Why is Meryl's performance in "Plenty" (1985) so unknown?

Because the film looks like a bloody bore like so many of Mery's other 80s movies: Out of Africa, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Still of the Night, Sophie's Choice, Heartburn, Falling in Love and Ironweed

All I could hear in that clip was “click…click…click”

Tracey Ullman was the only spark of life in the film.

She sucked rocks.

Never even heard of it. I'll check it out, thanks OP.

Wow, she could have played the ultimate Princess Diana.

Her British accent is unbearable

Here is Tracey Ullman talking about when that production ended.

OP you provided the best answer just look at that clip it's unbearable

I saw that thing, OP.

Next.

This is the one I thought she sounded South African in. I love the film though.

A real bore though I did like Tracey in it, and M has some good scenes with Sting. M went on to do a much better film with director Fred Schepisi three years later - “A Cry In The Dark” aka “Evil Angels”.

I also loved the score - Bruce Smeaton, who went on to score “Evil Angels”.

I wish M and Tracey had both starred in “Outrageous Fortune” instead.

It's one of those films that screams "Nominate me!" and ended up forgotten because of "Out of Africa". Ullman was rightfully praised though. Maybe not a complete bore, but I found it excruciatingly depressing. "Night Mother" is a comedy in comparison. I watched it once back in the '80s and again a few years ago, and time hadn't changed my feelings about it. Usually my feelings about certain films do change because of maturity, but that one ended up being plenty of nothing.

Because of Meryl’s success, Plenty is trotted out as a play that talented, patrician and not quite gorgeous young actresses who want to make a name for themselves as their generation’s Meryl vie to be a part of (surprised Jessica Chastain hasn’t tried to mount a production). But it’s not very good, and that is the fault of the mediocre David Hare.

It would have been nice to see Kate Nelligan, but hey ho.

I saw Plenty on TV when I was 9 and the sight of the non-sexual Meryl Streep riding Sting was an early sign that women were NOT for me.

I think it is in part that Streep's performance falls so short of Nelligan's performance. Plenty is a terrible play and Streep exposes its poor quality. Nelligan elevated the material so much that it seemed much better.

Without Nelligan, it might have counted as mediocre Streep, but when it came out Streep was eviserate by the comparison.

Fred Schepisi is a good director.

David Hare is a great playwright.

Meryl Streep, Charles Dance, Tracey Ullman, Ian McKellen, Sam Neill, Sting, and Sir John Gielgud are all good actors.

Plenty is a beautiful drama film that takes place over forty years, it was not a movie for the masses. 1985's biggest movies were Back to the Future, Rambo II, Rocky IV, The Goonies, and The Jewel of the Nile.

Out of Africa and The Color Purple were big, too. There was no room for Plenty. Sometimes things just fail.

Charles Dance is the actor Tracey was talking about. They both hated working with him.

Why, r18?

It didn't get much attention as Out Of Africa was a huge hit that year, but Meryl is terrific in it and nails the nihilism of the confused and bitter character. John Gielgud was good too in his small part.

R18, Charles Dance was an absolute dream to work with.

[quote]It didn't get much attention as Out Of Africa was a huge hit that year, but Meryl is terrific in it

That was the same year I made my tragically overlooked Maxie, which was overshadowed by my equally brilliant Jagged Edge.

[quote]It didn't get much attention as Out Of Africa was a huge hit that year, but Meryl is terrific in it

That was the same year I turned in an incredible performance in Rocky IV, but all anyone talked about was my stunning interpretation of the title character in Red Sonja.

I enjoyed Plenty.

It's very British in that its quite restrained. But Iiked it. Especially enjoyed seeing Sting.

Have often wondered why it is overlooked.

M’s performance is uneven and she falters at times with the accent.

During the promotion of the film, she said that she would return her salary for the opportunity to re-do some of her scenes.

People Magazine did an article about the tension between Streep and Dance when the film came out. Dance said something to the effect that they got along when they were shooting a scene where their characters got along, but otherwise not. He implied Streep was self-important and an asshole, but admitted to being an asshole himself.

