The film is long (160 minutes) and strange: adapted from a book by Karen Blixen (“The African Farm”), it swings between classic biopic and scripted fiction. Dominated by the presence of Meryl Streep, it also welcomes actors of the caliber of Klaus Maria Brandauer and Michael Gough, under the direction of Sydney Pollack. But Pollack was a man who liked to surround himself with friends. Thus, he shot several films with Redford – “Forbidden Property”, “Jeremiah Johnson”, “Our most beautiful years”, “The Three Days of the Condor”, “The Electric Rider”, “Havana” -, and an obvious complicity united the two men. Hence my question: why does Redford seem reluctant, even vaguely absent, in “Out of Africa”?
“I am a backwards star”
Considering the quality of the direction of actors of Pollack, this melancholy was wanted, obviously. It’s as if Redford – at least his character, the adventurer Denys Finch Hatton – longs to be somewhere else. Curious feeling, which gives a half-bitter tint to this story which could have turned into the saga of a pink photo novel. Redford himself, to whom I asked the question, replied: “I’m a backwards star. » Thus, instead of being a sentimental saga, the film is a quest for a lost country (and time), and that’s what makes it so charming… Big success in 1986 (especially thanks to the female audience) , the film follows the adventures of Baroness Blixen in Africa, between a bad marriage and an attempt to plant coffee trees, while in Europe, the 14-18 war is raging.
A personal memory: in 1986, trying to find out what had been the critical reception in France of Blixen’s book, published in France in 1942, I came across the only article welcoming its publication in Paris (the Germans favored publishing books from the North, including Denmark). The article was signed by Georges Blond, in “I’m everywhere”. The book was excellent. The newspaper was abject.
Sunday January 8 at 8:50 p.m. on TCM Cinéma. American drama by Sydney Pollack. With Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer (1986). 2h40. (Multicast and On Demand).
