Book to Film - LILITH (1964)

Robert Rossen’s final film, based on the novel by J.R. Salamanca, offers a poignant examination of lost love, forbidden desire and the subtle, enduring effects experienced by individuals returning from war. Warren Beatty portrays a troubled veteran who returns to his small hometown where he looks up his now-married ex-girlfriend. He drifts through once-familiar streets feeling disconnected from his old life until he finds employment as an orderly in a mental hospital, where he falls under the spell of a patient played by Jean Seberg.

Seberg’s performance is mesmerizing (and Beatty is suitably entranced) but the supporting cast is also superb, featuring early performances by Gene Hackman, Peter Fonda and Jessica Walter. So much of this unconventional love story is extremely disturbing but is treated with a level of normality. Eugen Schufftan‘s cinematography expertly captures this unsettling world, with ‘shades of white so delicate and elusive that the picture barely seems to brush the screen.’ The rhythm of the editing, the sound design and the prolonged silences often allow us to feel what we would struggle to put into words.

At the time of its release Lilith was neither a popular nor critical success but it is now often referred to as Rossen’s masterpiece; high praise considering earlier films such as Body and Soul (1947), All the King’s Men (1949) and The Hustler (1961). David Thomson, in his critical biography of Warren Beatty, describes Lilith as a film ‘which grows more profound and beautiful with the passing years; it is a lake which resists all efforts to plumb its depths.’ We hope you can join us for this rare screening of an extraordinary film.

Doors/Bar 1.00pm Film 2.00pm

Host or Publisher The Backlot Perth