Affliction (1997)

A deeply troubled small town cop investigates a suspicious hunting death while events occur that cause him to mentally disintegrate.

Director:

Paul Schrader

Writers:

Russell Banks (novel), Paul Schrader (screenplay)

Stars:

Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn

Won 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nick Nolte	...	Wade Whitehouse
Brigid Tierney	...	Jill Whitehouse
Holmes Osborne	...	Gordon LaRiviere
Jim True-Frost	...	Jack Hewitt (as Jim True)
Tim Post	...	Chick Ward
Christopher Heyerdahl	...	Frankie Lacoy (as Chris Heyerdahl)
Marian Seldes	...	Alma Pittman
Janine Theriault	...	Hettie Rogers
Mary Beth Hurt	...	Lillian Horner
Paul Stewart	...	Mr. Horner
Sissy Spacek	...	Margie Fogg
Wayne Robson	...	Nick Wickham
Sean McCann	...	Evan Twombley
Sheena Larkin	...	Lugene Brooks
Penny Mancuso	...	Woman Driver

Storyline

Boston University History professor Rolfe Whitehouse tells of the events leading up to the unexplained but not totally surprising disappearance of his older troubled brother, Wade Whitehouse. Wade, Rolfe and their sister Lena grew up in small town Lawford in upstate New Hampshire, where Wade and their parents, Glen and Sally Whitehouse, still lived. Wade was the town's police officer, in addition to having a multitude of side jobs directed his way by businessman and town selectman Gordon LaRiviere, in order to supplement his meager income. Wade was living on the edge emotionally. Long divorced from his since married second ex-wife, Lillian Horner, who moved to the city following the divorce, Wade had only infrequent visitation rights to his and Lillian's adolescent daughter, Jill Whitehouse, who seemed to love her father only because he was her father, but who seemed to see their visits solely as obligations rather than wants. Because of the animosity in his and Lillian's break-up, ...

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Plot Keywords:

hunting | sheriff | small town | drunkenness | domestic violence | 

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Taglines:

Wade Whitehouse is frightened to death of following in his father's footsteps.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Lionsgate Home Entertainment [United States]

Country:

USA Canada Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 February 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Den jagede

Filming Locations:

Huntingdon, Quebec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$63,979, 3 January 1999, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$6,302,154, 16 May 1999

Company Credits

Production Co:

JVC Entertainment Networks, Kingsgate Films, Largo Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White (some scenes) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Coburn plays Nick Nolte's father, even though he's only 13 years older.

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Goofs

When hunting, besides making enough noise to scare off deer for miles around, Jack spots a deer and later calls it a buck. There's no sign of antlers on the deer, and we're unable to see the genitalia. Whether it's a young buck or a doe is anyone's guess. With that much snow, were it a buck, we'd spot antlers.

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Quotes

[At his wife's wake]
Glen Whitehouse: Not a goddamn one of you is worth a hair on that good woman's head!

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: When in Rome (2011)

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Soundtracks

Open the Door to Your Heart
Written by Ned Miller
Performed by Bonnie Guitar
Used by permission of Dandelion Music Co.
Courtesy of Bear Family Records
[Plays in the bar while Wade talks to his friend and hears the people at the nearby table gossiping about him.]

User Reviews

What did you expect?

A walk in the park, a fine romance, a Indy Jones and the Last Crusade. Come on, a combination of Russell Banks and Paul Shrader, the author who explores a school bus accident and the writer/director from Taxi Driver, or The Comfort of Strangers. Did you really expect a happy ending? The film is a dark side vision of Richard Russo's Nobody's Fool, which Paul Newman and Robert Benton turned into a tale of redemption on screen in that same part of the world. No redemption here. As Wade's brother's final voice-over lets you know that Wade is still out there, reliving his father's life, you are relieved to be permitted to leave this claustrophobic world.

Painful scene after painful scene are piled on each other, none more so than the painful rejection of Wade by his little girl. Children go through periods where their parents are embarrassments to them, but in this case, it is more of a fear than a shame of Wade that makes her want to be in her mother's arms.

This is a great film of uncompromising realism. It is a modern Jude The Obscure, but at least you were allowed to see Jude when he had hope and some happiness, and at the end he simply wore himself out. At the end of Affliction, all that you know is that Wade is out there in the world, his angers banked.

The film works because of Nolte's performance. Coburn has an easier job, but he carries it off. The sub-plots mean little, but show us Wade/Nolte in a field of action, and demonstrate that it is not only his personal life that is a mess.

Odd that Banks' The Sweet Hereafter locale was moved from upstate New York to British Columbia, and this film of bare rock, flinty New Hampshire was made in Canada also.