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{{Short description|1991 film by Alan Rudolph}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = Mortal Thoughts
| name = Mortal Thoughts
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| caption = Theatrical release poster
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Alan Rudolph]]
| director = [[Alan Rudolph]]
| producer = [[Taylor Hackford]]<br>[[Stuart Benjamin]]
| producer = {{ubl|John Fiedler|[[Mark Tarlov]]|[[Demi Moore]]}}
| writer = [[William Reilly]]<br>Claude Kerven
| writer = William Reilly<br>Claude Kerven
| starring = {{Plainlist|
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[Demi Moore]]
* Demi Moore
* [[Glenne Headly]]
* [[Glenne Headly]]
* [[Bruce Willis]]
* [[Bruce Willis]]
Line 25: Line 26:
}}
}}


'''''Mortal Thoughts''''' is a 1991 American [[neo-noir]] film directed by [[Alan Rudolph]] and starring [[Demi Moore]], [[Glenne Headly]], [[Bruce Willis]], and [[Harvey Keitel]]. Told in narrative [[flashback (narrative)|flashback]]s set in a police interrogation, the film centers on a woman implicated in the violent murder of her friend's abusive, drug-addicted husband. Its title is derived from a quote in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth|The Tragedy of Macbeth]]''.
'''''Mortal Thoughts''''' is a 1991 American [[neo-noir]] [[psychological thriller]] film directed by [[Alan Rudolph]] and starring [[Demi Moore]], [[Glenne Headly]], [[Bruce Willis]], [[John Pankow]], and [[Harvey Keitel]]. Told in narrative [[flashback (narrative)|flashback]]s set in a police interrogation, the film centers on a woman implicated in the violent murder of her friend's abusive, drug-addicted husband. Its title is derived from a quote in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth|The Tragedy of Macbeth]]''.

In addition to starring in the film, Moore also served as a co-producer, and offered to pay the cast and crew [[overtime]] when the film's original director, Claude Kerven, was fired and replaced by Rudolph.


==Plot==
==Plot==
Cynthia Kellogg is interrogated by Detective John Woods and Detective Linda Nealon at a police station regarding the murder of her husband, Artie. Cynthia provides a [[deposition (law)|deposition]], relayed in detailed [[flashback (narrative)|flashback]]s. Cynthia recounts her employment as a hairdresser at her friend Joyce's [[Bayonne, New Jersey]] hair salon. Joyce's husband, Jimmy, is a violently abusive drug addict, and Joyce expresses a desire to kill him several times. One night, Cynthia accompanies Joyce and Jimmy to a Feast of [[Saint Roch|Saint Rocco]] festival. After Jimmy becomes drunk and picks a fight with Joyce, he heads back to their van. Cynthia follows him and takes the keys, leaving him to sleep in the back of the vehicle.
Cynthia Kellogg is interrogated by Detective John Woods and Detective Linda Nealon at a police station regarding the murder of her husband, Artie. Cynthia provides a [[deposition (law)|deposition]], relayed in detailed [[flashback (narrative)|flashback]]s. Cynthia recounts her employment as a hairdresser at her friend Joyce's [[Bayonne, New Jersey]] hair salon. Joyce's husband, Jimmy, is a violently abusive drug addict, and Joyce expresses a desire to kill him several times. One night, Cynthia accompanies Joyce and Jimmy to a Feast of [[Saint Roch|Saint Rocco]] festival. After Jimmy becomes drunk and picks a fight with Joyce, he heads back to their van. Cynthia follows him and takes the keys, leaving him to sleep in the back of the vehicle.


