
82nd Academy Awards
The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2009 and took place March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. The ceremony was scheduled well after...
. Supporting actress Mo'Nique and screenwriter Geoffrey S. Fletcher
Geoffrey S. Fletcher
Geoffrey Shawn Fletcher is an American screenwriter, film director, and adjunct film professor at Columbia University and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in New York City, New York...
won in their respective categories.
Plot
In 1987, obese, illiterate, 16-year-old Claireece P. "Precious" Jones (Gabourey SidibeGabourey Sidibe
Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe is an American actress who made her acting debut in the 2009 film Precious, a role that brought her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.-Early life:...
) lives in the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
of Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
with her dysfunctional and abusive mother, Mary (Mo'Nique). She has been impregnated twice by her father, Carl (Rodney "Bear" Jackson), and suffers long-term physical, sexual, and mental abuse from her unemployed mother. The family resides in a Section 8
Section 8 (housing)
Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 , as repeatedly amended, authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to private landlords on behalf of approximately 3.1 million low-income households...
tenement
Tenement
A tenement is, in most English-speaking areas, a substandard multi-family dwelling, usually old, occupied by the poor.-History:Originally the term tenement referred to tenancy and therefore to any rented accommodation...
and subsists on welfare
American welfare state
Social programs in the United States are those institutions, supported or managed by the U.S. government, that aim to ensure economic security, universal access to the resources for self-development and the reduction of social suffering, such as poverty and illness. The main guiding philosophy for...
. Her first child, known as "Mongo", which is short for Mongoloid
Mongoloid race
Mongoloid is a term sometimes used by forensic anthropologists and physical anthropologists to refer to populations that share certain phenotypic traits such as epicanthic fold and shovel-shaped incisors and other physical traits common in East Asia, the Americas and the Arctic...
, has Down syndrome
Down syndrome
Down syndrome, or Down's syndrome, trisomy 21, is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. It is named after John Langdon Down, the British physician who described the syndrome in 1866. The condition was clinically described earlier in the 19th...
and is being cared for by Precious' grandmother, though Mary forces the family to pretend Mongo lives with her and Precious so she can receive extra money from the government.
Following the discovery of Precious' second pregnancy, she is taken out of school. Her high school principal arranges to have her attend an alternative school
Alternative school
Alternative school is the name used in some parts of the world to describe an institution which provides part of alternative education. It is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional...
, which she hopes can help Precious change her life's direction. Precious finds a way out of her traumatic daily existence through imagination and fantasy. In her mind, there is another world where she is loved and appreciated.
Inspired by her new teacher, Blu Rain (Paula Patton
Paula Patton
Paula Maxine Patton is an American actress. She is mostly known for her appearances in the films Idlewild , Déjà Vu , Mirrors , Swing Vote , Precious , Just Wright , and Jumping the Broom .-Early life and career:Patton was born in Los Angeles, to Joyce , a European-American...
), Precious begins learning to read. Precious meets sporadically with a social worker named Miss Weiss (Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
), who learns about incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
in the household when Precious lets slip who fathered her children. Precious gives birth to her second child and names him Abdul. While at the hospital, she meets John McFadden (Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...
), a nursing assistant who shows kindness to her. After her mother hits Precious and deliberately drops three-day-old Abdul, Precious fights back long enough to get her son and flees her home permanently.
Shortly after leaving the house, Precious stops at a window of a church and watches the choir inside sing a Christmas song. She begins to imagine herself, and her dream boyfriend, singing a more upbeat version of the Christmas song. Later on, Precious breaks into her school classroom to get out of the cold and is discovered the following morning by Miss Rain. The teacher finds assistance for Precious, who begins raising her son in a halfway house
Halfway house
The purpose of a halfway house, also called a recovery house or sober house, is generally to allow people to begin the process of reintegration with society, while still providing monitoring and support; this is generally believed to reduce the risk of recidivism or relapse when compared to a...
while she continues academically.
