Pretty Persuasion
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Pretty Persuasion | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Marcos Siega |
Produced by | Marcos Siega Matt Weaver Todd Dagres Carl Levin |
Written by | Skander Halim |
Starring | Evan Rachel Wood James Woods Ron Livingston |
Music by | Gilad Benamram |
Cinematography | Ramsey Nickell |
Edited by | Nicholas Erasmus |
Production
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Distributed by | Samuel Goldwyn Films Roadside Attractions |
Release dates
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Running time
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104 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2.5 million |
Box office | $537,126[1] |
Pretty Persuasion is a 2005 American black comedy/satirical film about a 15-year-old schoolgirl who makes an allegation of sexual harassment against her drama teacher. The film's tagline is: "Revenge knows no mercy." It was written by Skander Halim and directed by Marcos Siega. It stars Evan Rachel Wood, James Woods and Ron Livingston and was released in the US on August 12, 2005 in select theaters.
Contents
Plot
Kimberly Joyce (Evan Rachel Wood) is a high school student at Roxbury, a Beverly Hills school for the wealthy. She and her best friend Brittany (Elisabeth Harnois) take Randa (Adi Schnall), a new student who recently immigrated from the Middle East, under their wing. When Kimberly decides to take her revenge on a teacher, Percy Anderson (Ron Livingston), who humiliated Brittany, she draws everyone - including her friends, family, and the media (a reporter played by Jane Krakowski) - into her plot, resulting in unforeseen repercussions. The film makes use of twists and flashbacks to tell its story.
Cast
- Evan Rachel Wood as Kimberly Joyce
- James Woods as Hank Joyce
- Ron Livingston as Percy Anderson
- Elisabeth Harnois as Brittany
- Adi Schnall as Randa
- Stark Sands as Troy
- Jane Krakowski as Emily Klein
- Michael Hitchcock as Headmaster Charles Meyer
- Danny Comden as Roger Nicholl
- Jaime King as Kathy Joyce
- Josh Zuckerman as Josh Horowitz
- James Snyder as Dave
- Cody McMains as Kenny
- Selma Blair as Grace Anderson
- Clyde Kusatsu as Judge Carl Munro
- Robert Joy as Larry Horowitz
- Octavia Spencer as Woman
Themes
The plot primarily focuses on sexual harassment accusations within a school system, as well as the repercussions of one 15-year-old girl's actions. But the film also makes commentary on many other social issues in contemporary American culture as well, many of them being controversial. Some of the topics that are commented on include racism, ignorance, discrimination, gender identity, homosexuality, intolerance, immigration, teenage behavior, suicide, parenting, deceit, and fascination with celebrity status and the entertainment industry.
Production notes
The musical score was composed by Gilad Benamram. The film deliberately does not feature any popular music songs.[2] Similarly, the wardrobe and props do not feature contemporary branding.[2]
Awards
- The film was nominated for the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
- It won the German Independence Award (Audience Award) at the 2005 Oldenburg International Film Festival.
Reception
The film was not received very well by film critics. Roger Ebert called it "daring, and well-acted", but also said that it "exists uneasily somewhere between comedy and satire."[3] Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star called the film a "scathing and hilarious social satire."[4] James Mottram of Channel 4 opined, "Hovering uncomfortably between comedy and satire, Pretty Persuasion never quite gets the balance right."[5] Carlo Cavagna thought it a "dark teen comedy that tries way too hard to be a dark teen comedy."[6] The Seattle Post-Intelligencer accused the film of being an "ugly, cheap attempt at satire",[7] and Slant magazine called it "a pretty unpersuasive lecture".[8]
Critic Armond White has called the film "ingenious."[9]
The film has a "rotten" 32 percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[10]
References
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- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes Review- Pretty Persuasion (22 September 2005)
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- ↑ Carlo Cavagna (Online Film Critics Society), Review for AboutFilm.com.
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External links
- Official website
- Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Pretty Persuasion at IMDb
- Pretty Persuasion at AllMovie
- Pretty Persuasion at Box Office Mojo
- Pretty Persuasion at Rotten Tomatoes
- Trailer
- Emanuel Levy: Review - Pretty Persuasion
- Cincinnati City Beat: Happy Sundance Ending
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Review for Entertainment Weekly
- Pages with broken file links
- 2005 films
- English-language films
- Official website not in Wikidata
- 2000s comedy films
- American black comedy films
- American films
- American LGBT-related films
- American teen comedy films
- Directorial debut films
- Bisexuality-related films
- Films about psychopaths
- Films about suicide
- Films directed by Marcos Siega
- Films set in Los Angeles, California
- Films shot in Los Angeles, California
- American independent films
- Lesbian-related films
- Narcissism in fiction
- Roadside Attractions films
- Works about sexual harassment