Horror Actressing: Jessica Lange in "Cape Fear"
Monday, April 20, 2020 at 3:30PM by Jason Adams
It was said that the director Ken Russell helped the actor Oliver Reed modulate his performances with a scale ranging from "Moody One" to "Moody Two." And while I am in no way insinuating that the actress Jessica Lange has in any way that sort of limited range -- step off, Lange-anistas, I love her too! -- it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to gauge her work on a sliding scale of how much hand fluttering each role involves. And using that system Cape Fear comes out, blissfully, near the top.
Normally if I was feeling inclined to talk about the terrific actressing going on in Martin Scorsese's hot-brained 1991 remake I'd make a bee-line straight for the (rightfully) Oscar-nominated Juliette Lewis, who's the best in show over every single one of her far older and more experienced co-stars...
Max Cady is one of my favorites from De Niro's cast of big career characters but even he seems humbled in Lewis' presence in their showstopping school auditorium scene. Or I might want to talk up Illeana Douglas' devastating work as Nick Nolte's victimized co-worker -- the choices she makes in the scene where Cady attacks her, her drunken, manically delirious laughter bleeding into absolute terror, makes for one of the most disturbing scenes of violence ever put on screen.
But there astride all of this great stuff sits a performance that I personally see as deeply under-valued and under-appreciated -- Jessica Lange's high-strung and left-out-to-dry wife Leigh, whose husband Sam (Nolte) no longer sees her. How one stops seeing Jessica Lange admittedly requires its own leap of faith, but it informs Nolte's character's doltishness well enough -- it's like the old adage about how you can tell the difference between New Yorkers and tourists is that tourists are looking up at the skyscrapers while New Yorkers are looking down for the dogshit; Sam's so busy covering up his footsteps he forgets he's got the Chrysler Building sharing his bed.
Maybe it's just that I miss being able to touch my own face but today my favorite scene of Lange's comes in the very first third of the film, after Max Cady commits the cardinal movie sin of murdering the family dog, and it brings me back to what I was saying about Lange's penchant for acting with her hands -- it's a hell of a hand-waver. Scorsese tasks her with describing the poor pet's poisoning in a single take as the camera closes in on her, and she paints such a vivid portrait of the animal's life slipping away that it's actually hard to watch.
[ANCIENT SPOILER ALERT] Indeed note how she keeps looking to her right the entire time she tells the story -- Lange knows that this is the terrible sort of reverie that nobody wants to, or can, stare straight on at. And the way she flatly drops the story's climax at the peak of Leigh's wobbly hysteria -- "And then he died... he just died." -- actually flashes forward to the film's own ending where, after a bashed-about houseboat battle royale Cady just sinks into the turbulence; he dies, he just dies, and while staring straight at us too. [/SPOILER]
Cape Fear is, in this way, its own treatise on the storytelling of terrible things. Who can stare the bad stuff down; who can watch and hold the eyes of death itself, of innocence petering out. And who also among us flinches. Max Cady sure does, after all, love him his mirrored sunglasses. Illeana Douglas's character bears the scar of her trauma right across her face and yet knows no one will listen to her story of it -- no one believes the worst until it steps into their own houses. Looking into life's monsters can and will forever change us -- all you need are eyes to see, and perhaps hands to wave, wave, wave the tears and the memories down your cheek, leaving smears like tattoos, mascara, muck.
Reader Comments (23)
This is probably one of her most mannered neck stroking touching lips wet eyed performances and I love it,the scene about her dog is overwrought but she makes you believe the loss she feels but by the end she's joined De Niro on the mountain of overacting and again I love it.
This film does belong to Lewis though,captivating and is aces with that worn out trope teen with troubled parents.
Also Jason she has never been more beautiful,Lead or Supporting though,it's borderline.
Glad you chose the dog scene,it's her most acted scene and she manages to ace it.