Her mother comes back into her life to inform Precious that her father has died of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. Later, Precious learns that she is HIV positive
HIV positive people
HIV-positive people are people who have the human immunodeficiency virus HIV, the agent of the currently incurable disease AIDS.Over the years of coping with the stigma and discrimination that accompany the diagnosis in most societies, a large number of support groups have been formed...
, but Abdul is not. Feeling dejected, Precious meets Miss Weiss at her office and steals her case file. Precious recounts the details of the file to her fellow students and has a new lease on life. Mary and Precious see each other for the last time in Miss Weiss' office, where Weiss questions Mary about her abuse of Precious, and uncovers specific physical and sexual traumas Precious encountered, starting when she was three. Mary begs Miss Weiss to help get Precious back, but she refuses upon finding out the extent of the abuse. The film ends with Precious still resolved to improve her life for herself and her children. She severs ties with her mother and plans to complete a GED test to receive a high school diploma equivalent.
Cast
- Gabourey SidibeGabourey SidibeGabourey "Gabby" Sidibe is an American actress who made her acting debut in the 2009 film Precious, a role that brought her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.-Early life:...
as Claireece "Precious" Jones - Mo'Nique as Mary Lee Johnston
- Paula PattonPaula PattonPaula Maxine Patton is an American actress. She is mostly known for her appearances in the films Idlewild , Déjà Vu , Mirrors , Swing Vote , Precious , Just Wright , and Jumping the Broom .-Early life and career:Patton was born in Los Angeles, to Joyce , a European-American...
as Ms. Blu Rain - Mariah CareyMariah CareyMariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
as Mrs. Weiss - Lenny KravitzLenny KravitzLeonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...
as Nurse John McFadden - Sherri ShepherdSherri ShepherdSherri Evonne Shepherd is an American comedienne, actress, and television personality. She is one of five co-hosts on the ABC daytime talkshow, The View, as well as being the current host of the Newlywed Game and having a recurring role as Angie Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock...
as Cornrows - Nealla Gordon as Mrs. Sondra Lichtenstein
- Stephanie AndujarStephanie AndujarStephanie Andujar is an American actress. Stephanie AndujarBorn1986 New York City, U.S.OccupationActressYears active2007–present-Biography:...
as Rita Romero - Chyna LayneChyna LayneChyna Layne is a New York-born Jamaican-Filipino actress whom has appeared in a number of films and television productions, including the movie Precious, the television movie Life Support, and the television drama Push. She has appeared in over 30 independent films and has been touted as the...
as Rhonda Patrice Johnson - Amina Robinson as Jermaine Hicks
- Xosha RoquemoreXosha RoquemoreXosha Roquemore is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Jo Ann in the 2009 film Precious.-Biography:...
as Jo Ann - Angelic Zambrana as Consuelo
- Quishay Powell as Mongo
- Grace HightowerGrace HightowerGrace Hightower De Niro is an American philanthropist, actress and singer.-Career:Hightower began a career in modeling after being spotted while working as a flight attendant for TWA....
as Social Worker - Kimberly Russell as Katherine
- Bill SageBill SageWilliam "Bill" Sage III is an American actor and alumnus of State University of New York at Purchase.- Filmography :* Simple Men ... as Dennis McCabe* Flirt ... as Bill...
as Mr. Wicher - Rodney "Bear" Jackson as Carl Kenwood Jones (uncredited)
- SapphireSapphire (author)Sapphire is an American author and performance poet.- Early life :Ramona Lofton was born in Fort Ord, California, one of four children of an Army couple who relocated within the United States and abroad. After a disagreement concerning where the family would settle, her parents separated, with...
as Day Care Woman
Gabourey Sidibe
Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe is an American actress who made her acting debut in the 2009 film Precious, a role that brought her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.-Early life:...
was cast as Claireece 'Precious' Jones — The film's casting director Billy Hopkins was responsible for finding her at an open call audition held at New York City's Lehman College. She was chosen over 300 others who auditioned in nationwide casting calls and having had no prior acting experience.
