Jennifer Jones Centennial: "Indiscretions of an American Wife"
Wednesday, March 6, 2019 at 5:48PM We're celebrating Jennifer Jones's centennial. By your request (you voted on which two movies we'd cover), here's Nathaniel R...
Your viewing assignment should you choose to accept it, and you really should, is Vittorio de Sica's Indiscretion of an American Wife (1953), a floridly emotional 65 minute drama (you read that right) in which a very thirsty Jennifer Jones engages in some illicit behavior because what else can you do when confronted with the beauty of Montgomery Clift in the 1950s?
Though 1953 was arguably Monty's peak (he also starred in Hitchcock's I Confess! and the Best Picture winner From Here to Eternity that year), this melodrama from the Italian master Vittorio de Sica is Jennifer Jones's film from fussy indecisive start to farewell heartbreak finish...
Jones plays Mary Forbes, a married woman visiting her sister in Italy. She's been there for a spell, obviously, and can't quite bring herself to leave her Italian lover Giovanni (Clift) though she knows it's time to break it off.
Baby, you're gonna miss that train.
The film begins with that hoary old device of a letter being written -- what is it with old movies and shots of handwritten letters? -- Mary hoping to slink away from her sins without a face-to-face confrontation. But Giovanni finds her at the train station, just as her nephew has delivered her luggage for her quick getaway (Richard Beymer in his screen debut, acting in all caps: BESOTTED with Auntie Jones, SUSPICIOUS of Monty).
Throughout the cinematography is stunning (though the print streaming at Amazon Prime leaves much to be desired), the choreography and peaks at the local Italians are interesting, and Jones looks incredible; Christian Dior scored what must have been the easiest Costume Design Oscar nomination of all time as Jones and Clift both wear exactly one thing for the whole picture. Were it not for the scant running time, this might qualify as a "shot in real time" picture. (Perhaps it is in the longer European version which goes by Terminal Station). Jones keeps changing her mind about which train she'll take so you can feel the clock tick-tick-tocking out on this affair.
That opening letter is the only attempt to convince you, in that 1950s sort of way, that this has been a chaste affair, and it's not successful. Clift and De Sica, at least, know what's-what; these two have already done the deed. As for Jones, the guilt she's exuding works no matter how you interpret the story. The fact is she wants Giovanni, all of him, and that's bad enough for this bougie wife.
What follows their initial reunion is an uncomfortable hour of furtive kissing, love spats, impotent pleading, fantasizing about an impossible feature, and one very suggestive potentially ruinous moment when they're discovered by the police in an empty train car in the throes of passion (by which we mean making out in the shadows - HOT). Now Mary really might miss her train and not because she couldn't make up her mind this time.
In short, Indiscretion is a full hour of Jennifer Jones doing that Meryl with her hand on the truckdoor sequence in Bridges of Madison County. And, to my surprise, she moved me. Is this Jones's best performance? We haven't seen enough to say definitively but we have seen enough to suspect that it is. Montgomery Clift was, perhaps, less enamored of her work. At the end of filming, or so the anecdote goes, Jones gifted him a Gucci briefcase but the clasp was broken. Clift has been quoted as saying
It's beautiful but it doesn't quite work -- how like Jennifer."
Reader Comments (13)
I love the title of this movie.
As a Jennifer fanatic, I’m very ashamed to say I’ve not seen this. But I’ve been trying for years to track down the Terminal Station version, which is closer to De Sica’s vision. Allegedly Selznick butchered the original and thus birthed Indiscretion. Thanks for this beautifully written piece. Jennifer is such a star in this and they make a hot couple. Some of those shots are hypnotic.
For me it has always been Stazione Termini, which sounds so much better as you'll agree.
I voted for this one because I really like it and because I know you need you're monthly dose of Monty.
A lovely write up, as always. I've always seen the 65 minute version described as the "butchered" cut. I know there's an old Criterion DVD with both versions, but I worry that as soon as I buy it they'll announce a blu-ray release.
The good news for us physical media junkies is that several Jennifer Jones movies have been released on home video within the last couple of years. Portrait of Jennie and Duel in the Sun are two that I own and both are fascinating. The latter is way overheated and Jones is REALLY going for it in an egregiously miscast role, and Portrait of Jennie is strange, haunting, and oddly moving/beautiful.
Whoever could have imagined two huge American stars in a De Sica neorealist drama? It's not entirely successful, but it certainly is beautiful and worth seeking out.
indiscretion - singular. indiscretionS makes jennifer sound like a puttana!
I watched it on You Tube, not the best print, but Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones certainly looked great together. They managed to look so longingly at one another I felt like a voyeur. But the moment at the end, where he is closing her suitcase and sees the photo of her daughter clinches it. They both know she has to go back. A perfect moment of melodrama, nothing is said but everything is understood.
Thank you for this series, I had no idea this movie even existed. Jennifer Jones certainly captured that look of haunted yearning necessary. (that's a compliment)
It reminded me a little of "Brief Encounter", except Clift and Jones are more beautiful, but Brief Encounter has Noel Coward's dialogue.
You noticed the letter, I notice the train station. There's a whole series about train stations and films waiting to be done.
The difference between the films of the era of the great studios and the films of the post-era of the great studios is that stars like Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift are able to raise an average film of a great director like this. And you have the dazzling cinematography, scenery and costumes - you will hardly find a movie of this age that is not a treat for the eyes. Unless you prefer CGI, fx, and explosions. ;p
P.S .: Her finger on his ear borders on pornography. (For the 1950s)
The original De Sica cut is simply sublime. Selznick's shorter version, while still looking fabulous and sporting Clift at his most dreamy, is choppy and fleeting - no wonder critics weren't enamored with it at the time.
Kogonada's short video essay on the differences between Terminal Station and Indiscretions is a powerful study about the differences between a director's and a producer's vision:
https://vimeo.com/68514760
In many ways, as much as Selznick helped her career, her also held Jennifer back. She was quite a daring actress and wanted to push herself, but he was more concerned about her image and stardom. Many directors did not want to work with her because they didn't want to deal with the interfering Selznick. He treated De Sica much like he treated Powell and Pressburger several years earlier when they directed Jennifer in Gone to Earth. She's quite wonderful in this visually haunting film, but Selznick also took the shears to it and turned it into the truncated, renamed The Wild Heart. His version released in the states failed miserably, but I believe the original is available. He just could never grasp the idea that he was not a director. Jennifer worked with many visionaries, but he stifled her at every turn.
Ironically, De Sica acted in the Jennifer Jones-Rock Hudson starrer A Farewell in 1957, and received a Supporting Actor nomination. His performance is really fine. Selznick didn't get on with that film's director either.
Lady Edith, there's definitely something about Jennifer and train stations! Her famous scene with her then-husband Robert Walker in Since You Went Away is a classic.
oops, meant to type A Farewell to Arms in 1957...
"It's beautiful but it doesn't quite work -- how like Jennifer."
Oh,,,the shade!! lol...but I agreed she was very photogenic on screen but a rather limited actress
Jones was rumoured to be infatuated w Monty during filming but the attraction was of cos one-sided..
@brookesboy: good assessment of Selznick's meddling of Jones' films. I believe he was the one ruined her latter days career and reputation. After the flop of A Farewell to Arms, no director wanna work w her anymore and her career went in decline.