Bernard and Doris (2006)

The story of the twilight years of tobacco billionairness Doris Duke and her relationship with her gay butler, to whom she left her entire fortune.

Director:

Bob Balaban

Writer:

Hugh Costello

Stars:

Susan Sarandon, Ralph Fiennes, Peter Asher

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 25 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Susan Sarandon	...	Doris Duke
Ralph Fiennes	...	Bernard Lafferty
Peter Asher	...	First Butler
Don Harvey	...	Security Guard
Chris Bauer	...	Chef
Monique Gabriela Curnen	...	Paloma
Marilyn Torres	...	Nancy
Nick Rolfe	...	Ben
James Rebhorn	...	Waldo Taft
Dominick Dunne	...	Board Member
Thomas J. McGrath	...	Board Member
Gene Parseghian	...	Board Member
Henry S. Schleiff	...	Board Member (as Henry Schleiff)
Calvin Trillin	...	Board Member
Kunnath P. Namboodiri	...	Swami

Storyline

Sympathetic look loosely based on the relationship between tobacco heiress, Doris Duke (1912-1993) - think Duke University - and her shy butler, Bernard Lafferty. The icy and mercurial Duke fires her butler for serving a chilled cantaloupe; the agency sends Lafferty, formerly household staff to Liz Taylor and to Peggy Lee. He's an alcoholic, fresh out of rehab. He gradually becomes Duke's gay alter ego as she romps through life sleeping with young men, making shrewd decisions quickly, managing her fortune and orchids as Lafferty manages her New Jersey estate. With a wine cellar to die for, Bernard falls off the wagon. Can he pull himself together when Doris needs him?

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Plot Keywords:

butler | fortune | gay | orchid | duke university | 

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Genres:

Biography | Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 October 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bernard & Doris - Complici amici

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Trigger Street Independent, Little Bird Productions, Burnside Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After being shown at a film festival, "Bernard and Doris" was sent directly to cable television rather than premiering in movie theatres.

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Goofs

"She said it was important. 'Perhaps I will get the feeling back ..." It's the same body of a newspaper article for two different articles. Around 23 minutes into movie. One article had headline of Doris Duke attending opening with Leonard Bernstein. The second headline was her buying a Boeing 737 for $25 million.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Doris Duke: Ugh! What is this?
First Butler: Cantaloupe, ma'am.

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Connections

Version of Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke (1999)

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Soundtracks

"The Best Is Yet to Come"
Written by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh
Performed by Peggy Lee
Courtesy of Capitol Records
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

excellent on its own terms

All right: Susan Sarandon does not resemble the real Doris Duke and is a good 15 years younger and a lot healthier looking than Duke was in the mid-1980's through 1993, when the story takes place; and granted, Ralph Fiennes is far more charming and appealing than the actual Bernard Lafferty. But this movie works because of those two central characters on which the scenario focuses to the exclusion of almost all else. The screenwriter deftly conveys the jet-set lifestyle and grandly tumultuous history of Doris Duke without actually moving us from location to location and decade to decade and we are able to concentrate on what is really a peculiarly moving love story. Duke's relationships with various hangers-on and an adopted daughter are left out entirely. If you are looking for a faithful bio, forget it. If you are looking for a solidly pleasing film with top-notch performances, pounce!

Sarandon delivers the goods in spades, creating a shrewd and intelligent, bristling flesh and blood woman so wealthy and powerful she answers to no one but suffers from those psychic afflictions known only to the super-rich. Her self-administered therapies include astrology, a fanatical devotion to the care of exotic plants (particularly orchids), travel, indiscriminate sex with a succession of boy toys, and of course massive doses of booze and other drugs to keep going from one day to the next. But she is also intelligent, shrewd, a remarkable businesswoman and connoisseur of the fine arts, all convincingly depicted in this film. It's damned entertaining to watch her but if you think about it, no one of her age with that kind of serious drug dependency could look that good. Fiennes matches her every step of the way with a kind of perturbed restraint as the lonely, passive, alcoholic butler. He says at one point that what he wants from Duke is not her money, but just to take care of her. This utterance is completely believable. Unlike the 1999 TV movie about the same pair starring Lauren Bacall and Richard Chamberlain, this butler is much more ambiguous and definitely not a sadistic manipulator.