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
was cast as Ms. Weiss, Precious's social worker who supports her during her struggles. In September 2008, Carey described her character as "not really a likable person, but she does bring this to the surface." Carey and Daniels had previously worked together on Tennessee
Tennessee (film)
Tennessee is a 2008 American drama film produced by Lee Daniels. V V S Films has acquired all Canadian rights for the movie, while the U.S. rights are owned by Lee Daniels Entertainment.Vivendi Entertainment has acquired all U.S...
. Daniels said that he cast Carey because he was "so impressed" by her performance in Tennessee. Sapphire
Sapphire (author)
Sapphire is an American author and performance poet.- Early life :Ramona Lofton was born in Fort Ord, California, one of four children of an Army couple who relocated within the United States and abroad. After a disagreement concerning where the family would settle, her parents separated, with...
(the author of the novel) makes a cameo appearance as a woman at a day care center near the end of the film. According to director Daniels, Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
, who starred in his previous film Shadowboxer
Shadowboxer
Shadowboxer is a 2005 thriller directed by Lee Daniels that stars Academy Award winners Cuba Gooding, Jr., Helen Mirren, and Mo'Nique. It opened in limited release in six cities: New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Richmond, Virginia.-Plot:Mikey and his stepmother...
, was originally set to play the part of Ms. Weiss, but obtained a role in a "bigger project."
Paula Patton
Paula Patton
Paula Maxine Patton is an American actress. She is mostly known for her appearances in the films Idlewild , Déjà Vu , Mirrors , Swing Vote , Precious , Just Wright , and Jumping the Broom .-Early life and career:Patton was born in Los Angeles, to Joyce , a European-American...
was cast as Ms. Blu Rain, Precious's alternative school teacher. Patton said that her character teaches Precious to "learn and read and write from the very beginnings, and pushes her to believe in herself, and pushes her to realize that anything is possible." Mo'Nique was cast as Mary Lee Johnston, Precious's mother, who is verbally and physically abusive. Mo'Nique and Daniels had previously worked together in Shadowboxer. Bill Sage
Bill Sage
William "Bill" Sage III is an American actor and alumnus of State University of New York at Purchase.- Filmography :* Simple Men ... as Dennis McCabe* Flirt ... as Bill...
was cast as Mr. Wicher. Sage had co-starred with Carey in Glitter
Glitter (film)
Glitter is a 2001 film starring R&B singer, songwriter Mariah Carey. It was produced by 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures and directed by Vondie Curtis-Hall. It centers on the life and times of a struggling singer from the early club music scene in the 1980s.-Production:Carey has said about...
, as well as previously working with Daniels on Tennessee. Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
's wife Grace Hightower
Grace Hightower
Grace Hightower De Niro is an American philanthropist, actress and singer.-Career:Hightower began a career in modeling after being spotted while working as a flight attendant for TWA....
was cast as a social worker; the film marks her film debut. She previously appeared on NYPD Blue
NYPD Blue
NYPD Blue is an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan...
.
In October 2007, Stephanie Andujar
Stephanie Andujar
Stephanie Andujar is an American actress. Stephanie AndujarBorn1986 New York City, U.S.OccupationActressYears active2007–present-Biography:...
, 23, was cast as Rita, a 16-year-old former heroin addict and prostitute, who attends the same alternative school in Harlem as Precious and later befriends her. During Andujar's audition, Daniels was so impressed that he interrupted her dialogue and stated, "I want you in my movie." Lenny Kravitz
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...
was cast as John McFadden, a nurse who shows kindness to Precious. This film is Kravitz' feature film acting debut.
Production
Precious was directed by Lee DanielsLee Daniels
Lee Louis Daniels is an American actor, film producer, and director. He produced Monster's Ball and directed the film Precious, which received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Director; the film won two of the awards.-Early years:Daniels was born on Christmas Eve, 1959, in...
and co-produced by Daniels' company, Lee Daniels Entertainment, and the Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness-owned Smokewood Entertainment Group. The two production companies had previously collaborated with Daniels on Tennessee
Tennessee (film)
Tennessee is a 2008 American drama film produced by Lee Daniels. V V S Films has acquired all Canadian rights for the movie, while the U.S. rights are owned by Lee Daniels Entertainment.Vivendi Entertainment has acquired all U.S...
