From Stage to Screen Blogathon: Death and the Maiden (1994)

This is my first if three posts for the Stage to Screen Blogathon hosted by The Rosebud Cinema and Rachel’s Theater Reviews. You should check out all the great posts for this blogathon listed on their websites. Thanks again for allowing me to participate.
 “How can I confess to something I haven’t done? ” – Dr. Roberto Miranda

Number of Times Seen – 2 (Cable in the 90’s and 2 Oct 2014)

Brief Synopsis – In a town located in Central America, a woman has a cgance encounter with a man who she believes tortured and raped her years earlier.

My Take on it – How reliable are our memories and senses of a traumatic experience?

That’s the question that this movies asks the audience.

Can we believe what we recall happened and by whom or must we assume that memories from traumatic events are distorted.

This movie only has three characters in it and the action takes place almost entirely in one beach house which lets us get very acquainted with the information and misinformation that we are given by them.

This is obviously a dialogue driven movie and we are described events from the recent and also distant past in order to piece together what the characters know and believe.

All 3 of the actors are amazing. Sigourney Weaver, Stuart Wilson and Ben Kingsley do a wonderful job of making us sympathize with each of their situations.

I think that this movie probably loses part of its impact onscreen as opposed to seeing it on the stage because it lacks some of the intimacy in the character dynamics.

The ambiguous end helps us continue to question this movie’s original question long after we are dobe watching it.

Bottom Line – Powerful story that works well onscreen but perhaps would be even more intimate and personal on the stage. Excellent prrgormances by Weaver, Wilson and Kingsley. Loved the ambiguity of the ending. Recommended!

Rating – Globe Worthy

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