This one always comes up when one talks about lesser Scorsese but I find it to be a thrilling movie where everything is turned up to eleven. My fave scene in the movie also involves Lange, her dream (?) scene with the fireworks, haunting and hypnotic.
jason, love the article! i'm usually the Jessica guy here at TFE, so it's wonderful to read your take.
i've played drinking games during episodes of American Horror Story where you have to drink every time Jessica touches her neck. you'll be practically blacked out by the end every time.
agreed the movie belongs to Juliette Lewis. but Jess gets more out of this role than probably anybody else could. she also sets up in early scenes that the dog is "hers"...and that the dog is currently her favorite person in the family.
Lange is so marvelous here. Oddly enough, I think I'm more fond of what she and Nolte are doing here than De Niro and Lewis.
Also, @markgordonuk, for what it's worth, she was officially campaigned by Universal in Lead.
I think she is legitimately bad in this film...
Count me among the devoted Jessica fanboys! Lovely writing as always, Jason. Dayum, she's great in this, and doesn't get enough credit for the emotional balance she brings to this crazy movie. The scene you focus on shows her skill as a master of subtext--there's a depth of meaning here that simply few actors could pull off. After reading this article, now I want to revisit Cape Fear. It's a hard movie for me to watch because I really think DeNiro is terrible in this. He's just too damn much. He becomes a bad joke.
I am loving all these articles on La Lange--more please!
The movie is not as terrifying as the original and Lewis is the one that gives the best performance. DeNiro is just out of control
Jaragon--his accent, or whatever it is, drives me nuts LOL
Andrew cheers,shame she didn't make the line up over Midler or moreso Dern.
She was great in that. I enjoyed the hell out of that film.
It's crazy to me that whenever somone says a Jessica Lange performance is underrated I nearly always say "totally!" even though I dont love her as an actor. In short: most of her "underrated" work is, I think, her best work. She's very good in this... but yeah it's th Juliette Lewis show with a side of crazed DeNiro.
Her hands go full throttle in her plea to Cady towards the end, to just do whatever it is he has to do to her and her only. I used to absolutely love her performance as Blanche in the TV movie of A Streetcar Named Desire. I loved her hand-acting in that and it fit Blanche so well. All the anxiety and sexual energy expressed in the hands! I like her in this. She makes me believe in the disfunction.
But if we're talking actresses in Cape Fear, Lange belongs third in line.
Second if, of course, Illeana Douglas. I remember thinking: I've never seen any actresses act like her. She was so different. So free. She Viola Davis'ed her way into the bar scene with De Niro. She played drunk amazingly well and conveyed a whole story arc in only three scenes. Her presence is felt throughout the narrative and that is to her talent to come alive and make her scenes pop. I used to watch everything she was in looking for that magic again (Grace of my Heart and Search and Destroy and To Die For and Ghost World - these two award worthy - showcased her magic again).
And then there's Lewis. I also remember thinking: I've never seen any actresses like her either! And her 90's run made for an exciting time to be her fan. But it was more than being a fan. It was understanding teenage angst, that feeling of not belonging, of being different - like she was as a person and an actress. As a teenager myself, I felt represented in the world. I knew there were others out there who had a similar personality. She made me feel as part of humanity when little misanthrope me was struggling with that.
In Cape Fear, she conveys so much in every gesture, every glance, every smile. She's mysterious and transparent at the same time. There's a maturity and a strength waiting to come out - she just needed time! I almost felt like she could beat Cady in a wrestling match. And she does outwit him at the end - had he not been superhuman, she would've saved her entire family! I still haven't seen anyone like her.
BTW today is Jessica's birthday. All the best to the best.
We should give a retroactive Oscar to Juliette Lewis for her "Can’t you save us Britney Spears" post on Instagram.
One of the most unnecessary remakes ever, and Martin Scorsese directs on auto-pilot. Only one moment sticks with me. I think it's hilarious when DeNiro turns and says he's "getting in touch with his feminine side". Otherwise he's just no competition for Robert Mitchum, whose blood-chilling performance in the original should be the subject of an "Almost There". And he does it so effortlessly.
She gives a surprisingly complex study of a still vitally attractive woman in her mid-forties grappling with familial resentment, estrangement and ultimately survival.