(2008). Precious had, in total, twelve producers: Daniels, Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
, Tom Heller, Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry
Tyler Perry is an American actor, director, playwright, entrepreneur, screenwriter, producer, author, and songwriter. Perry wrote and produced many stage plays during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2005, he released his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman...
, Lisa Cortes, Gary Magness, Valerie Hoffman, Asger Hussain, Mark G. Magges, Berrgen Swason, Simone Sheffield and Sarah Siegel-Magness. In September, 2007, Carey confirmed that the film's writer, Barsocchini, was still working on the script, which was in its early stages. Principal photography
Principal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
(filming) for the film took place on location in various parts of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The production budget was $10 million.
After Precious was screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in January, it was picked up for distribution by Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
and received promotional assistance from Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions
Harpo Productions
Harpo Productions, Inc. is an incorporated US-based multimedia production company founded by Oprah Winfrey . It also includes Harpo Films & Harpo Radio, Inc....
and Tyler Perry's 34th Street Films. Precious was the first theatrical film to be affiliated with Perry's company. In February 2009, Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
filed lawsuits contesting ownership of the rights to release Precious. Both companies claim that they had purchased distribution rights to Precious: The Weinstein Company claimed that they had "secured" their rights while Lionsgate stated that they owned the rights to the film's distribution in North America. Precious sales agent Cinetic Media denied Weinstein's claims, stating that they failed to finalize the deal.
Music
Composer Robin ThickeRobin Thicke
Robin Charles Thicke is an Award-winning American R&B singer-songwriter, musician, composer, and actor. Thicke's albums, which he previously released under the moniker Thicke, are noted for their feature of a predominantly R&B sound. Robin Thicke has penned hits for popular artists such as...
wrote and produced "Push", the film's original main theme music. Later announcements confirmed that the song would be replaced by Mary J. Blige's "I Can See In Color". Leona Lewis
Leona Lewis
Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer and songwriter. Lewis first came to prominence in 2006 when she won the third series of the British television series The X Factor....
' song, "Happy
Happy (Leona Lewis song)
"Happy" is a song performed by British singer Leona Lewis for her second studio album Echo . It was written by Lewis, Ryan Tedder, Evan Bogart, and produced by Tedder, and it was premiered in the United Kingdom radio on 6 September 2009, and officially released on 15 September 2009, by digital...
" (from her album Echo) is featured in the film's trailer
Trailer (film)
A trailer or preview is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the...
. Daniels stated that the artists featured on the film's soundtrack were selected because they "resonate not only in Precious's world, but speak to your soul no matter who you are". Two other songs, performed decades earlier by Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
and Mahalia Jackson, were also chosen for the film's soundtrack. The soundtrack features LaBelle
Labelle
Labelle is an American all female singing group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the Philadelphia/Trenton areas, the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, later changing...
(Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash, and Patti LaBelle
Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...
), Donna Allen, Jean Carn, Sunny Gale, and MFSB.
Lionsgate, in association with Matriarch/Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
released the soundtrack online as a digital download on November 3, 2009, and in stores on November 23. Daniels confirmed that there are plans to release Blige's "I Can See in Color" as a single from the soundtrack. The song was written by Blige, Raphael Saadiq and LaNeah Menzies and is produced by Raphael Saadiq
Raphael Saadiq
Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for "old school" R&B since his early days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! He also produced songs of such artists as TLC, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, Mary J...
. People Magazine Daily noted that the film "mainly had a music supervised soundtrack, but not much of a score, so there were popular songs placed in the movie." Peter Travers, of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, described the song "I Can See In Color" as being "...a knockout song...expressing the goal of Precious to see the world in color."
Marketing
Precious was screened during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival2009 Sundance Film Festival
The 2009 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival.-Award winners:*Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - We Live in Public...
from January 15, 2009, until January 25 in Park City, Utah
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
. At Sundance, Precious was listed under its original title of Push: Based On The Novel By Sapphire; however, the title was later altered to avoid confusion with another 2009 film entitled Push
Push (2009 film)
Push is a 2009 American science fiction thriller film directed by Paul McGuigan. The film stars Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, Joel Gretsch and Djimon Hounsou...
