Make It A Double! (formerly Box Office Alternatives) — A column that looks at what’s new in theaters and considers interesting pairings with existing films, based on thematic commonalities.
The first of this year’s horror offerings has arrived with the release of The Bye Bye Man. As expected, the film is neither the innovative fright ride its trailers make it out to be, nor the dire travesty it’s delayed release and PG-13 rating would make most think. If anything, the film does feature a surprising rare big-screen appearance by Faye Dunaway, taking on the role of the wise older person with the key to everything.
Watching Dunaway on the big screen again made me realize just how much the movies miss performers like her who give every project a certain kind of force and intensity, whether the film deserves it or not. Her turn in The Bye Bye Man, along with the fact that the legend recently celebrated her 76th birthday, has allowed me to revisit one of Dunaway’s most compelling, yet eternally underrated films, the harrowing drama Puzzle of a Downfall Child.
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg, the 1970 drama opens on Lou Andreas Sand (Dunaway); a once- top model whose career now seems to be at its end. Shut away in her secluded beach house with longtime friend, photographer Aaron Reinhardt (Barry Primus), Lou recalls her past life, which includes a troubling childhood incident, her rise to fame and prominence, and what it was that made everything come apart.
Puzzle of a Downfall Child takes a probing look into the modeling world before the idea of a supermodel was a reality. The film presents a stark and upfront view, not at the bitchiness of the catwalk, but at what existing in such a world can do to the psyche of a troubled individual. The audience sees how Lou’s drive, steadfast and unwavering, almost has as much to do with her undoing than the fact that she will eventually age out of her profession. Watching the character’s fragility (stemming from a low self-esteem and questionable self-worth) show itself the more she delves into her work as a way to understand it, and then later disguise it, is never anything short of fascinating. The more successful Lou becomes, the more she thinks she’s pushing all the darkness from her past away until the realization comes that one is actually feeding the other. Moments such as Lou telling herself that she knows she isn’t perfect in her mind as a photographer proclaims: “You’re perfection,” as she takes her photograph, make the film a slightly provocative study of that world and its participants.
In many ways, Puzzle of a Downfall Child was a great early indicator of what the upcoming decade would be like in terms of cinema. The film is a character piece with no real plot to speak of and a flow that moves at an unpredictable pace. Moreover, the way the film is cut is especially innovative with certain scenes and lines placed in between presents ones. The method makes for a decidedly non-linear experience, but the seeming choppiness makes Puzzle of a Downfall Child feel so quietly alive and exciting. Other techniques, such as presenting Lou’s revelations and fears interspersed with photo shoots, are fantastic in showing how consuming her world is. Meanwhile, the framing device here is put to great use as we see Lou recall her memories, which are scattered between early success and childhood memories in the frenetic way most of us remember the past.
The film was also unconventional in terms of its screenplay which tackled novel themes such as the idea of a platonic friendship between a straight man and a straight woman. “We both put up with a lot,” Aaron tells Lou at one point. “That’s what makes a friendship.” Speaking of the screenplay, the script for Puzzle of a Downfall Child gives Lou plenty of mesmerizing dialogue which ranges from clever (“All the men nowadays are growing their hair long. It’s fabulous, but, you all look like Jesus,” Lou tells a male model. “So how will we know him when he arrives?”) to soulful (“Yes, many were in love with me,” Lou says referring to the many men she’s known throughout her life. “But I was not in love with that many.”)
Puzzle of a Downfall Child represents the best of Dunaway’s early work as a screen actress. In fact it’s safe to say that this is where the future legend truly came into her own on film. The more stunning as she makes Lou appear, the more powerful Dunaway’s performance is. The way she balances the moments Lou is navigating the glamorous world of her field is juxtaposed perfectly with the rawness of the framing device scenes in which the slightly disheveled former model is at her most vulnerable. Without question, Lou is the kind of character most actresses dream of playing and the actress knows it, giving one of the most committed performances of her career.
It may not have come as much of a surprise that the film was not a huge success upon release. Despite a subject matter that was far from audience friendly, many people simply couldn’t find it in them to feel sorry for a model, especially one who looks like Faye Dunaway. The film did enjoy a small amount of awards recognition when Dunaway’s performance was nominated for a Golden Globe, although truth be told, some felt the actress really deserved to take home the Oscar that year for her incredible work. Unfortunately, the film was all but forgotten almost immediately afterwards and even to this day remains unavailable on home video in America.
Apart from the performance of its leading lady, the reason Puzzle of a Downfall Child works as well as it does is because the subject matter, and all its content, is approached through the angle of psychology, not melodrama. The difference makes the film come off as true and real, instead of over-the-top and soap-operatic. In many ways, the film could be called a still-undiscovered masterpiece. At least that’s certainly what many felt at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival when the newly-restored Puzzle of a Downfall Child was presented at a special screening with both Schatzberg and Dunaway in attendance. While it features a glamorous model at its center of its beautiful shots and cinematography, Puzzle of a Downfall Child is above all, a portrait of a complex soul that’s never anything but honest from start to finish.
