The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Jim H

  
  An heiress accuses a farmhand, whom she has employed to be her escort, of stealing a diamond earring. This film feels like Tennessee Williams's work from beginning to end, and one can almost draw one-to-one parallels from <i>The Loss of the Teardrop Diamond</i> to… More
  An heiress accuses a farmhand, whom she has employed to be her escort, of stealing a diamond earring. This film feels like Tennessee Williams's work from beginning to end, and one can almost draw one-to-one parallels from <i>The Loss of the Teardrop Diamond</i> to <i>Cat on the Hot Tin Roof</i>; both films are about maintaining integrity in a dishonest and disappointing world, but <i>Teardrop</i> is far less subtle, almost banging you on the head with speeches about how one's word is all that one can truly control. These are resonant themes in Williams's work, and the "style." by which I mean the long monologues filled with sharp images and the characters' slow drawl, is also typical Williams. But I can understand why this screenplay was never produced during his lifetime. There are elements that just don't fit, most obviously the Ellen Burstyn character, and when Fisher does what she does with the second medicine bottle, I wondered when she would experience something more than making the scenery look darker. I didn't recognize Bryce Dallas Howard, who gives a fine performance, but Chris Evans is what Chris Evans would be if he routinely talked in a Southern accent. Overall, this is a poor effort, but die-hard fans of Williams will find something to like.

• Dean M

  
  This Tennesse Williams period story is strangely delightful and focuses on life in the south in the late 1920s. This is a change of pace and refreshing as a breath of cool evening river wind. The movie is not so much driven by plot as much as it is by a movie stealing, fiery… More
  This Tennesse Williams period story is strangely delightful and focuses on life in the south in the late 1920s. This is a change of pace and refreshing as a breath of cool evening river wind. The movie is not so much driven by plot as much as it is by a movie stealing, fiery performance from Bryce Dallas Howard. She does a sensational job of acting with her face, which brings me to another effective quality of the movie. It is beautiful, rich and luscious, with every shot dressed up nicely. I see she gained her weight for her character in this film before she already lost her weight for her next supporting role in <i>Twilight: Eclipse</i>.

• Jake .

  
  To be extreamely blunt, this play was never produced and this film has bombed because, quite frankly, it feels very amateurish. It is not masterful or polished. What makes the material great is that you can feel the pulse of genius behind it. The potential just hasn't been… More
  To be extreamely blunt, this play was never produced and this film has bombed because, quite frankly, it feels very amateurish. It is not masterful or polished. What makes the material great is that you can feel the pulse of genius behind it. The potential just hasn't been reached. Idk if this was written at the beginning or end of Williams' career, but it feels like it must have been an early work. It's funny, most of the complaints about the film seem to stem from the fact that it is based on a play. However, at least personally, the things that are characteristic of a play are the very things that make the film stand out at all. The dialog in plays is always unique; everything always seems so exact and significant. You never really see the type of casual conversation that dominates regular films. Plus, most things are communicated through the dialog, there's only so much that can be done onstage. The film is like a play in that sense as well; everything takes place in a very limited space. Oftentimes it wouldn't have made much difference had the film actually been filmed onstage. Yes, it is forgettable, but I enjoyed it all the same, nor is it particularly good or well-done, but there is something special about these diamonds all the same.

• jay n

  
  The cast couldn't be better in this production of an unknown Williams play but it is definitely one of his lesser works. Missing from the proceedings are his patented mossy sense of genteel dementia and a certain florid overripeness. Still an enjoyable film if diffuse. Bryce… More
  The cast couldn't be better in this production of an unknown Williams play but it is definitely one of his lesser works. Missing from the proceedings are his patented mossy sense of genteel dementia and a certain florid overripeness. Still an enjoyable film if diffuse. Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Evans both acquit themselves very well.

• William D

  
  "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," written by Tennessee Williams, has some extraordinary elements, including a magnetic and rich performance from Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard's daughter) and beautiful, artistically serious direction from first-time filmmaker Jodie… More
  "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," written by Tennessee Williams, has some extraordinary elements, including a magnetic and rich performance from Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard's daughter) and beautiful, artistically serious direction from first-time filmmaker Jodie Markell. But devastatingly bad editing weakens it tremendously. I continue to marvel at the atrocious editors our film schools keep turning out. It's always painful to watch a film get weakened by bad editing, but I've never felt it quite so grievously as while watching "Teardrop Diamond." For a work of this caliber to be assigned a hack editor is a crime. Ms. Howard, an enormously talented actress who has not yet turned 30, plays a wayward heiress in the deep South just before the Depression hits. Despite being from one of the wealthiest families in the state, the young woman is fragile and easily wounded by the scorn of high-society women, most of whom are depicted as merciless sharks eager to feast on the weak. Williams' screenplay, which had languished undiscovered among his papers for decades, brilliantly captures the bloodthirstiness of conservative matrons and their piranha-like handmaidens. Williams, always drawn to beaten-down rebels and outcasts, presents this woman's downfall in a heartbreaking way. Ms. Markell and Ms. Howard both have a wonderful understanding of the sorrow and defiance at the heart of a Williams protagonist. If their work had been handed off to a top-notch editor, I bet "Teardrop" would be vying for the Best Picture Oscar now. The sadness of this lost opportunity would itself make for a great Williams play. Despite its weaknesses, "Teardrop" is recommended to anyone who loves art. Try to imagine the film in tighter, crisper form, and you just might see the heavens open up. (Also try to imagine a male co-star more talented than the beautiful but pedestrian Chris Evans. Maybe Ryan Gosling?)

