Sommersby (1993)

Director:

Jon Amiel

Writers (WGA):

Daniel Vigne (film The Return of Martin Guerre) and
Jean-Claude Carrière (film The Return of Martin Guerre) ...

Release Date:

5 February 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

She knew his face. His touch. His voice. She knew everything about him... But the truth.

Plot:

Set in the south of the United States just after the Civil War, Laurel Sommersby is just managing to work the farm without her husband Jack...

Plot Keywords:

Impersonation | Remake | One Word Title | Courtroom | Historical

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Richard Gere	...	John Robert 'Jack' Sommersby
Jodie Foster	...	Laurel Sommersby
Bill Pullman	...	Orin Meecham
James Earl Jones	...	Judge Barry Conrad Issacs
Lanny Flaherty	...	Buck
William Windom	...	Reverend Powell
Wendell Wellman	...	Travis
Brett Kelley	...	Little Rob
Clarice Taylor	...	Esther
Frankie Faison	...	Joseph
R. Lee Ermey	...	Dick Mead
Richard Hamilton	...	Doc Evans
Karen Kirschenbauer	...	Mrs. Evans
Carter McNeese	...	Storekeeper Wilson
Dean Whitworth	...	Tom Clemmons

Also Known As:

Sommersby (France)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sensuality.

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | France:Unrated | Germany:12 | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Norway:10 (1993) | Peru:14 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Appomattox, Virginia, USA

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

Original writer Nicholas Meyer walked off the production when Warner Brothers wouldn't let him direct his screenplay. Sarah Kernochan was drafted in to rewrite the script and was somewhat bemused to see that it was an Americanized version of Le retour de Martin Guerre (1982). Warners denied this in a rather obvious attempt not to have to buy the remake rights, but Kernochan insisted that they do before continuing as they weren't fooling anyone. Warners eventually relented, and also gave Meyer story credit.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At the meeting when Sommersby suggests growing tobacco, he asks someone how many years he had been sharecropping. Sharecropping only began in America after the Civil War when landowners had no slaves and no money to pay workers.

Quotes:

Laurel Sommersby: You are not my husband!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saved by the Bell: The College Years: Guess Who's Coming to College? (#1.1)" (1993)

More believable than generally given credit for.

In events occuring before the time line in the story, Homer meets and gets to know his double, Jack Sommersby, in a Civil War prison. When Jack dies, Homer decides (for reasons barely hinted at) to impersonate Jack and take up his life where it had left off before the war six years earlier.

Viewers who have trouble accepting this story's basic premise and its subplots must not understand denial, the strongest defense mechanism of all. Laurel believes the returning soldier to be her missing husband because she wants to -- as does her son, and indeed the whole town (with a few menacing exceptions). This new guy is nicer than the other one. He is good to his wife, his kid, and his poor struggling neighbors, inspiring them all to work together to save the community at large from certain starvation if things do not change. In short, they all *need* this Jack Sommersby; therefore, he must *be* Jack Sommersby.

When folks are in denial -- does anybody not believe in mass hysteria? -- discrepancies are often overlooked, and reality is suspended. If that is hard to swallow, then consider that some folks were well aware of Homer's impersonation (if not his true identity), but chose to ignore it because it was in their best interests to do so.

The courtroom situation is another area where viewers have remarked on non-reality. But this may be chalked up to historical artifact. With today's high levels of movie/TV courtroom drama, and even genuine courtroom TV, this century's viewing audiences are far more sophisticated than the actual participants of court proceedings of the mid-19th Century, even among many lawyers and judges of the era. I had no trouble believing the courtroom of a small, largely uneducated community might have gone just the way it did in this movie... ...except for one thing, where all belief is suspended: the black judge, presiding over a southern courtroom, just after the Civil War. If there actually were any black judges in existence then, my guess would be that, like the few practicing black MD's, they were restricted to cases involving blacks, Native Americans, etc -- and not the trial of a white (and formerly rich) landowner.

Yet this plot device does not get in the way of my enjoyment of the movie over all. The judge strives mightily to be impartial, even with those townspeople who would not be so with him. Their rabid hatred of his race cries out for justice; therefore, the judge appears to provide it, with almost comic relief, precisely at a point when the tension demands it.

A haunting, well-told tale for those who appreciate depth of character over high-paced action for its own sake.