Puzzle of a Downfall Child
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Jerry Schatzberg
Faye Dunaway
Barry Primus
Viveca Lindfors
Barry Morse
Roy Scheider
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At an isolated beach cottage, Lou Andreas Sand, a once-famous fashion model, relates her past (often contradicting herself) to Aaron Reinhardt, her close friend and photographer. Aaron records her conversation for a film he is making about her. Reminiscing about her first affair, Lou describes her love for a respected older man; in reality, he brutally raped her. Describing herself as an unresponsive lover, Lou omits mentioning her desire to have sex with strangers in cheap hotels. Recalling her rise in the fashion world under the sponsorship of fashion photographer Pauline Galba, Lou minimizes the woman's lesbian dominance and her mentor's rage when Lou became engaged to marry Mark, an advertising executive. Lou is vague in relating the details of this affair--how she fled from the courthouse on the day she was to be married, and how she later accused Mark of forbidding her to go to Paris for a magazine layout when the magazine had actually decided to use another model. When her career began to ebb because of her neurotic behavior, she blamed others. After an attempted suicide, Lou resorted to using alcohol and tranquilizers to calm herself; finally, she had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized. Now alone in the cottage, she still lives on medication, trying to pull herself together. As she walks on the beach with Aaron, Lou expresses surprise that they never made love together; when he informs her that they did have an affair and that she was a good lover, Lou smiles.
Director
Jerry Schatzberg
Cast
Faye Dunaway
Barry Primus
Viveca Lindfors
Barry Morse
Roy Scheider
Ruth Jackson
John Heffernan
Sydney Walker
Clark Burckhalter
Shirley Rich
Emerick Bronson
Joe George
John Eames
Harry Lee
Jane Halleran
Susan Willis
Barbara Carrera
Sam Schacht
Crew
Richard Bianchi
Frank Caffey
Colleen Callaghan
John Foreman
William Gramaglia
Adam Holender
James Inch
Adrien Joyce
Adrien Joyce
Jennings Lang
Terry Leong
Evan Lottman
Neil Machlis
Roland Meledandri
Martin E. Miller
Hubert J. Oates
Richard Philippe
Roger Michael Rothstein
Jerry Schatzberg
Robert P. Schneider
Sear Electronic Music Production
Michael Small
Jo Ynocencio
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Filmed in New York City. Adrien Joyce is a pseudonym for Carol Eastman.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Winter December 1970
Released in United States 1996
feature directorial debut for fashion photographer Jerry Schatzberg.
Released in United States Winter December 1970
Released in United States 1996 (Shown in New York City (Film Forum) as part of program "Out of the Seventies: Hollywood's New Wave 1969-1975" May 31 - July 25, 1996.)