R14 Chastain is drop dead gorgeous. Are you kidding?

The ending of the film is very moving.

If only on screen, Meryl got to fuck Sting at the height of his beauty. Lucky woman!

Now he looks like a crispy over-cooked chicken

How odd, Sam Neil and Sting actually resemble each other.

It's one of her worst. She acknowledges that she was dreadful in The French Lieut's Woman, but her acting in Plenty is genuinely ghastly. And the accent is even worse!

The sad truth is that Streep can't do English voices that feel lived in. For some reason she seems to have to focus her concentration on them and it sucks the life out her performances when doing them. e.g. The Iron Lady, which was risible. Yet other accents don't seem to impact on her performance.

I agree with her that French Lieutenant’s Woman is not her best performance, but I love that movie. Jeremy Irons at his hottest.

Tracey Ullman was absolutely brilliant in this. Meryl was meh.

Still of the Night makes Plenty and French Lieutenant’s Woman seem like classics

I’d never seen it, though I remember seeing the “Streep… PLENTY” ads for it.

Seeing that clip, I knew instantly that it had been adapted from a play. The monologue, ugh. I’d be tempted to watch the whole thing because I adore Tracey Ullman.

[quote]M went on to do a much better film with director Fred Schepisi three years later - “A Cry In The Dark” aka “Evil Angels”.

I watched that again recently and found it even better than I thought it was when it was a new film. We've had so many sensational trials since then that everyone had an opinion on, so it hit harder. When the films shows journalists complaining about how boring the forensic testimony is, wondering how they're going to sell papers with all this arcane talk about blood samples, I thought of the OJ case. Schepisi and the co-writer Robert Caswell really captured something effectively: not just the story of the Chamberlain family at the center but the way people in Australia reacted to it, how vicissitudes of public opinion shaped it.

I remember Meryl being quizzed on a talk show about which films she had received her many Oscar nominations for, and they gave her the buzzer when she guessed A Cry in the Dark. But she was right. Whoever prepared the list for the host probably had it down as Evil Angels.

I really enjoyed the movie when it first came out and have been wanting to watch it again to see whether it would hold up to my memory of it. I love OP's clip of that awkward dinner party, and here's another clip from a bit earlier in that scene.

Your question, OP, should be, "Why is the film "Plenty" unknown.

"Streep fucking Sting" is NOT a selling point!

I'm with Gielgud. "I really must go."

Kate Nelligan's performance on stage people still rave about. One of the best they ever saw people say.

Love the scene where she states her irritation to Charles Dance about his mannerisms. "A bit of a tight corner! One hell of a spot!!!"

BRITS, please weigh in on her accent in the OP clip!

Meryl is renowned for her flawless accents. The clip above sounds obviously bogus to me—but I am American.

I've been watching a lot of British television and all British accents are much more melodic than any American accent, with a lot more intonation that sometimes borders on musical. Meryl sounds to me in that clip like she's dropped the rhotic R but is still speaking in a flat American cadence. I find it hard to listen to. It just sounds like a really amateurish accent to me. Am I off the mark?

Meryl's accent is good r44, she's not doing a stereotype of a posh Brit. She talks naturally.

R45 Are you British?

It sounds *really* fake to me.

I've been watching reality shows—Great British Bake Off, Britain's Best Home Cook, Your Perfect Garden, etc.—with contestants who are average middle-/working-class Brits from all over the UK, and they all sound a lot 'livelier' than Streep does in that clip. She really sounds to me like an American trying to fake a nonspecific English accent.

saw nelligan on stage, with edward hermann, and she was terrific and the ending is still remembered, decades late. can't even remember if saw the film or not, if so, totally forgotten

To Me her accent sounds foreign. Not British.

r46 watches the clump!

watching right now.

The ending where they flashback to the end of the war and she says to the old Frenchman "there will be days and days and days like this" when we know there won't is really beautiful. So bittersweet.

^ The same sentiment was uttered by Meryl in The Hours I’m not a huge Streep fan, but she gave the best performance in the film).