Per Cynthia's account of events, the two women returned to the van later on to find Jimmy dead inside, his throat slashed; Cynthia claims Joyce admitted to cutting his neck after she went to check on him, during which he attacked her. According to Cynthia, at Joyce's insistence, the women disposed of Jimmy's body by dumping it in a ravine. After the murder, Cynthia returns home covered in blood and admits to her husband, Artie, what happened. Several days later, after Jimmy's body is found, Joyce's paranoia about being caught causes her to act increasingly erratically. At one point, she instructs Cynthia to kill one of the hairdressers at the salon out of fear she will tarnish the women's alibis. Joyce subsequently discovers that Artie knows about the murder, and she threatens to Cynthia that she will kill him to silence him. Cynthia does not believe Joyce can actually carry out her threats; however, after Artie is found shot dead at his home on [[Christmas Eve]], Cynthia accuses Joyce.
According to Cynthia's account of events, the two women returned to the van later on to find Jimmy dead inside, his throat slashed; Cynthia claims Joyce admitted to cutting his neck after she went to check on him, during which he attacked her. Cynthia states that, at Joyce's insistence, the women disposed of Jimmy's body by dumping it in a ravine. After the murder, Cynthia returns home covered in blood and admits to her husband, Artie, what happened. Several days later, after Jimmy's body is found, Joyce's paranoia about being caught causes her to act increasingly erratically. At one point, she instructs Cynthia to kill one of the hairdressers at the salon out of fear she will tarnish the women's alibis. Joyce subsequently discovers that Artie knows about the murder, and she threatens Cynthia that she will kill him to silence him. Cynthia does not believe Joyce can actually carry out her threats; however, after Artie is found shot dead at his home on [[Christmas Eve]], Cynthia accuses Joyce.


Throughout Cynthia's interrogation, Detective Woods is skeptical of her descriptions of events and challenges her on them, but ultimately allows her to leave. Cynthia exits the police station, but pauses and recounts the details of what actually happened at the festival: Upon bringing Jimmy to the van, he attempted to rape Cynthia, and began beating her. In self-defense, she slashed his throat with a boxcutter. Cynthia and Joyce left the festival and began driving toward a hospital; however, when Joyce realized he tried to rape Cynthia, she turned the van around and began driving another direction, biding time while Jimmy bled to death in the back of the van. After he died, the women disposed of his body and made a pact not to tell anyone.
Throughout Cynthia's interrogation, Detective Woods is skeptical of her descriptions of events and challenges her on them, but ultimately allows her to leave. Cynthia exits the police station, but pauses and recounts the details of what actually happened at the festival: Upon bringing Jimmy to the van, he attempted to rape Cynthia and began beating her. In self-defense, she slashed his throat with a box cutter. Cynthia and Joyce left the festival and began driving toward a hospital; however, when Joyce realized he tried to rape Cynthia, she turned the van around and began driving in another direction, biding time while Jimmy bled to death in the back of the van. After he died, the women disposed of his body and made a pact not to tell anyone.


As Cynthia stands outside the police station recalling the truth of what occurred, Joyce is brought inside for her own interrogation. Cynthia decides to re-enter the station, now prepared to tell the truth of her guilt in Jimmy's death. She sits before Detective Woods' camera to record her taped confession.
As Cynthia stands outside the police station recalling the truth of what occurred, Joyce is brought inside for her own interrogation. Cynthia decides to re-enter the station, now prepared to tell the truth of her guilt in Jimmy's death. She sits before Detective Woods' camera to record her taped confession.


==Cast==
==Cast==
{{collist|style=column-count:2;|
* [[Demi Moore]] as Cynthia Kellogg
* [[Demi Moore]] as Cynthia Kellogg
* [[Glenne Headly]] as Joyce Urbanski
* [[Glenne Headly]] as Joyce Urbanski
Line 42: Line 46:
* [[Harvey Keitel]] as Detective John Woods
* [[Harvey Keitel]] as Detective John Woods
* [[John Pankow]] as Arthur "Artie" Kellogg
* [[John Pankow]] as Arthur "Artie" Kellogg
* [[Frank Vincent]] as Dominic, Joyce's father
* Billie Neal as Detective Linda Nealon
}}
* [[Frank Vincent]] and [[Doris McCarthy]] as Dominic and Jeanette, Joyce's parents
* Karen Shallo as Gloria, James' mother


