Remembering Shelley Duvall
3 WOMEN (1976)
Friday, September 20 | 7 pm
Director: ROBERT ALTMAN
Runtime: 124 min
VTIFF remembers the fabulous Shelley Duvall with one of her peak performances as the fast-talking self-absorbed Millie from Robert Altman’s 3 Women.
Though perhaps best-known for her fabulous (and woefully misunderstood) performance as Wendy Torrance in 1981’s The Shining, Duvall had a long and varied career. Still, it’s hard to deny that Duvall’s spirited take on eccentric characters was a perfect fit both Altman and the 1970s, and she made six films with Altman, concluding with her hilarious Olive Oyl in Popeye (1980).
For our money, though, 3 Women is where it’s at. This is prime Duvall, unique and mega-chatty, in a role that she basically wrote and created herself. Her Millie is a force of nature, a non-stop tsunami of language, confident and utterly clueless. Her forceful personality tends to drive other people in the opposite direction, but she hypnotizes the meek and submissive Pinky (Sissy Spacek, also fabulous), and their relationship provides the basis for the film.
The film earned Duvall awards as Best Actress from the Cannes Film Festival and the L.A. Film Critics Association. Interestingly enough, Spacek won Best Actress from the N.Y. Film Critics. 3 Women was based on a dream Altman had – back when filmmakers could do that with studio backing – and clearly works as a ‘70s California update to Ingmar Bergman’s Persona.
Duvall made many other films, and was the creator/producer of the great ‘80s cable-TV show Faerie Tale Theatre. She was an original and she will be missed, but we’ll have movies like 3 Women forever.