[quote] I remember one morning getting up at dawn, there was such a sense of possibility. You know, that feeling? And I remember thinking to myself: So, this is the beginning of happiness. This is where it starts. And of course there will always be more. It never occurred to me it wasn't the beginning. It was happiness. It was the moment. Right then.

It may have been inspired by Plenty. But Michael Cunningham is a better writer than David Hare.

Instead of Plenty it should’ve been called We’ve Had Sufficient.

You can’t even find Still of The Night anymore - Meryl’s bought up all the copies!

The Hours is pretentious dreck.

The Hours is a Woman's Film .

It's from 3 short stories by an amoral hack.

Amoral writing is the most honest writing about human nature.

Her accent is very good British received pronunciation of that era. You don't find the accent so much nowadays.

[quote]Her accent is very good British received pronunciation of that era. You don't find the accent so much nowadays.

It's very precise. It sounds as though she's used recordings from the period as her model.

I didn't see it but I remember that it played the arthouse circuit. I was living in Chicago and Dave Kehr panned it. He liked to take down drawing room fare and other overreaching, obviously highbrow stuff in those days. His reviews became more generous when he moved from The Reader to the Tribune.

Cate Blanchett made her West End debut in a revival of Plenty in 1999. I didn't realise Rachel Weisz had been in a recent production. That would be more interesting than Blanchett.

Meryl's accent sounds like someone in the mid 80s doing a war time accent.

David Hare is very hit and miss as a writer. His political stuff is ridiculously preachy and really quite tedious but his adaptions of other people's work are better.

I heard that Helen Mirren was originally considered for the role but discussions broke down over gratuitous nudity

It is beautifully shot and has great moments, but too often feels like an adaptation of a play. I thought Streep, Ullman, Gielgood, Neil and Sting were all very good. The dinner scene is classic.

Charles Dance is the one they could not stand during filming, right?

I also love the last scene when she is young and wistful about the future. Like many of Meryl’s movies, it creates good memories.

I remember seeing the scene where Meryl shoots the lover. She cries and fumbles with the gun and shoots it seemingly without aiming.

Nelligan argued with a steely force, left the stage came back with the gun, points and shoots. No tears. No fluffy emotion.

After I saw that clip I had no desire to see the film.

The play is composed of a dozen or more scenes that zig zag back and forth somewhat illogically in time between WWII and the mid-60s. Does the action of the film occur in chronological order (but I assume with the flashback to the old French farmer at the end)?

I saw Rachel Weisz in The Public's revival a few years ago as well as Kate Nelligan in the original production. Weisz didn't come close and the production made a dense and complex play even less engaging.

I think the movie goes in chronological order, except the ending that goes back in time. I remember a review saying you only could tell it jumps in time from her different hairstyles.

R65, the play is pretty much chronological with two exceptions. The final scene chronologically is presented first. And the first scene chronologically, is presented last.

All the other scenes are presented in correct chronology.

WHET Kate Nelligan?

I thought she intentionally spoke in a vaguely 'European' accent, because her background was slightly ambiguous? Like a Continental European who had lived in Britain for many years. Then again, I could be very wrong--it's been ages since I saw the film.

[quote] I remember seeing the scene where Meryl shoots the lover. She cries and fumbles with the gun and shoots it seemingly without aiming.

I really liked that scene and thought M played it perfectly. It’s the early scenes where she’s playing the young Susan that did not work, IMO.

R70 the weepy emotionality really seemed like a bad choice. Nelligan's coolness is burned in my memory, because I think that is the character. She is decisive and takes strong action---but the world has changed so her boldness is out of place and looks like madness. Streep is the hysterical woman that post-war Britain can accept, so the larger meaning of the play got lost.

Nelligan was the cool operator that they wanted during the war but could not tolerate after.

But it is David Hare so none of the characters ever seem real no matter who plays them.

Just like in August Osage County, Meryl couldn't let Kate Nelligan recreate her stage triumph. I mean, WTF did Meryl Streep know about being British?

The production design and costumes are hilariously anachronistic and inaccurate.