. Precious appeared in the Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...
, an award section recognising unique and innovative films, at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival
2009 Cannes Film Festival
The 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 13 to May 24, 2009. French actress Isabelle Huppert was the President of the Jury. It was announced on March 19, 2009, that Pixar's film Up would open the festival...
in May, 2009. At Cannes, the film received a fifteen-minute standing ovation from the audience after the film was screened. Daniels commented that, at first he was "embarrassed" to show Precious at Cannes because he did not want "to exploit black people" and wasn’t sure if he "wanted white French people to see our world." After the success at Precious screenings at Sundance, reporters took note that the film could mirror the success of other films that had been screened and praised at the festival. S. James Snyder, of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, compared Precious's success at Sundance to that of 2008's The Wrestler and Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
; both films later were nominated for multiple Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, and Slumdog itself won Best Picture at the 81st Annual Academy Awards.
Winfrey used her status as both a celebrity and a media personality to give the film what was described by Ben Child of the Guardian.co.uk
Guardian.co.uk
guardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
, as a "high-profile promotional push". At a press conference Winfrey announced her intention to lead a promotional campaign on behalf of Precious along with her other various platforms, hoping to be able to "bring in different audiences" by promoting the film on her show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, in her magazine
O, The Oprah Magazine
O: The Oprah Magazine, sometimes simply abbreviated to O, is a monthly magazine founded by Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Corporation.-Overview:...
and on her satellite-radio channel. Katie Walmsley of CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
remarked, based on the film's positive reception at the Toronto Film Festival, that the film "at the very least, [because of] the [Toronto] award will guarantee "Precious" substantial distribution, as well as exposure for two-time director Daniels." The trailer for Precious was shown during previews of the film's producer Perry's film I Can Do Bad All By Myself
I Can Do Bad All By Myself (film)
Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All by Myself is a 2009 romantic musical comedy-drama film which was released on September 11, 2009. The film was directed, produced, and written by Tyler Perry, who also makes an appearance in the film as his signature character Madea...
in September 2009.
Box office
Precious was given a limited-theatrical release on November 6th, 2009 and was originally scheduled to appear on screens only in North America. Due to the mature subject matter of the film, it was rated "R" by the Motion Picture Association of AmericaMotion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
(MPAA) in the United States, specifically for graphic depiction of "child abuse including sexual assault, and pervasive language". During its opening weekend, the film earned $1,872,458, which placed twelfth on that weekend's box office list, despite only showing on 18 theaters. The film saw a 67.5% decrease in its second week of release, earning only $5,874,628 at 174 theaters (about ten times more theaters and at least four more days than than the previous weekend) , which catapulted it up to third place in that weekend's box office, with a per-theater average of $33,762. On November 20, 2009, the film received a wider release, showing at 629 theaters (thus tripling the number of theaters showing the film). In its third week, Precious, as studios had previously estimated, placed sixth at the box office, with the revenues estimated 11,008,000 - an 87.4% increase from the previous week.
After riding that three week wave of success, Precious began to see a decrease in box office earnings. However, the film holds the record as the highest grossing picture to open in fewer than 100 theaters and holds the record for the highest grossing average per screen for films shown in fewer than 50 theaters. Brandon Grey of Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
described Precious as having had a "robust expansion" in its second week of release, and he confirmed that the film holds the record for having the second-highest grossing weekend for a movie playing at fewer than 200 sites, behind only Paranormal Activity. Precious grossed a total of $40,320,285 in over six weeks of release. The film opened at ninth place in the United Kingdom, with revenues totaling £259,000 in its opening weekend from limited release of 47 cinemas, generating a £5,552 screen average.
Home Media
The film released on DVD-VideoDVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
and Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
formats on March 9, 2010, reaching number one on the top DVD sales chart in the United States with 1.5 million DVDs sold in its first week of release. It also reached the top position on the rental chart for iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
Critical reception
Precious received much acclaim from film critics. Review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 91% of 213 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
of 7.8 out of 10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 91%, based on a sample of 32 reviews. The site's general consensus is that "Precious is a grim yet ultimately triumphant film about abuse and inner-city life, largely bolstered by exceptional performances from its cast."
Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 79 based on 35 reviews.
John Anderson, of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, said "to simply call it harrowing or unsparing doesn’t quite cut it" having felt that the film is "courageous and uncompromising, a shaken cocktail of debasement and elation, despair and hope." Anderson cited Carey's performance as "pitch perfect" and Patton's role as Ms. Blu Rain as "disarming." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, praised Carey's performance, describing it as having been "an authentically deglammed compassion" and praised the film for 'capturing' "how a lost girl rouses herself from the dead" and for Daniels' showing "unflinching courage as a filmmaker by going this deep into the pathologies that may still linger in the closets of some impoverished inner-city lives." Gleiberman described the film as being a movie "that makes you think, 'There but for the grace of God go I.' [...] It's a potent and moving experience, because by the end you feel you've witnessed nothing less than the birth of a soul" and felt that the "final scene of revelation" between Sidibe's and Mo'Nique's characters was strong enough to be able to leave viewers "tearful, shaken, [and] dazed with pity and terror."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, of the Chicago Sun-Times, praised Mo'Nique and Sidibe's performances. Ebert described Mo'Nique's performance as being "frighteningly convincing" and felt that "the film is a tribute to Sidibe's ability to engage our empathy" because she "completely creates the Precious character." He noted that Carey and Patton "are equal with Sidibe in screen impact". Ebert praised Daniels because rather than casting the actors for their names
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...
, "he was able to see beneath the surface and trust that they had within the emotional resources to play these women, and he was right." Betsey Sharkey, of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
describes the film as being a "rough-cut diamond... [A] rare blend of pure entertainment and dark social commentary, it is a shockingly raw, surprisingly irreverent and absolutely unforgettable story." Claudia Puig, of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
says that while there are "melodramatic moments" in the film, the cast gives "remarkable performances" to show the audiences the film's "inspiring message." Peter Travers, of Rolling Stone called Mo'Nique "dynamite", a performance that "tears at your heart."
Mary Pols of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
praised the film's fantasy sequences for being able to show the audience a "joyous Wizard of Oz energy" that is able to "open the door into Precious's mind in a way even [the author] Sapphire couldn't." Pols felt that, while not implying that the film has "a lack of compelling emotional material" but that the film's "few weak moments" are the "ones that dovetail with typical inspirational stories." Marshall Fine, of Huffington Post, praised the film as being "a film that doesn't shy away from the depths to which human beings can sink, but it also shows the strength and resilience of which we are capable, even at our lowest moments." Scott Mendelson, also of the Huffington Post, felt that when you put the "glaring issues aside," the film "still works as a potent character study and a glimpse inside a world we'd rather pretend does not exist in America." But while the film "succeeds as a powerful acting treat and a potent character study, there are some major narrative issues that prevent the film from being an accidental masterpiece." Mendelson described the film as being "an acting powerhouse" based on its many emotional themes.
Veteran critic Jack Mathews wrote, "Without being familiar with the source material, you really have no idea how much work went into the adaptation or how well it was done.... 'Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire'...First-time screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher did yeoman's work turning Sapphire's graphic, idiomatic novel into a coherent and inspiring story about the journey of an abused Harlem teenager.""
Precious has also received some negative responses from critics. Writing for the New York Press
New York Press
New York Press was a free alternative weekly in New York City, that was published from 1988 to 2011. During its lifetime, it was the main competitor to the Village Voice...
, Armond White
Armond White
Armond White is a New York-based film and music critic known for his provocative and idiosyncratic film criticism, which some have characterized as contrarian. He is currently the editor of City Arts, for which he also writes articles and reviews...
compared the film to The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation
The Birth of a Nation is a 1915 American silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith also co-wrote the screenplay , and co-produced the film . It was released on February 8, 1915...
as "demeaning the idea of black American life", saying it was the "con job of the year". In two separate articles, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
cited White's article as the most powerful negative review, adding that in a recent interview he had remarked that the film's popularity is due to the fact that "black pathology sells". Courtland Milloy, of The Washington Post said Precious was "a film of prurient interest that has about as much redeeming social value as a porn flick." David Edelstein
David Edelstein
David Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York Magazine, as well as the film critic for NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York....
