DIRECTOR: Paul Newman
Paul Newman produced and directed (his debut) “Rachel, Rachel,” a slight tale about a schoolteacher’s (Newman’s wife Joanne Woodward) sexual awakening in her mid-30s in a small Connecticut town.
Rachel is a 35-year-old unmarried schoolteacher living with her demanding widowed mother in a small Connecticut town. She resides above the funeral home once run by her late father, a setting that underscores her sense of entrapment. Rachel is shy, lonely, and emotionally stifled. She represses her desires and often uses her mother as an excuse to avoid change. Her colleague Calla (Estelle Parsons) harbors romantic feelings for her. Rachel reconnects with Nick (James Olson), a man from her past. Their brief affair awakens her sexuality and forces her to confront her own needs and independence. Through these relationships and her own introspection, Rachel begins to break free from her monotonous existence, contemplating a move away from her mother and the town. The film closes ambiguously, with Rachel poised between resignation and liberation, symbolizing the struggle of women seeking autonomy in a restrictive society
Highly regarded at the time of its release (NYFCC awards going to Newman as Best Director and Woodward as Best Actress), the movie seems a bit underwhelming today. However, with Estelle Parson’s Oscar-nominated performance as Calla, it does offer one of the first sympathetic portraits of a lesbian character in an American Film.
The screenplay is by Stewart Stern. Adapted from Margaret Laurence’s novel “A Jest of God.”
STREAMING: Amazon Prime, YouTube and Apple TV+
Seventy Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967)
https://thebrownees.net/seventy-queer-films-of-the-new-hollywood-1967-1981
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