6. Dune, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1974, Europe
Reason for decline: production cancelled
Avant-garde art creator Alejandro Jodorowsky did music, theater, comic books and films. El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973) are considered as masterpieces of experimental cinema by critics. In the mid-seventies, few years before George Lucas’s Star Wars (1977), Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982), Jodorowsky started an ambitious project, the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s masterpiece, Dune.
The filmmaker gathered a whole bunch of genius and talented people. He cast Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, Mick Jagger and Geraldine Chaplin as part of the Dune’s universe. He did a complex storyboard with comic book legend Jean Giraud aka Mobius. Music and sound effects were composed by underground artists Magma and Pink Floyd.
For some murky reasons, which include a lack of communication between the director and the United-States, Hollywood did not accept to produce Dune, even though the storyboard high quality had been acclaimed in America. Beside, at that time, Hollywood’s perception of science-fiction blockbuster was limited.
Consequently, Jodorowsky’s Dune is seen as the classic science-fiction film that never was and it took ten years before David Lynch took the initiative to adapt his own vision of the book to the big screen.
From 1974 to 2013, Jodorowsky directed only four films. Dune marked an era of decline for the filmmaker, not in terms of loss of creativity potential and critical acclaim, but in terms of disillusion toward the artistic freedom that the Hollywood cinema industry proposes to the talented creators. In 2013, documentary director Frank Pavich tells the drama of Jodorowsky and the project of his life that never was, Dune.
7. Stalker, Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979, Soviet Union
Reason for the decline: political context and bad luck
Seen today as one of the greatest filmmaker’s of all times and recognised by Ingmar Bergman himself as the one who invented a new language, Andrei Tarkovsky did few but memorable masterpieces constantly trying to bring cinematography toward a similar artistic level such as literature.
His career started with an impressive artistic recognition; Ivan’s Childhood (1962), which was expected by the industry to be a simple and standardized war film, it received a multitude of awards and international acclamation which include the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Legendary Soviet film director Sergei Parajanov considered the film as a major influence on his work. After that, hardly surprisingly, Tarkovsky’s artistic career kept growing with remarkable films such as Andrei Rublev (1966), Solaris (1972) and The Mirror (1975), even though the Soviet Union’s political context is intense, it was not easy for art and creativity at that point. In fact, Andrei Rublev was not released domestically and the Soviet Union did not allow The Mirror to be seen at the Cannes Film Festival.
Then, around 1979, with science fiction film ‘’Stalker’’, Tarkovsky came through a lot of difficulties such as: the loss of pellicles including half of the film, several production constraints, potential conspiracy from Tarkovsky’s enemies, health problems, expatriation from the Soviet Union and even death of technical support and actors including Analoty Solonitsyn, Tarkovsky’s more recurrent actor until 1982.
This combination of events was a turning point in the filmmaker’s artistic life, which gave him no choice but to do his last two productions, Nostalghia (1983) and The Sacrifice (1986), respectively in Italy and Sweden.
The Sacrifice won the Grand Prix and was in nomination for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival while Nostalghia won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, the prize for best director and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1983 Cannes film Festival. Even though the director got praises and has Ingmar Bergman’s recurring lead actor Erland Josephson and cinematographer Sven Nykvist for his last film.
Many important reviews see Stalker as the last true masterpiece, the other two films being more like a subtle convergence toward a parody of the filmmaker himself. Besides, The Sacrifice has been compared as similar to Bergman’s works by critics. Therefore, Tarkovsky’s decline has to be seen partially as a lack of creativity.
On the other hand, since 1962, many times the Soviet authorities did prevent the director’s films from winning the Palme d’Or. For that reason and many others, Tarkovsky’s decline has to be seen essentially as a combination of constraints that limited his artistic blossoming.
8. City of Women, Federico Fellini, 1980, Italy
Reason for decline: bad reviews from international critics and end of artistic era
Some filmmakers can be prolific, make several masterpieces and give an important and sustainable potential of creativity to the viewers over the years, then after a while, these filmmakers need to say to the world that creativity and artistic style distinction is no longer there. This is the case of Italian director Federico Fellini with his, not so well known, film City of Women.