, of New York Magazine, commented that while the film has "elements" that are "powerful and shocking", he felt the movie was "programmed" and that the film had "its own study guide." Keith Uhlich, of Time Out New York, felt that the film did not live up to its "long hype", and felt that it was "bewildering" to discover the film's praise at the Sundance Film Festival because Uhlich characterized the film as having "shrug-worthiness." Dana Stevens
Dana Stevens (critic)
Dana Shawn Stevens is a movie critic at Slate magazine. She is also a regular on the magazine's weekly cultural podcast the Culture Gabfest.-Life and career:Stevens grew up in Scarsdale, New York...
of Slate felt that the film's "eagerness" to "drag" the audience "through the lower depths of human experience" leaves the audience "with no space to be able to come to their own conclusions." Stevens noted that while the film is about improvement and self-actualisation, "it wields an awfully large cudgel."
Peter Bradshaw wrote for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
that the film catalogues a "horrendous, unending nightmare of abuse" and then abruptly turns into an episode of Fame
Fame (2003 TV series)
Fame is a television series that ran on NBC in the summer of 2003. The show was essentially NBC's attempt to duplicate the success of mega-hit American Idol, right down to their selection of judges...
.
Sukhdev Sandhu said in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
that he found the film "a dispiriting mix of cliché and melodrama", although he acknowledged that the film does feature some superb acting.
Awards and nominations
Precious has received dozens of nominations in award categories ranging from the performance of the cast to the direction to the cinematography to the adaptation of the book into the screenplay to the film itself including six Academy Award nominations. Director Lee Daniels won the People's Choice Award, an award given by audience members at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival2009 Toronto International Film Festival
The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival, was held held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 2009. The opening night gala presented the Charles Darwin biography Creation...
. Daniels won both awards for which he was nominated at the San Sebastián International Film Festival—the TVE Otra Mirada Award and the Audience Award. He was nominated in the category of Bronze Horse at the Stockholm Film Festival, and was the recipient for Best Feature Film from the Hawaii International Film Festival. Precious received five awards at the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...
(ISA) in the categories for best film, first screenplay, direction, Actress and Supporting Actress. Precious received nominations from the 67th Annual Golden Globes for the film and for the performances of Mo'Nique and Sidibe; Mo'Nique won Best Supporting Actress. Precious was nominated in all three major categories at the 2009 Screen Actor Guild Awards
16th Screen Actors Guild Awards
----Best Cast - Motion Picture: Inglourious Basterds----Best Cast - Drama Series: Mad Men Best Cast - Comedy Series: Glee ...
; best cast, best actress, and best supporting actress; Mo'Nique won. Precious was considered for the BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
awards in several categories, including Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Leading Actress (Gabourey Sidibe), Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique). On February 2, 2010, the film received Academy Award nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards
82nd Academy Awards
The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2009 and took place March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. The ceremony was scheduled well after...
, for Best Picture, Best Actress (Sidibe), Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique), Best Director (Daniels), Best Adapted Screenplay (Fletcher) and Best Film Editing (Klotz). On March 7, 2010, Mo'Nique (Best Supporting Actress) and Fletcher (Best Adapted Screenplay) won their respective Academy Awards. The film was also nominated for a GLAAD Media Award
GLAAD Media Awards
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives...
for "Outstanding Film - Wide Release" during the 21st GLAAD Media Awards
21st GLAAD Media Awards
The 21st GLAAD Media Awards was the 2010 annual presentation of the media awards presented by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The awards seek to honor films, television shows, musicians and works of journalism that fairly and accurately represent the LGBT community and issues...
.
See also
- 2009 in film2009 in filmThe year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note...
- Cinema of the United StatesCinema of the United StatesThe cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
- List of American films of 2009
External links
- Script
- Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire at the Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
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