Insignificance (1985)

Four 1950s icons meet in the same hotel room and two of them discover more in common between them than they ever anticipated.

Director:

Nicolas Roeg

Writer:

Terry Johnson (screenplay)

Stars:

Gary Busey, Tony Curtis, Theresa Russell

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Emil	...	Professor
Theresa Russell	...	Actress
Tony Curtis	...	Senator
Gary Busey	...	The Ballplayer
Will Sampson	...	Elevator Attendant
Patrick Kilpatrick	...	Driver
Ian O'Connell	...	Assistant Director
George Holmes	...	Actor
Richard M. Davidson	...	Director of Photography (as Richard Davidson)
Mitchell Greenberg	...	Technician
Raynor Scheine	...	Autograph Hunter
Jude Ciccolella	...	Gaffer
Lou Hirsch	...	Charlie
Ray Charleson	...	Bud
Joel Cutrara	...	Bar Drunk

Storyline

Four 1950's cultural icons (Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio and Senator Joseph MacCarthy) who conceivably could have met and probably didn't, fictionally do in this modern fable of post-WWII America. Visually intriguing, the film has a fluid progression of flash-backs and flash-forwards centering on the fictional Einstein's current observations, childhood memories and apprehensions for the future.

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Plot Keywords:

1950s | new york city | based on play | hotel room | baseball player | 

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Taglines:

The object of every man's fantasy and the greatest mind of the century are about to meet.

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Genres:

Drama | Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 August 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Insignificancia

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Recorded Picture Company (RPC), Zenith Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of seven films that actress Theresa Russell has made with director Nicolas Roeg. The films include Eureka (1983), Track 29 (1988), Cold Heaven (1991), Hotel Paradise (1995), Bad Timing (1980), Insignificance (1985) and the "Un ballo in maschera" segment of Aria (1987).

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Goofs

When the Ballplayer is at the bar next to a wall calendar, in the medium shots the calendar page is for June 1954, but in a close-up the page says March 1954. The mistake would seem to be the close-up because there is a night-time baseball game on the bar's television and the baseball season didn't begin until April.

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Quotes

[to The Professor]
The Actress: Look! Stop talking so goddamn smart! I've heard enough! It just sounds like words! I've heard enough of your words! I came here to know you, and all you've done is hide behind words! What are you hiding from? What are you afraid of?

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Connections

Features Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

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Soundtracks

When Your Heart Runs Out of Time
Words & Music & Sung by Will Jennings

User Reviews

A tantalizing convergence.

What if Marylin Monroe, Albert Einstein, Joe Dimaggio and Senator McCarthy were to come together in a mind-bending evening of relativity?

This delightful roman à clef never uses the actual names of the characters it so thinly veils and scathingly exposes not only for the individuals they must have been, but also for what they came to represent over time. If you are confused by allegory, or if you like your movies served up predigested and mushy, you won't like this film. It is a demanding opus that rewards on many levels the viewer with the intelligence to appreciate it.

Dropping, for the time being, the rigorous avoidance of using the real names of the characters, we see Einstein, about to deliver a pacifist speech to a United Nations hell-bent for nukes, being visited by Marylin Monroe, after filming the notorious Seven Year Itch scene that some say led to the end of her marriage with Joe Dimaggio. They have a lovely interplay in which Einstein stumbles with suitable professorial clumsiness around the innocence of perhaps the greatest sex symbol of modern times.

Enter Senator McCarthy who thinks Einstein is a Red. He is determined to extract Einstein's assurance that he will support the activities of the House Unamerican Activities Committee while delivering the ultimate weapon in the name of peace. Add Joe, a surprisingly fragile and vulnerable person perhaps not perfectly cast as Gary Busey, who hates Marylin's exhibitionism and believes Einstein has become her lover, even though Marylin only wants to show Einstein that she understands the Special Theory of Relativity.

But there's more.

Just like each of us, these characters have their deepest fears, which they reveal one by one in haunting flashbacks. It is these weaknesses, ultimately, that lend humanity to figures we cannot help but see almost exclusively in the abstract today. Finally, we see the shocking terror of Einstein's vision, and the statement of the movie becomes clear. It is a powerful and memorable moment.

Insignificance is one of my top five movies of all time. It is utterly amazing.