==Production==
==Production==
===Development===
The film's title is derived from a quote in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth|The Tragedy of Macbeth]]'' by Lady Macbeth, in which she says: "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty."<ref name=afi>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/58947|work=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|title=Mortal Thoughts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729233054/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/58947|archive-date=July 29, 2019}}</ref>
The film's title is derived from a quote in [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth|The Tragedy of Macbeth]]'' by Lady Macbeth, in which she says: "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty."<ref name=afi>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/58947|work=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|title=Mortal Thoughts|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729233054/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/58947|archive-date=July 29, 2019}}</ref>


===Casting===
Principal photography of ''Mortal Thoughts'' occurred in February 1990.<ref name=afi/> Claude Kerven, who co-wrote the screenplay, was originally hired to direct the project, but was replaced by [[Alan Rudolph]] after completing only one week of shooting.<ref name=afi/> The film shoot was partly improvisational, and the conclusion of the film was undetermined until it came time to shoot it.<ref name=afi/> Rudolph recalled: "No one really knew what the ending would be. A half-day before we shot it, we got together and decided what the ending should be."<ref name=afi/>
[[File:Demi Moore01.JPG|thumb|right|upright=.9|Demi Moore (pictured in 1990) both starred in and co-produced the film]]
Demi Moore, who had recently gained widespread fame for her role in ''[[Ghost (1990 film)|Ghost]]'' (1990), was drawn to the project as she felt playing a character with a [[New Jersey English|New Jersey dialect]] was a challenge.<ref name=dutka/> "I’d never done a dialect before, like theater actresses such as [[Meryl Streep]] and [[Glenn Close]], and the child in me was excited to try it. Another appeal was the intense loyalty between the two women, the love and trust that made it OK to live in marriages that didn’t work. Like a lot of us, they accept the familiar, even if it’s not good...&nbsp; and find other outlets that are workable."<ref name=dutka/> Bruce Willis, Moore's then-husband, was cast in the role of Jimmy, the abusive husband of Glenne Headly's character.<ref name=dutka/> Moore stated that both she and Willis had a mutual interest in the film as it partly dealt with substance abuse issues, which both had experienced in their own lives.<ref name=dutka/>


===Filming===
Star Demi Moore served as a co-producer on the film; according to Rudolph, Moore was aware of the film's budgetary constraints, and took it upon herself to mitigate "the problems we were having."<ref name=afi/>
Principal photography of ''Mortal Thoughts'' occurred in February 1990<ref name=afi/> and lasted 32 days.<ref name=dutka/> Filming took place entirely in New Jersey, in [[Bayonne, New Jersey|Bayonne]], [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]], [[Little Ferry, New Jersey|Little Ferry]], and [[Scotch Plains, New Jersey|Scotch Plains]].<ref name=jackson>{{cite news|date=April 14, 1990|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123899120/|title='Die Hard' fans brave the cold|last=Jackson|first=Lynn M.|work=[[Courier News|The Courier-News]]|page=C-1|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The film's carnival sequences were shot on location at Scotch Plains's [[Bowcraft Amusement Park]].<ref name=jackson/>

Claude Kerven, who co-wrote the screenplay, was originally hired to direct the project, but was replaced by [[Alan Rudolph]] after completing only one week of shooting.<ref name=afi/> The film shoot was partly improvisational, and the conclusion of the film was undetermined until it came time to shoot it.<ref name=afi/> Rudolph recalled: "No one really knew what the ending would be. A half-day before we shot it, we got together and decided what the ending should be."<ref name=afi/>

Star Demi Moore served as a co-producer on the film; according to Rudolph, Moore was aware of the film's budgetary constraints, and took it upon herself to mitigate "the problems we were having."<ref name=afi/> After Kerven was fired and the financiers of the production threatened to cancel it during the first week of shooting, Moore offered to pay [[overtime]] for the production herself.<ref name=dutka>{{cite news|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-14-ca-527-story.html|date=April 14, 1991|title=MOVIES : Demi Moore Is Now Bankable and the Boss : Sure, it's great that "Ghost" propelled the actress into star territory, but being a producer gave her a different kind of power|last=Dutka|first=Elaine|url-status=live|archive-date=May 2, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230502014435/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-14-ca-527-story.html}}</ref> According to Moore, her dual role as actress and co-producer led her to frequently working 16-hour days throughout the shoot.<ref name=dutka/> "I was dealing with scheduling and cost-efficiency—and there was no one to keep me from making too many mistakes," she recalled. "The role of ‘co-producer’ is much more hands-on, less creative than that of ‘executive producer.’ It’s a credit I think I deserved."<ref name=dutka/>


