 |
Audrey Rose
1977 |
|
"I don't think we're going to prove reincarnation
— Robert Wise, 1976 It is with this open mind that Wise addressed the subject of reincarnation in AUDREY ROSE, the story of a little girl who a man believes is his reincarnated daughter and the hell he puts her parents through. Once again, Wise stayed away from shock value and tried to tell the story in a dignified manner. He also got another tremendous performance from a child actor, Susan Swift. |
Successful New York advertising executive Bill Templeton and his wife
Janice have one child, an eleven-year-old daughter named Ivy. Ever since
infancy, the youngster has been troubled by dreadful nightmares (usually
occurring at the time of her birthday), but she can never recall what
the dreams were about. Then both Janice and Bill gradually notice that a
strange man has been closely observing Ivy as she travels back and forth
to her school. After the child receives an expensive brocaded purse from
the stranger, a biography from Who's Who arrives in the mail; it
describes one Elliot Hoover, an eminent metallurgist whose wife and
five-year-old daughter—Audrey Rose—died in a fiery automobile
 crash eleven years ago. Upon finally being confronted by Hoover, Janice
persuades Bill to meet with him at a nearby restaurant. Though Hoover
states that a psychic, as well as a clairvoyant, have convinced him that
Ivy is the reincarnation of Audrey Rose (he even accurately describes
Ivy's room—which he has never seen), Bill and Janice refuse to
accept his theory and flee from the restaurant when their baby sitter
phones to say that Ivy is having a terrible nightmare. Deeply troubled
by the events, the Templetons consult with their lawyer, who suggests
that he conceal himself in the house while Janice and Bill meet with
Hoover. As they converse, Hoover vows that it is his firm conviction
that Ivy was born two minutes after Audrey Rose burned to death in the
car crash—and that her soul is in torment because it returned to
life too soon. Suddenly, the sleeping Ivy suffers a violent seizure,
becomes hysterical, and calms down only when Hoover enters her room and
quietly says, "Audrey Rose, it's Daddy." The next evening, while Bill is
out with a client, Ivy undergoes another attack and Janice once again permits Hoover to soothe the disturbed child. But when Bill returns and savagely attacks Hoover, the latter abducts Ivy and removes her to an apartment he has taken in the same building. As a result of the incident, Bill brings Hoover to trial, while Ivy is sent away to a Catholic boarding school in the hope of sparing her more traumatic shock. But as her classmates enact the traditional ceremony of setting a snowman ablaze to drive winter away, Ivy lapses into a trance and walks directly toward the fire until she is pulled to safety by a nun. Meanwhile, at Hoover's trial, several East Indians (with whom Hoover has served as a disciple) testify on the authenticity of reincarnation, and Janice supports Hoover's belief that Audrey Rose's soul does indeed reside in Ivy's body. Acting on the advice of Bill's attorney, the court authorizes Ivy's being subjected to hypnosis. Despite Janice's efforts to stop the experiment, a noted doctor, Steven Lipscomb, takes Ivy back to her childhood, then to her mother's womb, and finally to any possible pre-existence. Told by Lipscomb to recall the last moments of her former life, Ivy relives the horror when—as Audrey Rose—she perished in the flaming car crash. As she screams and falls to the floor, Lipscomb brings her back to consciousness, but does not call her by her former name. Hoover, realizing the child is without an identity, smashes through a plate glass partition and cries out the name Audrey Rose. But he is too late—she is already dead...Some time later, Janice writes to Hoover in India and tells him she believes that Ivy still lives, that her soul has found refuge in another body and is finally at peace.From Film Facts, 1977 |
 |
 113 min. United Artists; A Robert Wise Production;
Distributed by: United Artists;
Directed by: Robert Wise;
Produced by: Joe Wizan and Frank
De Felitta;
Screenplay by: Frank De Felitta;
Edited by: Carl Kress;
Director of Photography: Victor J. Kemper;
Music by: Michael Small;
Production Design by: Harry Horner;
Sound by: Tom Overton, William
McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, Michael J. Kohut;
Costumes by: Dorothy Jeakins;
Make-up by: Fred Griffin;
Hair by: Jean Austin;
|
Marsha Mason (Janice Templeton), Anthony Hopkins (Elliott Hoover), John Beck (Bill Templeton), Susan Swift (Ivy Templeton), Norman Lloyd
(Dr. Steven Lipscomb), John Hillerman (Scott Velie), Robert Walden (Brice Mack), Philip Sterling (Judge Langley), Ivy Jones
(Mary Lou Sides), Stephen Pearlman (Russ Rothman), Aly Wassil (Maharishi Gupta Pradesh), Mary Jackson (Mother Veronica), Richard Lawson (Policeman #1), Tony Brande (Detective Fallon), Elizabeth Farley
(Carole Rothman), Ruth Manning (Customer in Store), Stanley Brock (Cashier in Store), David Wilson (Policeman #2),
David Fresco (Dominick), Pat Corley (Dr. Webster), Eunice Christopher (Mrs. Carbone), Karen Anders (Waitress).
|
 PHOTO GALLERY |
 MOVIE CLIP |
 MORE INFO |
|
