Tell Me a Riddle is a 1980

1980 in film

- Events :* May 21 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the biggest grosser of the year ....

 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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 Lee Grant

Lee Grant

Lee Grant is an American stage, film and television actress, and film director. She was blacklisted for 12 years from film work beginning in the mid-1950s, but worked in the theatre, and would eventually win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Felicia Carp in the...

. The screenplay

Screenplay

A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 by Joyce Eliason and Alev Lytle

Alev Croutier

Alev Lytle Croutier, known in Turkey as Alev Aksoy Croutier, is a writer based in San Francisco, US. Her books have been translated into 22 languages...

 is based on Tillie Olsen

Tillie Olsen

Tillie Lerner Olsen was an American writer associated with the political turmoil of the 1930s and the first generation of American feminists.-Biography:...

's collection of four short stories

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 of the same name which won the 1961 O. Henry Award

O. Henry Award

The O. Henry Award is the only yearly award given to short stories of exceptional merit. The award is named after the American master of the form, O. Henry....

. This is Grant's first film as director. Two more such films would follow: Down and Out in America

Down and Out in America

Down and Out in America is a 1986 Academy Award-winning documentary film that critiques Reaganomics by showing examples of poverty in the United States. It won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, tying with Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got....

 and Staying Together

Staying Together (film)

Staying Together is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Lee Grant and produced by Joseph Feury and Milton Justice. The film stars Sean Astin, Stockard Channing, Melinda Dillon, Levon Helm , Dermot Mulroney, Tim Quill, and Daphne Zuniga...

.

Plot synopsis

When estranged

Estrangement

Estrangement is the sixth album by Ukrainian black metal band Drudkh, released in August 2007. The album was previously known under the title River of Tears, but then had a name change. Its songs have a minimalistic influence and also features the band's first prominent use of blast beats since...

 elderly couple Eva and David learn she is dying, they decide to take one last trip together. In San Francisco, Eva draws inspiration from their exuberant granddaughter Jeannie, who lives life to the fullest despite any stumbling blocks it may toss in her path. To her she reveals the secrets of her soul and shares with her scrapbook

Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a method for preserving personal and family history in the form of a scrapbook. Typical memorabilia include photographs, printed media, and artwork. Scrapbook albums are often decorated and frequently contain extensive journaling...

 clippings and photos of the literary

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

 and philosophical

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 greats - Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...

 and Emile Zola

Émile Zola

Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...

 among them - who have sustained her in her bleakest moments and offered her promise of a better life. As Eva comes to terms with her past, she and David manage to recapture the love they felt for each other early in their marriage.

Principal cast

• Melvyn Douglas
  Melvyn Douglas
  Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg , better known as Melvyn Douglas, was an American actor.Coming to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man , Douglas later transitioned into more mature and fatherly roles as in his Academy Award-winning performances in Hud...
  
   ..... David
• Lila Kedrova
  Lila Kedrova
  Lila Kedrova was a Russian-born French actress.-Biography:Kedrova claimed to have been born in 1918, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her parents were Russian opera singers. Lila Kedrova's brother was Nikolay Kedrov, Jr...
  
   ..... Eva
• Brooke Adams ..... Jeannie
• Peter Coyote
  Peter Coyote
  Peter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...
  
   ..... Young D
• Nora Heflin ..... Young Eva
• Zalman King
  Zalman King
  Zalman King is an American film director, writer, actor and producer. His directing and writing productions are known for incorporating erotica as a centerpiece to plots which are nevertheless about greater issues.-Acting:As a young man in 1963 he played a gang member on Alfred Hitchcock Presents...
  
   ..... Paul

Principal production credits

• Executive Producer
  Film producer
  A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
  
   ..... Michael Rosenberg
• Original Music
  Film score
  A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
  
   ..... Shalom Sherman, Sheldon Shkolnik
• Cinematography
  Cinematography
  Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
  
   ..... Fred Murphy
• Production Design
  Production designer
  In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
  
   ..... Patrizia von Brandenstein

Critical reception

In her review in the New York Times, Janet Maslin

Janet Maslin

Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...

called the film "a slow, restrained, dignified effort . . . so straightforward and so simple that it doesn't prompt anything more elaborate than subjective reactions. If you bring the right sad baggage to it, you may be deeply moved; if you resent being manipulated, you may be moved in quite another direction. Throughout the film, plain competence and good intentions are on display, and at least in this case, they aren't qualities that make for strong responses. This may be a movie to remind you of something. But I don't think it's one to touch you on its own."

External links

• Tell Me a Riddle at the Internet Movie Database