Sting acts like a male model.

The PR for the film at the time was endless but the film underwhelming.

Kate is Canadian r72

But lived in Britain.

[quote]Just like in August Osage County, Meryl couldn't let Kate Nelligan recreate her stage triumph.

Yeah, that's definitely how the movie industry works. Nelligan was all set to star in screen adaptations of these properties, Meryl swooped in and stole the lead role away, and everyone involved had to bow to her.

It looks like no one from the play was cast in the film. That also was true of August: Osage County.

The odds of Deanna Dunagan or Rondi Reed getting cast in the film version of August were always zero. Amy Morton's only slightly better chance were destroyed when Julia Roberts bought the property, which is a shame because I saw the show twice and Morton was incredible.

Same with the chances of Cherry Jones getting the starring role in the movie version of Doubt. Investors usually want stars with a proven track record at the Box Office.

A proven track record of over-acting and accent-mongering?

R80 go shit on yourself

Loved it when it was first released and Streeps performance in it. However, I watched it again for the first time since it was released about 6 months ago and age has not been kind to the film or anything about it. Maybe a third viewing will restore my initial admiration for it.

Is there a Still of the Night thread? I've always enjoyed it. Meryl has always trashed it and said it's her worst movie but I think she's been in worse films.

I watched Still of The Night at least a dozen times when it aired on HBO back in 1983! Loved it snd thought Streep was quite beautiful in it. She also had a compelling monologue near the end.

La Streep has been at the top for pretty much her whole life as a public figure. If you were lucky enough to experience her in Yale student productions (in which Sigourney Weaver had the misfortune to be almost the same age and stuck in supporting roles, because...MERYL!), you knew this was a once-in-a-generation, incandescent talent.

It's just a shame she has so rarely worked with the greatest film directors of her time. She's been in a lot of "decent" films in which her performance was the big selling point. I feel that some of the directors she has had have been intimidated by her.

She worked a lot with Mike Nichols. Out of Africa was with Sydney Pollack and Sophie’s Choice was with Alan Pakula. The Post was with Steven Spielberg.

Scorsese has only a handful of movies that featured a female lead, and always secondary to the men.

I would agree that she has been more commercial than a risk taker, but she has been the bread winner for her family.

The Scorsese exception was Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, with Ellen Burstyn

R57 What do you mean?

Are you being sophisticated? Elliptical? Abstruse? Talking nonsense?

She also worked with Stephen Frears, Spike Jones, Nora Ephron, and Robert Altman.

I think it would be great if she worked with Fincher, Paul Thomas Anderson or Almodovar, if the project had a good part.

She almost worked with Almodovar but he backed out. And some believe it was PT Anderson who directed a good chunk of Prairie Home Companion.

[quote](in which Sigourney Weaver had the misfortune to be almost the same age and stuck in supporting roles, because...MERYL!)

Sigourney also towered over the leading men, which made her difficult to cast, unless she played an Amazon warrior or performed the entire play seated or in bed.

Also, I love Sigourney but she's a pretty limited actor. One thing I find interesting about the clips from Plenty was how striking Meryl was in her unique way. She's certainly not a classic beauty, but when she was young she could be stunning. I say this only because how interesting I find it that her oldest two daughters look so much like her yet are not at all striking beautys. Funny how talent and charisma can make such a difference in how your appearance is perceived. Meryl was/is just so watchable.

R92, back in the late '70s and early '80s, when Meryl was on every magazine cover, heralding her as her generation's beat leading lady, many were critical of her unconventional looks (some even deeming her "ugly"). But the camera loved her. She photographed well, looked luminous, and knew well how to "give good face." Beautiful women are a dime a dozen in Hollywood, but many don't come alive on camera like Meryl.

[quote]her generation's beat leading lady

*best

[quote] She almost worked with Almodovar

R90 A flesh-and-blood director dealing with a mechanical woman.

what movie did she almost work with Almodovar?

Julieta (2016) by Pedro Almodóvar. With Emma Suárez instead of Streep.

Almodovar knows how to make us interested in people with whom we have nothing in common.