==Release==
==Release==
''Mortal Thoughts'' was scheduled to be released in North America in December 1990, but the release was put on hold.<ref name=afi/> At the time, the production company, Polar Entertainment, had filed a lawsuit against New Vision Pictures for a breach of contract regarding Kerven's replacement, though it is unknown if this was the cause of the release delay.<ref name=afi/> The film opened in the spring, on April 19, 1991.<ref name=afi/>
''Mortal Thoughts'' was originally scheduled to be released in North America in December 1990, but the release was put on hold.<ref name=afi/> At the time, the production company, Polar Entertainment, had filed a lawsuit against New Visions Pictures for a breach of contract regarding Kerven's replacement, though it is unknown if this was the cause of the release delay.<ref name=afi/> The film opened in the spring, on April 19, 1991.<ref name=afi/>


===Box office===
===Box office===
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===Critical response===
===Critical response===
The film holds a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews<ref>http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mortal_thoughts/</ref> and grossed $19,018,321 against its $8 million budget.
The film holds a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 16 reviews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mortal_thoughts/|title=Mortal Thoughts|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore">{{cite web |url=https://m.cinemascore.com |title=CinemaScore |work=cinemascore.com}}</ref>

Critic [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] of the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' wrote that the film's plot "depends on various delayed revelations and surprises, the last of which, while it violates our faith in the narrative as a whole, doesn’t substantially alter our overall sense of the characters," adding that composer Mark Isham's score "makes the possibility of loving these characters or feeling morally committed to them not only impractical but unthinkable."<ref>{{cite news|last=Rosenbaum|first=Jonathan|title=Wall of Sound|work=[[Chicago Reader]]|date=April 25, 1991|url=https://chicagoreader.com/film/wall-of-sound/|archive-date=May 2, 2023|author-link=Jonathan Rosenbaum|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230502013841/https://chicagoreader.com/film/wall-of-sound/}}</ref> [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' praised the film, writing: "Like many crimes, the ones in this movie seem simple at first and only grow complicated the more you look at them. The screenplay, by William Reilly and Claude Kerven, is meticulously constructed so that the flashbacks during the testimony never reveal too much, and yet never seem to conceal anything. Nor is the screenplay simply ingenious; it is also very funny, in a mordant and blood-soaked way, as these two women scheme and figure and lie to the cops, to each other and to themselves. There is a banality to their language and images that sets the correct tone."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mortal-thoughts-1991|title=Mortal Thoughts|last=Ebert|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Ebert|date=April 19, 1991|url-status=live|archive-date=May 2, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230502014104/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mortal-thoughts-1991|via=[[RogerEbert.com]]}}</ref> Sherry Crawford of the ''[[Evansville Courier and Press]]'' noted Rudolph's "stylized" direction, and deemed the film "a sometimes shocking, sometimes frighteningly honest look at some of our innermost feelings."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123903142/|last=Crawford|first=Sherry|date=April 21, 1991|title='Mortal Thoughts' is shocking and provocative|newspaper=Evansville Courier and Press |via=Newspapers.com|page=F3}}</ref>

