Fedora

1979 "Youth had been a habit of hers for so long that she could not part with it."
6.8| 1h54m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 15 April 1979 Released
Producted By: Bavaria Film
Country: Germany
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

An ambitious Hollywood hustler becomes involved with a reclusive female star, whom he tries to lure out of retirement.

Genre

Drama, Mystery

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Fedora (1979) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Billy Wilder

Production Companies

Bavaria Film

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Fedora Audience Reviews

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Kirpianuscus Many reasons for see this little gem. the performances, the atmosphere, the crumbs of old Hollywood, the tragedy of glory in passing time. and a touching story. remembering "Sunset Blvd". but being, for its bitter poetry, so different. for me, the basic motif for see it was the presence in cast of William Holden. and this "key" works. for discover not exactly a world but a form of survive. and its precise limits. a film about the traits of past. and meeting with wise use of suggestion, from illustrious names to small details of biographies for transform the film in a form of trip across Hollywood Golden Age.
blanche-2 Billy Wilder's second-last film comes full circle from 1950's Sunset Boulevard.Fedora begins with a news announcement of the great actress' death. Dutch Detweiler (William Holden) narrates the film, and attends Fedora's lying in state. He recalls what led up to that moment, and the story begins.Dutch (William Holden) has a script that is perfect for the actress Fedora (Marthe Keller), a Garbo-like myth wrapped in a legend, who lives a reclusive life in Corfu. One day, he sees her in town and reintroduces himself - they knew each other 30 years earlier. He is astounded by her unchanged beauty. She wears gloves because her doctor can't do anything about aging hands. and she asks him for a few dollars. When he asks if she received his script, she says that they hide the mail from her. After some spying on Fedora, Dutch comes to the conclusion that she is not being well treated and is imprisoned. Desperate to see her, he tries every way he can to gain entrance to the house, and at one point actually breaks in, only to be knocked out by someone who acts as her chauffeur. When he comes to, he's in his hotel, and a week has passed. And lots has happened.Fedora is based on the story in Tom Tryon's book, "Crowned Heads," which is three stories - the first about a Lana Turner-type, the second a combination of Clifton Webb and Ramon Navarro, and the third Fedora, actually based on Dietrich, Garbo, and a few other actresses. The first two stories were kind of sleazy. Fedora is really the best one.I remember this did not get good reviews at the time. Billy Wilder had no end of problems with it. It did not get a full release internationally or nationally; it was not publicized; and it was so badly cut that audiences laughed in all the wrong places when it was shown initially. It's pathetic to me that a great talent like Billy Wilder was treated so badly by modern Hollywood, but I'm not surprised.I think this is an interesting story and if Wilder had been allowed to do what he wanted, it would have been a marvelous film. One of the things that brought it down for me was the abominable performance of Marthe Keller. This role brought an end to her brief Hollywood career.What really bothered me was all the dubbing. Neither Knef's nor Keller's voices were used, and it's obvious. The actresses just sound dubbed with very little effort at performances. I may be overly sensitive; that dubbing sound is a big turnoff for me, but maybe not for others.I think this plays better on television than it probably did in the theaters, and it's definitely worth seeing for Holden at least, who is Joe Gillis had he lived.A series of unfortunate events spoiled what this film could have been, but it's still Billy Wilder, it's still William Holden, and you can't go too wrong.
Charles Herold (cherold) Years ago, I started watching Fedora with my girlfriend. I'm a huge fan of Billy Wilder, who has made many brilliant movies, and I was shocked by how bad this one was. It seemed downright inept. After 20 minutes to half an hour I decided I had enough. My girlfriend though, even though she wasn't thrilled with it, decided to continue watching it in hopes it would improve. About half an hour later she called to me and said, START WATCHING IT AGAIN: IT'S A COMEDY! And the odd thing is, if one looks at Fedora as a sort of parody of Sunset Boulevard it's actually quite amusing.The movie popped into my head recently so I decided to check out reviews here to see if anyone else had the same take on it, but no one does. And so I wonder, did Wilder made a sly satire or just a bad movie? But if you don't like it try and think about that. If I ever see it on TV I'll have to take another look.
kennethwright2612 Billy Wilder revisits the territory of his Hollywood Babylon classic Sunset Boulevard, with the same male lead (William Holden) in an almost identical role as a washed-up screenwriter trying to get to a reclusive and mysteriously ageless one-time screen queen in order to pitch her a comeback script. Story elements include Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray and (off-screen) the many mad-doctor yarns of the 1930s and 1940s in which Boris Karloff messes about with Things We Were Never Meant To Know. Looks great in a brittle and glitzy 1970s way, as befits its scornfully depicted international-rich-white-trash milieu. Essentially it's a sombre but humanistic sermon on the hopeless worship of physical youth and beauty: as a medieval English writer put it, "who sows hope in the flesh reaps bones". A very relevant film for our narcissistic times, its only big flaw is that it's a mighty chilly piece of work, easier to admire than to love.