Hush

Released March 1998

Starring Jessica Lange (as Martha Baring), Gwyneth Paltrow, Johnathon Schaech, Nina Foch
Directed by Jonathan Darby
96 min.

Box Office gross - $13.5 million

See complete credits at Internet Movie Database

It is by no stretch of the imagination to say that Hush is probably Jessica Lange’s worst film to date. I mean really, watching her sneak up on Gwyneth Paltrow with a hypodermic needle is really painful. It is not entirely her fault, although I would love to know what possessed her to do this film. She did not publicize the film and you can see why! I suspect that part of the way into this she realized what a clunker it was going to be and she does play her part with a zeal of campiness.

Hush is watchable - the cast is attractive and the location photography (in Virginia) is very pretty. I won’t go into the plot (basically because there isn’t one) but it looks like the story was changed later on - many scenes in the trailer are nowhere to be found in the film. Retakes were made long after initial filming had included - and there are some truly hilarious scenes with Gwyneth Paltrow in a really bad wig (she had already cut her hair for another film). Also, the title was changed three times - from Kilronan to Blood Lines to Hush. Jessica recently said in an interview that she thought the film was "a piece of shit."

 

Critical Sampling:

"The film's most intriguing element is the performance by Jessica Lange, who by not going over the top provides Martha with a little pathos to leaven the psychopathology. That side of her doesn't seem consistent with her demented behavior at a crucial moment, but then consistency is not the film's strong point. - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

It's far too soon for an actress as vital as Jessica Lange to stoop to Bette Davis-Joan Crawford horror-hag histrionics. - Mike Clark, USA Today

Lange seems at a loss to know how to convey Martha's malevolence -- and writer-director Jonathan Darby offers almost no guidance. - Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

 

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Cousin Bette