One from the Heart, 1982.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Staring Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Nastassja Kinski, Lainie Kazan, Allen Garfield and Harry Dean Stanton.
SYNOPSIS:
In Las Vegas, a couple break up on their fifth anniversary and both go on to find whom they believe to be their perfect match.
From the director of The Godfather, The Godfather: Part II, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now comes… er… One from the Heart. Remembered now as the film which declared Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios bankrupt, it remains the complete and utter failure it was when first released in 1982.
God only knows what Coppola was thinking when he wrote the screenplay; his previous four films were examples of the finest films ever put to celluloid and he must have wanted a change from all that success and praise. One from the Heart couldn’t be further removed from the brilliance of what we now know as ‘classic’ Coppola.
The terribly written story tells the tale of a couple going through a breakup and the alternative partners they meet on the journey back to rekindling their love. The dialogue might be acceptable for a Broadway musical, but not a film; but Coppola only cares for the technical details here and his knack of creating characters that spring from the page like Michael Corleone, Harry Caul, or Col. Kurtz is completely ignored in favour for the, admittedly, impressive and lavish sets built entirely on Zoetrope’s sound stages. The film is lit in neon reds, greens, and blues which are supposed to give it a dream-like feel, but instead the result just looks tacky and cheap.
Cheap, however, is the last thing One from the Heart can be accused of being. After the ballooning budgets and production of Apocalypse Now, Coppola apparently wanted to make this film for a modest $2 million, but the film soon ran to a reported $24 million. And that was nearly 30 years ago. In return it took less than $1 million at the box office, resulting in his studio going bankrupt; Watching it you can’t help thinking ‘What a terrible film to go bankrupt on’. Through out the 1980s and on to The Godfather: Part III in 1990, Coppola was making films to pay back the debt he was in. Looking at his filmography since 1982, it begs the question if this film ruined the chances of another truly outstanding film ever being made by the master himself.
The only positive that comes from the film is the soundtrack and the excellent songs written by Tom Waits. But nice songs don’t save a film, Francis. And they didn’t save this one in the slightest.
Rohan Morbey – follow me on Twitter.
Originally published November 7, 2011. Updated April 10, 2018.
