The Dying Gaul (film)
Encyclopedia
The Dying Gaul is a 2005 American drama film
written and directed by Craig Lucas
. The screenplay is based on his 1998 off-Broadway
play, the title of which was derived from an ancient Roman marble copy
of a lost Hellenistic sculpture.
-related cerebral tuberculosis
. It impresses both studio executive Jeffrey Tishop and his wife Elaine, but for commercial reasons Jeffrey is willing to greenlight
the project only if Robert changes his protagonist from Maurice to Maggie and shifts the focus of his plot from gay
to straight
people. Robert initially refuses to compromise his principles, but when Jeffrey threatens to make the film without his participation, he decides to accept the $1 million paycheck he's been offered and make the requested edits.
Both Jeffrey and Elaine find themselves attracted to Robert, who becomes a frequent guest in their Malibu home and soon drifts into a sexual relationship with the manipulative producer. The connection Elaine feels to the grieving young man is more emotional and cerebral than physical and, after discovering Robert is addicted to Internet chat room
s, she tracks him down online and engages him in conversation while posing as a gay man. Using information he has revealed to her in person, she somehow manages to convince him he is communicating with his dead lover. Complications ensue when Robert reveals he's having an affair with his boss, forcing Elaine to face the truth about her seemingly perfect marriage and prompting a confrontation that leads to tragedy.
in January 2005 and was shown at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival
, the Provincetown International Film Festival
, the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Montréal World Film Festival
, Film Fest New Haven
, the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, and the Austin Film Festival
before opening in eleven theaters in the United States on November 4, 2005.
of the New York Times called it "a boldly expressionistic, proudly theatrical film" and said Craig Lucas "makes an auspicious, nervy debut as a screen director."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
thought "there are implausibilities in the plot devices that lead the movie to its ultimate conclusion. And then the final developments themselves, I think, are wrong in both theory and practice. There is some ambiguity about why a final event takes place, and that's all right, but the way in which the movie reveals it is, I think, singularly ineffective. It leads to one of those endings where you sit there wishing they'd tried a little harder to think up something better."
Mick LaSalle
of the San Francisco Chronicle
observed the film "has the best kind of story in that it unfolds as a series of surprises, and yet every step, twist and turn seems inevitable in retrospect. Just in terms of plot, it's a meticulous piece of construction, with key information gracefully planted and nothing extraneous. On mechanics alone, it would qualify as satisfying entertainment. Yet The Dying Gaul is hardly a mere mechanical construction . . . Lucas' insight into the subtleties of interaction - and the churning depths that those subtleties suggest - is of a whole other order than that of most film directors. In this psychological thriller, the psychological isn't neglected; it's intrinsic."
Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
rated the film three out of four stars and commented, "Lucas the director serves Lucas the playwright beautifully, giving the film a seductive gleam that only enhances the shock when he reveals the toxicity underneath. The actors could not be better. Sarsgaard, Scott and the luminous Clarkson negotiate the film's razor-sharp laughs and bone-deep tragedy with resonant skill. Lucas' powerfully haunting film gets under your skin."
cited the film for Special Recognition For Excellence In Filmmaking.
released the film on Region 1 DVD on March 21, 2006. It is in anamorphic widescreen
format with an audio track and subtitles in English. Bonus features include deleted scenes and an alternate ending.
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...
written and directed by Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas
Craig Lucas is an American playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, musical actor, and film director.-Biography:...
. The screenplay is based on his 1998 off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
play, the title of which was derived from an ancient Roman marble copy
Dying Gaul
The Dying Gaul , formerly known as the Dying Gladiator, is an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture that is thought to have been executed in bronze, which was commissioned some time between 230 BC and 220 BC by Attalus I of Pergamon to celebrate his victory over the Celtic...
of a lost Hellenistic sculpture.
Plot
In 1995 Hollywood, novice screenwriter Robert Sandrich has written an autobiographical script inspired by his lover's death by AIDSAIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
-related cerebral tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. It impresses both studio executive Jeffrey Tishop and his wife Elaine, but for commercial reasons Jeffrey is willing to greenlight
Greenlight
To green-light a project is to give permission or a go ahead to move forward with a project. In the context of the movie and TV businesses, to green-light something is to formally approve its production finance, thereby allowing the project to move forward from the development phase to...
the project only if Robert changes his protagonist from Maurice to Maggie and shifts the focus of his plot from gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
to straight
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
people. Robert initially refuses to compromise his principles, but when Jeffrey threatens to make the film without his participation, he decides to accept the $1 million paycheck he's been offered and make the requested edits.
