Andrew Sarris

“…. I have never considered it a particular privilege to worship at the shrine of Lillian Hellman .... Jane Fonda has worked hard to interpret Lillian Hellman without merely idolizing her, but it is in the very nature of the self-absorption of Hellman, and the inescapable solitude of writers, that Fonda's performance slips into posing, particularly when she chain-smokes in front of her typewriter and goes into paper-crumpling tantrums when she is dissatisfied with her copy. Her scenes with Robards's Dash are pleasant, but portentously cryptic.... [Fonda's] emotionally and dramatically obligatory scenes must be those with Vanessa Redgrave's Julia, and they are simply not there. Fonda and Redgrave stare at each other intensely enough, but these two extraordinary actress-personalities completely fail to connect or communicate in an interesting manner. We must take their relationship on faith, and my faith, in this instance, is very shaky.”

Andrew Sarris
Village Voice, get date