Autumn Leaves

Although Aldrich won the Berlinale’s Silver Bear for Best Director for AUTUMN LEAVES, the film was long underrated, dismissed as some supposed studio project for star Joan Crawford. Yet Aldrich had developed the material for his independent production company and showcased his critical worldview (along with his penchant for noir undertones) in unexpected fashion in the form of a melodrama that veers into disaster right in the middle. Crawford plays independent typist Milly Wetherby, whose stubborn loneliness is lifted by the much younger war veteran Burt (Cliff Robertson). A new life seems to be beginning, until Milly discovers that Burt is a pathological liar and is repressing a terrible trauma. Aldrich reveals a veritable portrait gallery of toxic masculinity and dismantles a normality built on lies: the romance becomes an ambivalent vision of horror, exposing the false promises of the American Dream. Although Aldrich admired Crawford, the two clashed at first when she tried to bring in her own writer, until “one day she was doing a scene terribly effectively: I forget which one. I was really touched, and when she looked up, I tried not to be too obvious in wiping away a tear. That broke the ice and from then on we were good friends for a long long time.” (Christoph Huber)

All retrospective films that will be shown at the Filmmuseum after the Viennale - from 04.11. - can of course also be reserved as usual at filmmuseum.at or by calling 01/533 70 54 and purchased at the box office of the Austrian Film Museum. The prices of the Austrian Film Museum apply.