Philadelphia (1993)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.6/10   

Réalisateur:

Jonathan Demme

Scénariste (WGA):

Ron Nyswaner (written by)

Release Date:

23 décembre 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drame

Accroche:

No one would take on his case... until one man was willing to take on the system.

Plot:

When a man with AIDS is fired by a conservative law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.

Plot Keywords:

AIDS | Lawyer | Homophobia | Pennsylvania | City Name In Title

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 12 nominations

Avis des utilisateurs:

Philadelphia is about life, and making it matter.

Ensemble

Tom Hanks	...	Andrew Beckett
Denzel Washington	...	Joe Miller
Roberta Maxwell	...	Judge Tate
Buzz Kilman	...	Crutches
Karen Finley	...	Dr. Gillman
Daniel Chapman	...	Clinic Storyteller
Mark Sorensen Jr.	...	Clinic Patient
Jeffrey Williamson	...	Tyrone
Charles Glenn	...	Kenneth Killcoyne
Ron Vawter	...	Bob Seidman
Anna Deavere Smith	...	Anthea Burton
Stephanie Roth Haberle	...	Rachel Smilow (as Stephanie Roth)
Lisa Talerico	...	Shelby
Joanne Woodward	...	Sarah Beckett
Jason Robards	...	Charles Wheeler

Autre(s) titre(s):

At Risk (USA) (working title)
People Like Us (USA) (working title)
Philadelphia (France) [fr]
Philadelphie (Canada: French title) [fr]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some graphic language and thematic material.

Durée:

125 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Son:

SDDS | Dolby

Classification:

Iceland:L | Portugal:M/12 | Mexico:C | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Netherlands:AL | Norway:10 | Peru:14 | Singapore:NC-16 (re-rating) | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Canada:PG

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

City Hall - Broad and 15th Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

Clinica Estetico

Anecdotes:

Originally, director Jonathan Demme was going to cast a comedic actor in role of Joe Miller as he felt it would be a good counter balance for Tom Hanks who had already been cast and to give an audience the "it's OK" to watch a film about a gay man dying of AIDS. Demme had considered casting either Bill Murray or Robin Williams but when Denzel Washington showed interest in the part, he gave the role to him instead because Demme had wanted to work with Washington for the past few years.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The home video of older home movies at the end has sounds of the children playing baseball, at the beach, etc. Home movie cameras of that era didn't have sound. Sound cameras came out very shortly before camcorders became readily available.

Guillemet:

Judge Garrett: In this courtroom, Mr.Miller, justice is blind to matters of race, creed, color, religion, and sexual orientation.
Joe Miller: With all due respect, your honor, we don't live in this courtroom, do we?

Movie Connections:

Featured in 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Agnus Dei

Philadelphia is about life, and making it matter.

Philadelphia is a guttingly emotional and tragic story of how a lawyer fired for having AIDS attempts to vindicate himself in court. Tom Hanks gives perhaps the most powerful performance of his career as Andrew Beckett, the afflicted lawyer. He received the Academy Award in a waltz, and you could almost pick any of his major scenes as worthy of the award.

This movie is probably the best drama regarding gay issues ever made. Remember, it was made in 1993, when AIDS was still a terminal disease, and it recalls the early days of an epidemic that may not square with the vision afforded today, but at the time, this was the reality of AIDS.

The entire crew is A-List. Tak Fujimoto, who would also film Silence of the Lambs and Sixth Sense, directed cinematography. Jonathan Demme, also of Silence of the Lambs fame, directs with typical honesty and grit. Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young contributed hauntingly touching original songs. Even Antonio Banderas, whom I never miss an opportunity to vilify, is moving as Hanks' devoted and supportive partner. Denzel Washington was well cast as the homophobic lawyer who ultimately takes Hanks' case, and Mary Steenburgen is surprising in an uncharacteristic villain role.

Ron Vawter, who played one of the lawyers in the firm from which Hanks was fired, and also appeared in Silence of the Lambs, was himself suffering from AIDS at the time of filming, and he eventually succumbed to it a few years later. His appearance in the film encapsulates the reality of the AIDS epidemic, in that it often touched our lives in unexpected places.

Although I have literally thousands of movies in my collection, I don't own this one. Not because I don't love it. I do. It's because I can't watch it without being overcome by emotion. Anyone who can watch Hanks' in the Opera scene, or hear Springsteen's or Young's eerie and melancholy ballads and not weep is dead inside. But in the end, Philadelphia is about life, and making it matter.