Gary Thompson of the ''[[Philadelphia Daily News]]'' gave the film an unfavorable review, writing that nothing "is enough to make ''Mortal Thoughts'' something special. In the end, you sense that the artsy Rudolph never develops a rapport with these shopping-mall women. It's as though they're being punished not for murder, but for bad taste."<ref>{{cite news|date=April 19, 1991|page=53|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123902791/|title=Partners in crime|last=Thompson|first=Gary|work=[[Philadelphia Daily News]]|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Marc Horton of the ''[[Edmonton Journal]]'' gave the film a middling review but praised Moore and Headley's lead performances, writing that "it is the work of these two which gives the movie whatever punch it possesses, even though they have to overcome the director's penchant for pointless eccentricity."<ref>{{cite news|date=April 20, 1991|work=[[Edmonton Journal]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123902975/|last=Horton|first=Marc|page=11|via=Newspapers.com|title=Gimmicks get in the way of superb performances}}</ref> [[Janet Maslin]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' similarly praised the cast, but felt the screenplay lacked momentum, writing: "Although this has all the ingredients of a dark and enjoyably sordid story, and indeed starts out as one, Mr. Rudolph's version of [[film noir]] turns out to be more like film gris. Much of it takes place in a gray area between wit and malice, and in the realm of endless, sometimes improvised small talk that winds up seeming genuinely small."<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Review/Film; 2 Wives and the Men Who Make Them Unhappy|date=April 19, 1991|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/19/movies/review-film-2-wives-and-the-men-who-make-them-unhappy.html|url-status=live|archive-date=May 2, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230502032400/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/19/movies/review-film-2-wives-and-the-men-who-make-them-unhappy.html|last=Maslin|first=Janet|author-link=Janet Maslin}}</ref>

===Accolades===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 1991|Chicago Film Critics Association Awards]]
| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| [[Glenne Headly]]
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://chicagofilmcritics.org/awards-blog/archives |title=1988-2013 Award Winner Archives |website=[[Chicago Film Critics Association]] |date=January 2013 |access-date=August 24, 2021}}</ref>
|-
| [[1991 National Society of Film Critics Awards|National Society of Film Critics Awards]]
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| [[Harvey Keitel]]
| {{won}}
| style="text-align:center;"| <ref>{{cite web|url=https://nationalsocietyoffilmcritics.com/about-2/ |title=Past Awards |website=[[National Society of Film Critics]] |date= December 19, 2009 |access-date=July 5, 2021}}</ref>
|}

===Home media===
[[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|RCA/Columbia Home Video]] released ''Mortal Thoughts'' on [[VHS]] and [[LaserDisc]] in November 1991.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123897337/|work=[[Orlando Sentinel]]|date=November 8, 1991|page=99|last=Boyar|first=Jay|title=Truth is hard to discern in 'Mortal Thoughts'|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=November 2, 1991|page=57|work=[[Winston-Salem Journal]]|title=Robin Hood: Costner's performance lacks enthusiasm|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123897503/}}</ref> [[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|Columbia TriStar Home Video]] later released it on [[DVD]] on August 25, 1998 in a standard [[full frame (cinematography)|full frame]] presentation.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[WorldCat]]|title=Mortal Thoughts DVD|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/495719850|url-status=live|archive-date=May 2, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230502011906/https://www.worldcat.org/title/495719850}}</ref>