Meryl was stunning in the late 70s with that amazing hair and slim body. She said she purposefully looked for roles that challenged her to look and sound different as she could see herself being typecast as this glacial, waspy blonde.

R80 I'd say overperforming=obviously giving a performance

Maybe you could try your shitty sociology with the the terms "class" such as middle class or upper class. Or how about popular and posh. For crissakes. Perfume counters and notion departments do not intellects.

oops

They are currently shooting a remake of “The River Wild”, with Leighton Meester in the M role and Adam Brody in the Kevin Bacon role.

In retrospect it was not that good. Loved Charles Dance in it, though. But Meryl Streep was underwhelming in it.

[quote]Because the film looks like a bloody bore like so many of Mery's other 80s movies: Out of Africa, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Still of the Night, Sophie's Choice, Heartburn, Falling in Love and Ironweed

I agree but I did like Heartburn and I like to hate watch Falling In Love

The plum in her gob really is enormous, isn't it.

"Once in a generation talent" my ass. She can be wonderful, but she's not head and shoulders above her peers (Close, Spacek, Weaver, Sarandon, etc.) like her excellent publicity campaigns have claimed for decades. And she's nowhere near as great as the old time greats, American or otherwise - I've said before that the scene of Jeanne Moreau walking in the rain to a jazz tune by Miles Davis in Elevator to the Gallows is much more affecting than anything I've seen by Streep, and I've seen most of her films. I'm with P. Kael and K. Hepburn (despite not being a fan of either) on this one, mimicry and technical proficiency a great actress does not make.

She was good in Kramer and in Holocaust (which she now derides - gurl, it was one of the best things you ever did)

[quote] that the scene of Jeanne Moreau walking in the rain to a jazz tune by Miles Davis in Elevator to the Gallows is much more affecting than anything I've seen by Streep

Mesmerising! Your taste is impeccable. Have you any more recommendations like this for more niche or obscure great actress scenes?

[quote]Jeanne Moreau

I never liked her. I'm not sure why.

Jeanne Moreau never lived up to the hype.

[quote]Jeanne Moreau never lived up to the hype.

She sort of did because people really bought into her. She has a huge reputation.

A huge reputation from snobs, New Yorkers and Bosley Crowther. She doesn't sell in Peoria

[quote]Jeanne Moreau never lived up to the hype

What hype is that? She's a legend in French & International cinema, and has been recognized with BAFTAs, Cesars, Cannes Film Awards, etc., for her work. Has she failed to live up to the hype because she lacked blockbuster success in the US?

There has been a lot of bashing of David Hare, whose work I usually enjoy. My favorite, though, is r51:

[quote] It may have been inspired by Plenty. But Michael Cunningham is a better writer than David Hare.

I wonder who wrote the screenplay for The Hours?

[quote] David Hare, whose work I usually enjoy

I get the impression you have to be a Red-Hot Socialist to enjoy Hare.

I get the impression you have to have only a dim understanding of human behavior to enjoy Hare.

R114 Exactly...but some people on DL are midwits who think winning an Oscar, or more than one, makes a performer inherently excellent. Some great actresses have won multiple times - Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis - but awards truly mean nothing in regards to actual talent.

Many actors and actresses who have never won any Oscars - Barbara Stanwyck, Montgomery Clift, Liv Ullmann, Gena Rowlands, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, and Judy Garland among them - are far better than most who have. Hell, middling talent non-Oscared Lauren Bacall is a million times more watchable than Streep, who lacks any sort of heat or charisma, as proven in Plenty.

I think the idea (that Brando brought on really, so it's not Streep's fault) that audiences should expect naturalism - paired with technical proficiency - to be both the default acting style and the only valid acting style has irreparably damaged cinema as an art form as much as the summer blockbuster has.

These repetitive comments criticizing Steep are so tiresome. Talk about endless masturbation that no one cares about. We get it, you are obsessed with her but have issues.

[quote]We get it, you are obsessed with her but have issues.

"we" troll - ALERT!

R118 why can’t you let it go Annette!!!