• Walter M

  
  In "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," Fisher(Bryce Dallas Howard) might on the surface seem to have everything she could ever want in Memphis in 1923. However, she is lacking much respect, ever since her father dynamited a levy, saving his own farm but dooming many others.… More
  In "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," Fisher(Bryce Dallas Howard) might on the surface seem to have everything she could ever want in Memphis in 1923. However, she is lacking much respect, ever since her father dynamited a levy, saving his own farm but dooming many others. So, she hits the debutante circuit, asking Jimmy(Chris Evans) to escort her. Since he has a grandfather who was a governor, he has status, even though he is quite poor and runs the commissary for her family and has his hands full also taking care of his alcoholic father(Will Patton). With everything else going on in his life, he manages to find the time and agrees to her request. While Fisher helps him look the part, she borrows a priceless pair of earrings. Admittedly, "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond" does have a couple of things going for it such as a good cast and a fabulous look which helps in its detached view of the upper rungs of the society of this time and place. What it does not have is a compelling story beyond its one act structure, adapted from a screenplay by Tennessee Williams, and is further undone by flat and uninspiring direction. And it is not that Fisher is not likable; it's just that she is not interesting enough to really deserve anybody's hatred. With the exception of Jimmy, the other characters come and go as they please without any impact in this world where life is one long party and nothing else matters.

• Mark K

  
  Unfortunately for anyone that likes Tennessee Williams for stage or screen, this adaptation of a 'lost screenplay' isn't quite up to the power of things like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or Streetcar Named Desire. The screenplay itself makes it hard to engage with what's… More
  Unfortunately for anyone that likes Tennessee Williams for stage or screen, this adaptation of a 'lost screenplay' isn't quite up to the power of things like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or Streetcar Named Desire. The screenplay itself makes it hard to engage with what's going on, as it shifts focus between real vs. drugged unreality. This might work as a stage play, but it's hard to follow on screen. It flattens out the performances of Bryce Dallas-Howard as Willow, an heiress with the wrong love interest. Director Jodie Markell gets a lot of mileage out of Dallas-Howard, who shows a lot of acting props in this otherwise muted film. It's really the film that lacks pacing and passion, and has some strange and unnecessary scenes that seem tacked on. It's a little like watching a stage play for the dialogue, which is Williams trademark stuff. The atmosphere of the 1920's south is appropriate: Stifling, antiquated mores, and almost blues-club in its presentation. This has the unfortunate effect of slowing the film down somewhat, but there's time to admire the technical work of sets and costumes while you watch. In that, this film is right up there with the great period pieces like Gatsby. As the film meanders down unfamiliar paths, the underlying story is pretty familiar to anyone with knowledge of Williams' work. The ending, and the social commentary it represents will leave you uneasy and unsatisfied, but I think that's just that this particular Williams story isn't his best. The attempts to make it relevant to a modern audience really don't work. It would have been better to have kept it in a period style, as some of it seems like the characters are reacting to a totally un-Williams South. You sort of guess what's going to happen, and then you just have to watch it to the end. Not terrible, but there are lots better examples of Williams' plays as screenplays. This is one screenplay that needed a lot of work, or maybe it was better left on the shelf?

• Christopher H

  
  <http://proofinpicture.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/the-loss-of-a-teardrop-diamond/> Nothing makes me happier than the producing of works from great writers, even after their posthumous. Though The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond does not even begin to compare to classics like A… More
  <http://proofinpicture.wordpress.com/2010/10/17/the-loss-of-a-teardrop-diamond/> Nothing makes me happier than the producing of works from great writers, even after their posthumous. Though The Loss Of A Teardrop Diamond does not even begin to compare to classics like A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1955) , the modern display of such an unsung classic really catches the eye and demands at least some respect.

• Movee C

  
  The Loss of the Teardrop Diamond is a peculiar yet alluring movie about the stubborn and rebellious daughter of a southern plantation owner who refuses to conform to the rules of upper southern society. Typical classic Tennesse Williams.

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