It’s one of several of Lange’s Oscar worthy performances. Scorsese and Schoonmaker film and edit Lange’s work here like they are both in love. Schoonmaker admitted in an interview that both she and Scorsese found Lange to be “a perfect combination of intellectual and emotional”. Watching the film, their shared sentiment shines through.
Lange’s bored, betrayed and beleaguered part-time housewife, part-time graphic designer is as perplexing as she is compelling. She is both repressed and enraged, fearful yet lustful. Many credit the success of the movie to the undeniable chemistry between DeNiro and Lewis - both excellent - but Lange and Nolte are equally brilliant, providing a living, well-worn portrait of a family unraveling.
Lange, in particular, becomes the quiet emotional core of the film. As a middle-age woman bearing the weight of marital infidelity and a dwindling, ever elusive relevancy, we come to see, feel and understand the horror through her fragility and eventual resilience.
I will note, however, that your “review” has a touch of bitterness which leads me to assume you are a fan of my second favorite actress, Meryl Streep ( or perhaps of just Nicole Kidman)...
Meryl also uses her hands with aplomb. As I wrote in the Lange vs. Streep post:
his can be said of Streep, too, who seems perpetually stuck in creating accents and, with the help of her longtime collaborator, wigs and teeth, rather than flesh and bone, lived-in characters. Streep, too, has her well organized toolkit of mannerisms ranging from scratching at her nose to imply mischief or embarrassment; to scratching at her ear to indicate confusion and irritation; to darting her eyes left to right or visa versa to imply the depth of subtexts undisclosed; to covering her top teeth with her tongue to imply that she’s withholding something; to brushing her fingers under her neck for more subtext. Streep’s shuffling and scratching is duly noted, dear. And these mannerisms can be found in ALL of her characters. Still, I consider Streep one of the greatest and I love her for the ENTIRETY of her craft just as I do Lange for hers.
Cute if belying review.
PK -- I know people are always pitting them against one another but I don't know that I really have a preference when it comes to Lange versus Streep. I like them both, and think they are very different actresses with very different strengths.
Jason, sorry if I was a bit pointed in my reply but honestly, this was a pretty shitty way to show admiration for a “deeply under-valued and under-appreciated” performance. It seems like a backhanded compliment to me. Something tells me that was your intent, especially after reading, “step off, Lange-anistas, I love her too!“. And on her birthday, too. The levels... my patience...
Lmao. Seriously.
You claim to love her and yet you choose her birthday to publish a blog post that derides her work. It would be annoying if it wasn’t so obvious.
I suppose she should’ve sucked on a thumb to be considered “best in show.”
Your irreverence for her work may be palpable, but your fangirls envy is delicious.
-PK
Interestingly, Lange filmed Cape Fear right after Blue Sky, so this wave of her "hysteria" acting that she carried through the 90s and renewed in American Horror Story may have been brought out by Tony Richardson before Martin Scorsese. Like so many actresses, I suspect that she took the part to work with Scorsese and De Niro, but the part doesn't give her a whole lot to do, although she does the best she can with it.
lange is aces in the film, that disappointed southern belle anxiety works so well and I remember been mesmirized.
Admittedly she is in the same film as Douglas who is heartbreaking, you know she is never getting over that..... like ever ....I mean why would you but she confirms it in the performance... the damage is deep as it eradicated her hope and joy which she painted so well in her previous scenes.
As for Lewis, she is incredible... its an otherworldly performance perfect for a burgeoning adult..her interpretation of the role is unique and I think one of those rare performances no one else could have delivered in such a striking manner. BRAVO ladies
DeNiro does go big but not distractingly big and Nolte I love his entitled how is this happening to me performance but its all bow down to the ladies : )
Gizmo:
I agree about Douglas! All of the ladies in the film were sublime.
One more note on Lange: I think she provides the film its rawest emotional moment when Cady demands that she and her daughter strip naked. She is totally in the moment and it registers in her work. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her cry as deeply on film as she does in the 2-5 second shot of her howling as she attempts to slip off her top.
:chef’s kiss:
Always taught Lange was underrated for that beautiful performance so thanks! Great read...