A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

James Ivory

Writers (WGA):

Kaylie Jones (novel)
James Ivory (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The city of lights. A famous American author and the decade that changed a generation...forever.

Plot:

This fictionalized story, based on the family life of writer James Jones, is an emotionless slice-of-life story...

Plot Keywords:

Adopted Son | Author | Paris France | Heart Disease | Paris

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Kris Kristofferson	...	Bill Willis
Barbara Hershey	...	Marcella Willis
Leelee Sobieski	...	Charlotte Anne 'Channe' Willis, Age 14
Jane Birkin	...	Mrs. Fortescue
Dominique Blanc	...	Candida
Jesse Bradford	...	Billy Willis, Age 14
Harley Cross	...	Keith Carter
Isaach De Bankolé	...	Mamadou (as Isaac De Bankole)
Macha Méril	...	Madame Beauvier (as Macha Meril)
Nathalie Richard	...	Mademoiselle Fournier
Anthony Roth Costanzo	...	Francis Fortescue
Bob Swaim	...	Bob Smith
Virginie Ledoyen	...	Billy's Mother
Luisa Conlon	...	Young Charlotte Anne 'Channe' Willis, Age 7
Samuel Gruen	...	Benoit / Young Billy Willis, Age 7

Also Known As:

La fille d'un soldat ne pleure jamais (France)
Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (Australia) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

France | UK | USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | Iceland:L | UK:15 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R | Germany:6 (f)

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Capitol Films

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The family is watching Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) on TV, which was not even released to theatres until 1974, but we later see a date on a gravestone of 1973 (which means the TV scene was probably set in 1972, since there was an intervening New Year's Eve scene).

Movie Connections:

References "Dinah's Place" (1970)

Soundtrack:

La vie en rose

A beautiful film.

"A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries" is a film which revolves around the proverbial institution known as family, but particularly, the relationship between a daughter and her father.

The film is divided into three separate sections: "Billy," which discusses the arrival of an adopted son into the family, "Francis," which revolves around the female protagonist, Channe's, best friend, and "Daddy."

In each of these categories, we are primarily subjected to the experiences of Channe, who is portrayed by the nubile, charismatic Leelee Sobieski. In them, we learn a little about her character, though strangely enough, not as much as we do about her father, whose unconditional positive regard for his daughter does much more than delineate the characteristics of the relationships among the members of the family.

The acting from the entire cast is superb, and from the actors' and actresses' demeanor emanates a very credible atmosphere. Yet the one element that truly grasped my attention was the editing, which with the exception of a couple of segments, added an extremely high element of poignancy to the story. James Ivory was obviously extremely assiduous with the film in this respect, and the final result consists of a strong narrative which appears somewhat terse, but knows exactly what quantity of what the viewer should be fed.

Cynical commentary has argued that this film is nothing short of tripe because it lacks a resolute motive--it consists of no conflict at all. All it is is disjointed scenes which serve no relevance to one another, and fail to tell a coherent story. The former statement in regards to the lack of conflict holds true, but the latter is what might be deemed questionable. Afterall, this is a story about the life of a family--and in a real family, few events from the past bear relevance to those of the present. "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries" simply seeks to discuss the development of relationships in a family; events of high caliber are discussed thoroughly, while those of less importance portray to be all that they could ever be: memories.