The Australian company Imprint Films released the film for the first time on [[Blu-ray]] in May 2022 as part of their limited edition ''After Dark: Neo Noir Cinema Collection'', which also includes ''[[After Dark, My Sweet]]'' (1990), ''[[Rush (1991 film)|Rush]]'' (1991), ''[[One False Move]]'' (1992), ''[[Flesh and Bone (film)|Flesh and Bone]]'' (1993), and ''[[Twilight (1998 film)|Twilight]]'' (1998).<ref>{{cite web|work=Via Vision Entertainment|title=After Dark: Neo Noir Cinema Collection One (Imprint Collection #124 – 129)|date=May 25, 2022|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20230502013341/https://viavision.com.au/shop/after-dark-neo-noir-cinema-collection-one-imprint-collection-124-125-126-127-128-129/|archive-date=May 2, 2023|url=https://viavision.com.au/shop/after-dark-neo-noir-cinema-collection-one-imprint-collection-124-125-126-127-128-129/}}</ref>
Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore"> {{cite web |url=https://m.cinemascore.com |title=CinemaScore |work=cinemascore.com}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:1991 films]]
[[Category:1991 films]]
[[Category:1990s crime films]]
[[Category:1990s crime films]]
[[Category:1991 drama films]]
[[Category:1990s mystery films]]
[[Category:1990s mystery films]]
[[Category:1990s thriller drama films]]
[[Category:1991 thriller films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:American films about revenge]]
[[Category:American mystery films]]
[[Category:American mystery films]]
[[Category:American neo-noir films]]
[[Category:American neo-noir films]]
[[Category:American thriller drama films]]
[[Category:American nonlinear narrative films]]
[[Category:American police detective films]]
[[Category:American psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:American thriller films]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:Films about domestic violence]]
[[Category:Films about domestic violence]]
[[Category:Films about hairdressers]]
[[Category:Films about substance abuse]]
[[Category:Films scored by Mark Isham]]
[[Category:Films scored by Mark Isham]]
[[Category:Films directed by Alan Rudolph]]
[[Category:Films directed by Alan Rudolph]]
[[Category:Films set in amusement parks]]
[[Category:Films set in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Films set in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Films shot in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Films shot in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Fiction about mariticide]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:English-language crime films]]
[[Category:English-language mystery films]]
[[Category:English-language thriller films]]

Latest revision as of 16:06, 13 December 2024

Mortal Thoughts
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlan Rudolph
Written byWilliam Reilly
Claude Kerven
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyElliot Davis
Edited byTom Walls
Music byMark Isham
Production
companies
New Vision Pictures
Polar Entertainment Corporation
Rufglen Films
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • April 19, 1991 (1991-04-19)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7 million[1]
Box office$18.8 million[2]

Mortal Thoughts is a 1991 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Alan Rudolph and starring Demi Moore, Glenne Headly, Bruce Willis, John Pankow, and Harvey Keitel. Told in narrative flashbacks set in a police interrogation, the film centers on a woman implicated in the violent murder of her friend's abusive, drug-addicted husband. Its title is derived from a quote in William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth.

In addition to starring in the film, Moore also served as a co-producer, and offered to pay the cast and crew overtime when the film's original director, Claude Kerven, was fired and replaced by Rudolph.

Plot

[edit]

Cynthia Kellogg is interrogated by Detective John Woods and Detective Linda Nealon at a police station regarding the murder of her husband, Artie. Cynthia provides a deposition, relayed in detailed flashbacks. Cynthia recounts her employment as a hairdresser at her friend Joyce's Bayonne, New Jersey hair salon. Joyce's husband, Jimmy, is a violently abusive drug addict, and Joyce expresses a desire to kill him several times. One night, Cynthia accompanies Joyce and Jimmy to a Feast of Saint Rocco festival. After Jimmy becomes drunk and picks a fight with Joyce, he heads back to their van. Cynthia follows him and takes the keys, leaving him to sleep in the back of the vehicle.

According to Cynthia's account of events, the two women returned to the van later on to find Jimmy dead inside, his throat slashed; Cynthia claims Joyce admitted to cutting his neck after she went to check on him, during which he attacked her. Cynthia states that, at Joyce's insistence, the women disposed of Jimmy's body by dumping it in a ravine. After the murder, Cynthia returns home covered in blood and admits to her husband, Artie, what happened. Several days later, after Jimmy's body is found, Joyce's paranoia about being caught causes her to act increasingly erratically. At one point, she instructs Cynthia to kill one of the hairdressers at the salon out of fear she will tarnish the women's alibis. Joyce subsequently discovers that Artie knows about the murder, and she threatens Cynthia that she will kill him to silence him. Cynthia does not believe Joyce can actually carry out her threats; however, after Artie is found shot dead at his home on Christmas Eve, Cynthia accuses Joyce.

Throughout Cynthia's interrogation, Detective Woods is skeptical of her descriptions of events and challenges her on them, but ultimately allows her to leave. Cynthia exits the police station, but pauses and recounts the details of what actually happened at the festival: Upon bringing Jimmy to the van, he attempted to rape Cynthia and began beating her. In self-defense, she slashed his throat with a box cutter. Cynthia and Joyce left the festival and began driving toward a hospital; however, when Joyce realized he tried to rape Cynthia, she turned the van around and began driving in another direction, biding time while Jimmy bled to death in the back of the van. After he died, the women disposed of his body and made a pact not to tell anyone.