Both Jeffrey and Elaine find themselves attracted to Robert, who becomes a frequent guest in their Malibu home and soon drifts into a sexual relationship with the manipulative producer. The connection Elaine feels to the grieving young man is more emotional and cerebral than physical and, after discovering Robert is addicted to Internet chat room
Chat room
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing...
s, she tracks him down online and engages him in conversation while posing as a gay man. Using information he has revealed to her in person, she somehow manages to convince him he is communicating with his dead lover. Complications ensue when Robert reveals he's having an affair with his boss, forcing Elaine to face the truth about her seemingly perfect marriage and prompting a confrontation that leads to tragedy.
Cast
- Patricia ClarksonPatricia ClarksonPatricia Davies Clarkson is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985, and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under...
..... Elaine Tishop - Peter SarsgaardPeter SarsgaardJohn Peter Sarsgaard is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron...
..... Robert Sandrich - Campbell ScottCampbell ScottCampbell Scott is an American actor, director, producer, and voice artist.-Life and career:Scott was born in New York City, the son of George C. Scott, an actor, director, and producer, and Colleen Dewhurst, a Canadian-born actress. He graduated from Lawrence University in 1983. His brother is...
..... Jeffrey Tishop - Elizabeth MarvelElizabeth Marvel-Biography:Marvel was born in Mohnton, Pennsylvania. She studied at Juilliard. She has several credits on Broadway and in film and television. Marvel was a series regular on The District, and has appeared in two films by the Coen Brothers: True Grit as the adult Mattie Ross, and Burn After Reading...
....Kelly Cartonis
Distribution
The film premiered at the Sundance Film FestivalSundance 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...
in January 2005 and was shown at the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
, the Provincetown International Film Festival
Provincetown International Film Festival
The Provincetown International Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1999 and held in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The festival presents a wide array of American and international narrative features, documentaries and short films for five days in June of each year.With panel...
, the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Montréal World Film Festival
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival , founded in 1977, is one of Canada's oldest international film festivals and the only competitive film festival in North America accredited by the FIAPF...
, Film Fest New Haven
Film Fest New Haven
The Film Fest New Haven is an annual film festival held in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, home of Yale University. Also sometimes known as the New Haven Film Fest, it is a non-profit organisation that was founded in 1995. This independent film festival features premieres and screenings of films made...
, the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, and the Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...
before opening in eleven theaters in the United States on November 4, 2005.
Critical reception
Stephen HoldenStephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of the New York Times called it "a boldly expressionistic, proudly theatrical film" and said Craig Lucas "makes an auspicious, nervy debut as a screen director."
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
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
thought "there are implausibilities in the plot devices that lead the movie to its ultimate conclusion. And then the final developments themselves, I think, are wrong in both theory and practice. There is some ambiguity about why a final event takes place, and that's all right, but the way in which the movie reveals it is, I think, singularly ineffective. It leads to one of those endings where you sit there wishing they'd tried a little harder to think up something better."
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
observed the film "has the best kind of story in that it unfolds as a series of surprises, and yet every step, twist and turn seems inevitable in retrospect. Just in terms of plot, it's a meticulous piece of construction, with key information gracefully planted and nothing extraneous. On mechanics alone, it would qualify as satisfying entertainment. Yet The Dying Gaul is hardly a mere mechanical construction . . . Lucas' insight into the subtleties of interaction - and the churning depths that those subtleties suggest - is of a whole other order than that of most film directors. In this psychological thriller, the psychological isn't neglected; it's intrinsic."
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
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...
rated the film three out of four stars and commented, "Lucas the director serves Lucas the playwright beautifully, giving the film a seductive gleam that only enhances the shock when he reveals the toxicity underneath. The actors could not be better. Sarsgaard, Scott and the luminous Clarkson negotiate the film's razor-sharp laughs and bone-deep tragedy with resonant skill. Lucas' powerfully haunting film gets under your skin."
Awards and nominations
Craig Lucas was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The National Board of ReviewNational Board of Review Awards 2005
The 77th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2005, were given on 12 December 2005.-Top 10 films:#Good Night, and Good Luck.#Brokeback Mountain#Capote#Crash...
cited the film for Special Recognition For Excellence In Filmmaking.
DVD release
Sony Pictures Home EntertainmentSony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the home video distribution arm of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation. It was established in November 1979 as Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment, releasing 20 titles: The Anderson Tapes, Bell, Book and Candle, Born Free, Breakout,...
released the film on Region 1 DVD on March 21, 2006. It is in anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format with an audio track and subtitles in English. Bonus features include deleted scenes and an alternate ending.