Twelve and a half years in the making, Phyllis and Harold chronicles the filmmaker's parents’ disastrous 59 year marriage and addresses the effects of secrecy on the family. Told by her mother, Phyllis, a would be Blanche Dubois screen star, her father Harold, a suburban Stanley Kowalski, her sister, Ricky, and herself, a tragically poignant story unfolds and twists and turns in many unexpected directions.
Rainbow Releasing is the distributor for Phyllis and Harold for theatrical and DVD release in Canada and the U.S.
Credits
produced and directed by Cindy Kleine
edited and co-produced by Jonathan Oppenheim
associate producer Susan Lazarus
executive producer Andre Gregory
animation by Lisa Crafts
music by Bruce Odland
85 minutes © 2008
"The film is a masterpiece. It left me with a feeling of sacred horror – of having violated a deep mystery at my own peril." Louis Begley, author
"I was deeply moved by "Phyllis and Harold" - moved to tears actually several times
and greatly impressed by its power, boldness and originality. What an extraordinarily honest, profound and authentic work, brave, courageous, compelling, and so uniquely put together. A fine and devastating film." Henry Jaglom, filmmaker
"Phyllis and Harold" is the most outrageously sensual of documentaries. Its central character, the filmmaker's mother, managed to preserve an opulent, operatic, carnal vision throughout a life of suburban obedience, and the filmmaker reflects this vision with a gorgeously colored, fabulously appealing film. It's terribly sad, and amazingly agreeable. The graceful, painful music of two people who dance together for a lifetime, but barely touch." Wally Shawn, playwright/actor
"...A masterpiece. It is devastating, true, sad, funny, and so moving that it
attracted several of my colleagues who wandered in the screening room and
couldn't leave. It's a new kind of cinematic DNA, ruthlessly honest,
carrying complicated and unsettling messages that won't long leave my brain
and gut." Ken Burns, filmmaker
“What a movie. It is shocking and riveting in about a hundred
ways. This movie is completely original and new in its conception,
graphics, and affect. I loved it." Mike Nichols, film and theater director