As Cynthia stands outside the police station recalling the truth of what occurred, Joyce is brought inside for her own interrogation. Cynthia decides to re-enter the station, now prepared to tell the truth of her guilt in Jimmy's death. She sits before Detective Woods' camera to record her taped confession.

Cast

[edit]

Production

[edit]

Development

[edit]

The film's title is derived from a quote in William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth by Lady Macbeth, in which she says: "Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, / And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty."[1]

Casting

[edit]
Demi Moore (pictured in 1990) both starred in and co-produced the film

Demi Moore, who had recently gained widespread fame for her role in Ghost (1990), was drawn to the project as she felt playing a character with a New Jersey dialect was a challenge.[3] "I’d never done a dialect before, like theater actresses such as Meryl Streep and Glenn Close, and the child in me was excited to try it. Another appeal was the intense loyalty between the two women, the love and trust that made it OK to live in marriages that didn’t work. Like a lot of us, they accept the familiar, even if it’s not good...  and find other outlets that are workable."[3] Bruce Willis, Moore's then-husband, was cast in the role of Jimmy, the abusive husband of Glenne Headly's character.[3] Moore stated that both she and Willis had a mutual interest in the film as it partly dealt with substance abuse issues, which both had experienced in their own lives.[3]

Filming

[edit]

Principal photography of Mortal Thoughts occurred in February 1990[1] and lasted 32 days.[3] Filming took place entirely in New Jersey, in Bayonne, Jersey City, Little Ferry, and Scotch Plains.[4] The film's carnival sequences were shot on location at Scotch Plains's Bowcraft Amusement Park.[4]

Claude Kerven, who co-wrote the screenplay, was originally hired to direct the project, but was replaced by Alan Rudolph after completing only one week of shooting.[1] The film shoot was partly improvisational, and the conclusion of the film was undetermined until it came time to shoot it.[1] Rudolph recalled: "No one really knew what the ending would be. A half-day before we shot it, we got together and decided what the ending should be."[1]

Star Demi Moore served as a co-producer on the film; according to Rudolph, Moore was aware of the film's budgetary constraints, and took it upon herself to mitigate "the problems we were having."[1] After Kerven was fired and the financiers of the production threatened to cancel it during the first week of shooting, Moore offered to pay overtime for the production herself.[3] According to Moore, her dual role as actress and co-producer led her to frequently working 16-hour days throughout the shoot.[3] "I was dealing with scheduling and cost-efficiency—and there was no one to keep me from making too many mistakes," she recalled. "The role of ‘co-producer’ is much more hands-on, less creative than that of ‘executive producer.’ It’s a credit I think I deserved."[3]

Release

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Mortal Thoughts was originally scheduled to be released in North America in December 1990, but the release was put on hold.[1] At the time, the production company, Polar Entertainment, had filed a lawsuit against New Visions Pictures for a breach of contract regarding Kerven's replacement, though it is unknown if this was the cause of the release delay.[1] The film opened in the spring, on April 19, 1991.[1]

Box office

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The film opened at number 2 at the U.S. box office behind Out for Justice, and earned over $6 million during its opening weekend playing in 963 theaters.[2] Its release expanded the following weekend to 1,196 theaters.[2] It went on to gross a total of $18,784,957 in the United States alone.[2]

Critical response

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The film holds a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 16 reviews.[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.[6]

Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader wrote that the film's plot "depends on various delayed revelations and surprises, the last of which, while it violates our faith in the narrative as a whole, doesn’t substantially alter our overall sense of the characters," adding that composer Mark Isham's score "makes the possibility of loving these characters or feeling morally committed to them not only impractical but unthinkable."[7] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, writing: "Like many crimes, the ones in this movie seem simple at first and only grow complicated the more you look at them. The screenplay, by William Reilly and Claude Kerven, is meticulously constructed so that the flashbacks during the testimony never reveal too much, and yet never seem to conceal anything. Nor is the screenplay simply ingenious; it is also very funny, in a mordant and blood-soaked way, as these two women scheme and figure and lie to the cops, to each other and to themselves. There is a banality to their language and images that sets the correct tone."[8] Sherry Crawford of the Evansville Courier and Press noted Rudolph's "stylized" direction, and deemed the film "a sometimes shocking, sometimes frighteningly honest look at some of our innermost feelings."[9]

Gary Thompson of the Philadelphia Daily News gave the film an unfavorable review, writing that nothing "is enough to make Mortal Thoughts something special. In the end, you sense that the artsy Rudolph never develops a rapport with these shopping-mall women. It's as though they're being punished not for murder, but for bad taste."[10] Marc Horton of the Edmonton Journal gave the film a middling review but praised Moore and Headley's lead performances, writing that "it is the work of these two which gives the movie whatever punch it possesses, even though they have to overcome the director's penchant for pointless eccentricity."[11] Janet Maslin of The New York Times similarly praised the cast, but felt the screenplay lacked momentum, writing: "Although this has all the ingredients of a dark and enjoyably sordid story, and indeed starts out as one, Mr. Rudolph's version of film noir turns out to be more like film gris. Much of it takes place in a gray area between wit and malice, and in the realm of endless, sometimes improvised small talk that winds up seeming genuinely small."[12]

Accolades

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Award Category Nominee Result Ref.
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Supporting Actress Glenne Headly Nominated [13]
National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Supporting Actor Harvey Keitel Won [14]

Home media

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RCA/Columbia Home Video released Mortal Thoughts on VHS and LaserDisc in November 1991.[15][16] Columbia TriStar Home Video later released it on DVD on August 25, 1998 in a standard full frame presentation.[17]

The Australian company Imprint Films released the film for the first time on Blu-ray in May 2022 as part of their limited edition After Dark: Neo Noir Cinema Collection, which also includes After Dark, My Sweet (1990), Rush (1991), One False Move (1992), Flesh and Bone (1993), and Twilight (1998).[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Mortal Thoughts". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d "Mortal Thoughts (1991)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Dutka, Elaine (April 14, 1991). "MOVIES : Demi Moore Is Now Bankable and the Boss : Sure, it's great that "Ghost" propelled the actress into star territory, but being a producer gave her a different kind of power". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023.
  4. ^ a b Jackson, Lynn M. (April 14, 1990). "'Die Hard' fans brave the cold". The Courier-News. p. C-1 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Mortal Thoughts". Rotten Tomatoes.
  6. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  7. ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (April 25, 1991). "Wall of Sound". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023.
  8. ^ Ebert, Roger (April 19, 1991). "Mortal Thoughts". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023 – via RogerEbert.com.
  9. ^ Crawford, Sherry (April 21, 1991). "'Mortal Thoughts' is shocking and provocative". Evansville Courier and Press. p. F3 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Thompson, Gary (April 19, 1991). "Partners in crime". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 53 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Horton, Marc (April 20, 1991). "Gimmicks get in the way of superb performances". Edmonton Journal. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Maslin, Janet (April 19, 1991). "Review/Film; 2 Wives and the Men Who Make Them Unhappy". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023.
  13. ^ "1988-2013 Award Winner Archives". Chicago Film Critics Association. January 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  14. ^ "Past Awards". National Society of Film Critics. December 19, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  15. ^ Boyar, Jay (November 8, 1991). "Truth is hard to discern in 'Mortal Thoughts'". Orlando Sentinel. p. 99 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Robin Hood: Costner's performance lacks enthusiasm". Winston-Salem Journal. November 2, 1991. p. 57 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Mortal Thoughts DVD". WorldCat. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023.
  18. ^ "After Dark: Neo Noir Cinema Collection One (Imprint Collection #124 – 129)". Via Vision Entertainment. May 25, 2022. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023.
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