Tropic of Cancer (1970)

The film depicts the adventures of expatriate American writer Henry Miller and his friends, as they pursue art, money, food, and sex in Paris.

Director:

Joseph Strick

Writers:

Betty Botley (screenplay), Henry Miller (novel)

Stars:

Rip Torn, James T. Callahan, Ellen Burstyn

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rip Torn	...	Henry Miller
James T. Callahan	...	Fillmore
David Baur	...	Carl
Laurence Lignières	...	Ginette (as Laurence Lignères)
Phil Brown	...	Van Norden
Dominique Delpierre	...	Vite Cheri
Magali Noël	...	The Princess
Raymond Gérôme	...	M. Le Censeur
Ginette Leclerc	...	Madame Hamilton
Sabine Sun	...	Elsa
Sheila Steafel	...	Tania
Gladys Berry	...	American Lady
George Birt	...	Sylvester
Stuart De Silva	...	Ranji
Steve Eckardt	...	Cronstadt (as Steve Eckhardt)

Storyline

Henry is an ex-pat in Paris, cadging drinks and meals and places to sleep, giving advice about women to clueless men, flirting with the wives of acquaintances, burning bridges, and making philosophical observations. In vignettes we see his wife Mona come to Paris and leave immediately when she tastes Henry's vagabond life; he tries teaching English at a school in Dijon, takes the son of a wealthy Indian to a bordello, gets a job as a proofreader at the Herald Tribune, and helps out a pal who's in and out of an asylum and deeply in love with a whore. Can Henry make his own discovery of ecstasy?

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Plot Keywords:

herald tribune | asylum | proofreader | writer | dijon | 

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated NC-17 for strong language and sex-related dialogue

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

De kreeftskeerkring

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tropic Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Robert Evans's biography, "The Kid Stays in the Picture", this film was made as the result of a bet between Evans and Henry Miller in which Miller won.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Henry Miller: This, then, this is not a movie. This is a libel, slander, defamation of character, a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of art, a kick in the pants to God, man, destiny, time, love, beauty, what you will. I'm going to sing for you. A little off-key perhaps, but I will sing. I will sing while you croak. I will dance over your dirty corpse.

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Connections

Referenced in Changes (1970)

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Soundtracks

Aufschwung (Flight)
from "Phantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces), Op.12"
Composed by Robert Schumann
(Elsa plays it)

User Reviews

Men behaving badly

As it's many years since I read the book I can't recall whether it had the same impression on me as the film, which was to profoundly depress me about the nature of man. The protagonist seems pretty much without redeeming features. He chases women in order to get them into bed, but seems to be basically hostile to them. He has friends in order to sponge off them. His sneering smile just makes me want to slap his face. I suspect however that this was not the intention of the film and we're really supposed to think he's quite a guy. In the context of the times the explicit language and sex scenes exploit a new permissiveness, but fundamentally it's an ugly and sexist depiction of men and women : the men trying to get sex with the minimum of commitment, and the women trying to pin the men down or get their money. It's really dated in this respect. On the plus side, I enjoyed the beautiful female bodies. The Parisian landscape shots also lift the ugliness from time to time.