Reviews & Ratings for
Puzzle of a Downfall Child More at IMDbPro »

15 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
One of the most underrated films of the 1970's, 16 June 2004
Author: cinefilia from Los Angeles, CA

For the life of me, I can't figure out why someone doesn't put this film out on DVD or video. Puzzle of a Downfall Child is a hauntingly spare film about the breakdown of beauty. Although less well known than The Panic in Needle Park, it is Jerry Schatzberg's masterpiece. His use of non-linear storytelling coupled with some incredibly dreamy flashback sequences made me feel as if, like heroine Lou Sands, I too was coming slightly undone. For Faye Dunaway fans (and really who isn't a fan of Faye's?), this film showcases not only her incredible beauty--the eyelashes are to die for--but also her talents as an actress. She is more believable as an actress portraying a model than any model portraying an actress could ever hope to be. If it should ever make its way to an art-house near you, you will do yourself a disservice if you miss it. After I left the theater, I kept thinking of that trite adage about how they don't make them like they used to.

10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
FASHION MODEL HITS THE ROCKS, 11 March 2002

Author: wmneish from Los Angeles

PUZZLE OF A DOWNFALL CHILD is about a famous fashion model who's burnt out on the business and moved to a cottage by the sea to reflect on her splintered life. Years of being treated as an object by photographers, stylists, agents, etc., has left her with a serious identity complex and an addiction to pills...although flashbacks show that she was somewhat unhinged to begin with. The film isn't really that good; as critic Pauline Kael noted when the film came out, "I have a constitutional aversion to movies about women whose souls have been lost, stolen or destroyed, especially when it isn't made clear -- and it never is -- whether the heroine had a soul in the first place." But what IS very special about the movie is simply the way that Dunaway LOOKS. Rigged out in precise red lipstick, false eyelashes and liquid eyeliner, she's meticulously photographed by director Jerry Schatzberg, a former lover and onetime fashion photographer. The story is inspired by the true life life of Anne Saint Marie, a fashion model who later came unglued. Schatzberg taped conversations with Anne Saint Marie and used her comments as a framing device for the story. Not a great film, but an interesting one nevertheless.

13 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Masterpiece, 13 January 2004

Author: MeMyselfI

A landmark in independant american filmaking, Puzzle is the best film ever directed by Jerry Schatzberg. Faye dunaway is incredible. One of the best fims of the 70's.

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
i adore Faye, 19 April 2008

Author: peawok from United States

it saddens me to know that not many people will be able to witness the talent and beauty Faye brings to this tortured character!!! When was this released? 1970, when she was at her height, I am not from this time period, so I was wondering if anyone remembered what the critical reception of the film was? Why wasn't it a success? I was moved incredibly. and there must be some way to buy the movie without just watching it on you tube!!! Stunning Faye. i made so many screen shots!!!

This movie is for anyone that is interested in photography. The still shots themselves are amazing; the cinematography is incredible too. It is simple but raw etc. Faye is just so beautiful in this film and her story of madness is brilliant.

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Pretentious yet exemplary of its period, 16 March 2006

Author: kwindrum from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Obviously, this would never be financed by Universal Pictures today as it partakes in the usual artiness and experimentation typical of its period. Faye Dunaway-who has never looked better-plays an ex-fashion model ruminating over her career and tragedies. Her psychology is trite-likes older men, perhaps frigid or a nympho or something, rape victim and all this explains why her modeling and beauty render her unhappy. Rather slow, full of rack focus pulling, telephoto lensing, deliberate compositions (the director, Jerry Schatzberg, had been a fashion photographer. Ultimately pretentious but worth seeing once. Odd casting of a young Roy Scheider as some form of a rake (he never played that part again unless one counts All that Jazz).

6 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Great Dunaway Performance, 11 December 2002

Author: ikuryakin

Faye Dunaway has always been my favorite actress and this movie provides a great showcase for her talents. She plays a very neurotic model who cannot even trust her own memories. The movie is done in a non-narrative style that was fairly common in the 1970s, with events shown out of order, and that device is used very effectively to portray the protagonist's instability. This is one of the overlooked movies from a period that produced many great and challenging films; I don't believe it's ever even been on video.

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