Fellini innovated a lot with early productions such as La Strada (1954), Night of Cabiria (1957), La Dolce Vita (1960) and his artistic pinnacle, 8 1/2 (1963). He is one of the few filmmakers who has won four academy awards for best foreign language film, the only other one being Vittorio De Sica, the Italian neorealist legend.
Then, creativity started to be weaker even if late motion pictures like Roma (1972) and Amacord (1973) are seen today as part of the essential works from the Italian master. Fellini’s City of Women (1980), done with long-time collaborator and actor Marcello Mastroianni, certainly marked a negative transition in Fellini’s career and got unanimity from serious critics.
Andrei Tarkovsky took note that the movie was a fiasco; Cannes Festival’s paper said that “Fellini’s last film was a total disaster, and that he himself had ceased to exist, it’s terrible, but it’s true, his film is worthless”. Beside, masses of French critics wrote reviews with titles such as “A Mountain of Tedious Pretention”, “A Tiring Deception”, “A Disaster”, or “Zero for Fellini”.
Federico Fellini made his last movie in 1990 and unfortunately died in 1993. An interesting touch of his distinctive artistic style can be seen in Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty (2013).
9. Heaven’s Gate, Michael Cimino, 1980, United States
Reason for decline: financial failure
In 1978, Michael Cimino directed, co-wrote and co-produced his fourth movie, American war drama masterpiece The Deer Hunter, starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage and John Cazale. The film had several production difficulties and went over schedule and over budget many times, which cost $15 million. Fortunately, the film did well at the box office and reached near 50 million.
The film won five academy Awards which include best picture and best director. With Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) and Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987), The Deer Hunter is widely regarded as the greatest American film ever made about the Vietnam War. At that time, Cimino was at the pinnacle of his career and was given full control for his next movie. Did the film do well at the box office? No.
Heaven’s Gate (1980) went over budget too many times and cost 44 million, while it did approximately 3, 5 million at the box office. The film had been rejected by both the American press and the mainstream audiences. The movie marked decline of Cimino’s career, the end of the United Artists and the end of the new Hollywood era.
Fortunately, after some reconsideration, the film is seen today as one of the greatest injustices in the history of cinema. . Many serious critics consider Heaven’s’Gate as a masterpiece and the film is part of the Criterion collection.
10. One from the Heart, Francis Ford Coppola, 1982, United States
Reason for decline: end of artistic era and financial failure
Francis Ford Coppola is an example of a filmmaker who did prodigious things all throughout the seventies and who never figured out how to repeat it for the next two decades. The seventies are legendary; The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather Part II (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979).
Coppola is one of the few privileged directors who has won two Golden Palms (1974 & 1979) at the Cannes Film Festival. His first feature film from the eighties, One from the Heart (1982), mark the beginning of an era of decline that will last more than ten years. Coppola directed eleven films from 1982 to 1989 and among them, only one, Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), was a financial success. It is interesting to note that 1982 fit with the end of the new Hollywood era.
Fortunately, the director regained popularity in the early nineties with The Godfather Part III (1990), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) and a few others. Even though successful, those films are not recognised by serious critics as great as his seventies masterpieces.
Also, many critics thought that casting amateur actress Sofia Coppola as Michael Corleone’s daughter helped to kill one of the greatest franchises of all times. Therefore, Francis Ford Coppola’s decline starting in the early eighties can be seen both on a financial and artistic level.
Author bio: Jérôme Blanchet is a forest economist consultant and mathematician for engineering firm Groupe DDM (Del Degan, Massé & ass). His graduate studies in industrial organisation give him an interesting point of view about the evolution of cinema industry. His tastes for films and music focus on innovation, experimentation and art creativity. His favourite directors include Andrei Tarkovsky, Robert Bresson & Béla Tarr. Beside cinema, he supports his girlfriend Katleen Rousseau with her dance school ‘’Studio Tempo Swing’’ which can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/temposwing and http://temposwing.com/.