Before and After
Barbet Schroeder
An ordinary couple in Massachusetts sees their son suspected of murder. The father, for the sake of the family, leads them into a lie which will devour them from the inside while the whole, upturned town the finger of blame at them.
With : Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Edward Furlong, Julia Weldon, Alfred Molina
Screenplay : Ted Tally
Image : Luciano Tovoli
Editing : Lee Percy
Music : Howard Shore
Decors : Stuart Wurtzel
Costumes : Ann Roth
Screenplay : Ted Tally
Image : Luciano Tovoli
Editing : Lee Percy
Music : Howard Shore
Decors : Stuart Wurtzel
Costumes : Ann Roth
Production : Susan Hoffman, Barbet Schroeder
Barbet Schroeder got an American studio to buy the rights of the book Before and After. The beginnings of the film were difficult on account of the whims and hesitations of the studio that wanted, for example, to have Mel Gibson play the father. Although the plot is a trivial event, the film raises questions on the possible attitudes of a family faced with the guilt of their son, on the struggle between the individual and the group, instinct and the law. Protecting the son becomes a strategy which flouts all laws. We once again see the same interest that Barbet Schroeder showed the von Bulow trial. More than the murder in itself, "the film is the autopsy of a defence, of the way it works and its consequences. Both moral and social consequences" (Cédric Anger).