Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39208 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-05-14
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 127 minutes

From The New Yorker
Merchant and Ivory once again visit a period laden with nostalgia. In this adaptation of Kaylie Jones's autobiographical novel of growing up as the daughter of the novelist James Jones in Paris and Long Island in the nineteen-seventies, a much maligned era has some of its dignity restored. The story is told through the eyes of our narrator as a child, and later, after she's become a transatlantic teen-ager (precociously acted by the fourteen-year-old Leelee Sobieski). By then, her childhood relationships-the nanny who won't leave the family to start her own, the gay school friend who falls in love with her-have been abandoned by the film, just as they were by the family. What makes the movie memorable is the over-all excellence of the performers; the adults-Barbara Hershey, who plays a loving alcoholic mother, and Kris Kristofferson, whose wizened machismo hits the war novelist square in the eye-don't outshine the kids. -Jay Fielden
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Absorbing story, great characters, much family love!
Based on the autobiographical novel written by Kaylie Jones, daughter of James Jones who wrote "From Here to Eternity" and "The Thin Red Line", this is a unique family story. Kris Kristofferson is cast as the successful writer and Barbara Hershey as his wife. When the film opens they are living in Paris, and adopt a young French boy who is just a bit younger than their daughter Channe, then 7. Her parents drink a lot and live a rather flamboyant lifestyle but there is no doubt they love their children. As Channe matures, we share her ups and downs of growing up as an American in Paris. Leelee Sobieski, then only 14 years old, plays the role of Channe in her teenaged years. She develops a friendship with a boy her age named Francis Fortescue played by Anthony Roth Constanzo, whose colorful personality seem to indicate he will eventually turn out gay. When her father's heart trouble surfaces the family returns to the United States. It's culture shock for Channe and her brother, another interesting chapter in their lives.

Produced by Ismail Merchant and directed by James Ivory, the entire production is outstanding. The settings come alive as we experience Paris in the 1960s and America in the early 1970s. And the camera doesn't miss a chance to zero in on the emotional ties between the people, including a housekeeper who turns down a marriage offer in order to stay with the family. Perhaps the strongest scenes, however, exist between the father and the daughter as they discuss love and life. Every actor does such a good job that I forgot they were acting and became totally absorbed in the video which avoids the trap of being too melodramatic or maudlin. It's just a wonderful absorbing story with interesting characters and lots of family love. Recommended.

A acting miracle by the young Leelee Sobieski!!!
I saw this film in a small art house and didn't know what to expect. The movie is long, but it's one of those films that you sit through and can't realize the time and don't care. The young Leelee Sobieski character (Chane) was a smartly written role that only she could pull off. The film starts out with american ex-patriots who spend there time in France while writer Kris Kristofferson and family spend time as discontented americans partying and finding culture in there life. The relationship of the entire family is a telling portrait of people looking for something to cling to and realizing that they have each other. They grow; and we grow with them through the looking glass of the dark theather that takes us away and we want to stay!!!

Daddy's Girl
Ever like a movie, but have a hard time pinning down exactly why? That's how I feel about A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries. It isn't a great movie, but I ended up watching it every time it came on cable and I enjoy the hell out of it, but I'm not sure why.

I think it has to do with the charm of Leelee Sobieski, who I had never seen before. She is a lovely young woman, and she does a very good job here. Also, I loved the work of James Jones, the writer (From Here to Eternity; The Thin Red Line etc), and I found this glimpse of his life and family interesting. The adopted French boy, his flamboyant wife, an expatriate's life in Paris of the 60's, their attitudes and dynamics. It isn't BIG drama, but it rang true and I bought into it. And, finally their adjustment to American life after returning from France. The entire cast was fine, and the diverse anecdotes (the treehouse, her gay friend, the adopted boy, the French maid etc.) interesting.

Mostly, I think it was Leelee Sobieski and the interplay between her and Kris Kristofferson. Rarely do the movies show the great love that can exist by daughters for their fathers (To Kill a Mockingbird being the most notable). Well, this movie shows this most touchingly. Obviously, James Jones' daughter loved her father, and although the other relationships in the film are interesting and well done, this is the heart of the movie.