229 - Fedora

Eavesdropping at the Movies · May 15, 2020 · 50m

Stardom, beauty, the machinery of Hollywood, madness, age - 1978's Fedora sees Billy Wilder occupying much of the same thematic territory of his 1950 classic, Sunset Boulevard. William Holden's has-been film producer attends the funeral of Fedora, a reclusive former film star, and thinks back on the recent trip he took to Corfu, attempting to track her down and coax her out of retirement. What unravels is a mystery, a conspiracy, a twisted mother-daughter relationship, and another in Mubi's strand of "perfect failures". Wilder's struggle to finance Fedora is apparent, José suggesting that in…