I don't know if Ms. Dargis's life has been touched by suicide. Mine has. My mother committed suicide when her depression became unbearable--triggered in no small part by her philandering spouse and collapse of her marriage.
No one viewed it as a sacrifice. We felt anger at her for not fighting harder to hold onto life. We are sad that she had so much pain. We are mad at ourselves for our impotence to change the course of events.
But suicide is not sacrifice. It may occur in defense of others, but there was no defense of anyone by Jack.
I enjoyed this movie, but because of my personal history, it was painful nonetheless.
9
I think it is very sad, and intellectually limiting, that Ms. Dargis feels that she has to frame her analysis in the cliched man as oppressor, woman as victim mode to be taken seriously as criticism or journalism. Is this what we've come to intellectually? Have we consumed so many women's studies courses that all other forms of analysis are invalid?
.
Yes, you can take any story and contrast it to the "real" story where a patriarchal world traps a woman, punishes her for her gender, and offers easy success for some odious male, but does this really constitute original thinking anymore? There is a degree of truth to that analysis, but only a degree, and everyone who is willing to read it has heard it a thousand times already, particularly in the NYT. This is so old and tired. We need a new narrative if women are ever to emerge from the supposed state of victimhood. The cynic in me wants to believe that there is a certain kind of feminist that glories in her victimhood, and will never willingly give it up. I want to think Ms. Dargis is better than that. She writes much better when she escapes the cliches of today's feminism.
16
In ‘A Star Is Born,’ a 'star?' has died.
I recently watched the 1976 Streisand version for the second time (first during its initial release) and realized what a terrible, idiotic movie it is. Any update that relies on the same premise (cue Jon Lovits: "Acting!") is most likely unintentional camp.
2
I did not see anything in this movie that even hinted at the theme of male-sacrifice-kills-Jack. I saw the commercial pop music world distancing and, in Jack’s eyes, corrupting, Ally. I saw Jack giving Ally a hand up, and Ally shrinking from Jack in his decline. I saw the unanswerable quandaries alcoholism presents in a marriage. The currently omnipresent #metoo filter on critical commentary highlights things we might not have seen a few years ago, but it also distorts. I think this review missed Cooper’s point entirely.
17
Spoiler alert. I thought the movie was well done. Lady Gaga was a revelation. She seemed so much more appealing than in her usual clown gear. Too bad that so many people feel they have to appear like that to get noticed at all. But, they do. I agree that the premise was depressing. Women can only succeed when men fail. We'd like to feel that in the fourth version of the story, there was some evolution. Plus, let's not forget how the self-interested manager pushed Bradley Cooper's character over the edge. I am surprised Ms. Dargis didn't bring all this up in her original glowing review, though.
6
You guys missed it. Jack dies because of the realization that not only can he not control the addiction that is slowly killing him, but that he can't keep it from destroying Ally as well.
It's not that her success is some zero sum game. It's that he knows her love for him and his addiction will ultimately drown both of them.
Rather than let that happen, he slips out of the lifeboat like the Jack in Titanic leaving Ally to survive. This is a theme we've seen many times from Hollywood. True love sometimes means letting go.
32
So we are supposed to feel somehow ambivalent about this great film, because it makes us feel sad for a guy, instead of just hating on his masculine maleness, like so many movies today??? Why couldn't he have ended-up being a scumbag, loser, or some sort of deviant??? As for me, I enjoyed seeing a sympathetic portrayal of a man and the struggles men endure, and, yes, their sacrifice. Apparently feeling sorry for a man and sympathizing with masculine guys is outdated. Dargis probably didn't like the old-school rock and roll in the film either, which is alpha male driven in its energy, strength, and bravado. I'm glad Brad Cooper didn't cave in to post-modern attitudes like that of Dargis. He was true to the themes, and spirit, of the story. That's why the film is a hit.
9
You cannot mention Judge Kavanaugh and Harvey Weinstein in the same sentence!
4
A Star is Born ends with a man committing suicide so his wife can have a better life without him.
My wife think that’s the nature of “true love.” (Should I be worried?)
I think it’s ridiculous. It’s akin to a man committing suicide so his wife can collect on his life insurance.
10
I think in the beginning of this article it should say this article contains spoiler of the movie for the courtesy.
7
Probably for gender stereotypical reasons, I found this film reeked of kitsch. Most annoying was the fixation on LG's face, which bumped around in the wide screen rectangle like an animated screen saver.
In contrast, I noticed that women, specifically older women, found the film funny in places and sad. Yes, they were weepy, yes they made that strange "aaawww" sound that women reserve for babies. I found this reaction inexplicable.
I like Bradley Cooper, but it seems to me that critical reception of this film is biased by the fact that he is a nice and sincere guy. I get his attention to flawed and vulnerable males, whether in "American Sniper" or "Silver Linings Playbook" or on stage as Elephant Man.
But seriously. Trying to wrap the merit of this film in identity and gender politics, political movements and the state of play is a reach. And it implies the need to bury its "mythos" mediocrity with a shovelful of commentary.
4
Sounds like heads I win, tails you lose.
4
To me, this was an old-fashioned popcorn movie. To have the Jack character, a suicidal, drug and alcohol addict, decide that he was the "authentic artist" and she wasn't is silly. Maybe she wanted to be the flashy star. Success doesn't mean selling out and drugs and alcohol don't make a person authentic.
Gaga, herself, has tried very successfully to play with identity. She has gone from publicly supporting abused kids, to singing with Tony Bennett to wearing meat dresses.
1
It's his addiction that kills him--not her fame or success. Critic missed the whole point. Both sexes lose to addiction--period!
30
It's a movie. Speak about the quality of the acting, the direction, the editing. The story is not new- it hasn't changed. What was Cooper going to have the male character sober up and the female character resist the allure of tainted, packaged fame? Uh, no. The story was miserable in the first, and is miserable now, but it is fiction that is supposed to evoke emotion. It is one story.
Don't politicize it- that's ridiculous.
13
Perhaps a film critic looks for a deeper meaning in a movie than most of the moviegoing public. Including me. Bradley Cooper's Jackson Maine was well along the path to self destruction when he plucked Ally (Lady Gaga) from obscurity. She is willing to put up more bad behavior than most would but, in the end, she is just a stopgap on his spiral downward. It's just a movie. That's all it is. Expecting it to address larger social issues is ridiculous.
11
It's the FOURTH time this movie was made. 1. Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. 2. Judy Garland and James Mason 3. Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. 4. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.
3
What an elitist review. It was a great movie, great performances. Why make it political?
8
I find wonderful films like A Star is Born as a means to briefly escape from the exhausting, non-stop culture wars and the oh-so-self-righteous culture warriors who ceaselessly fight them. Sure, some movies are made with a specific political intent but A Star is Born is just exceptional story telling and nothing more, nothing less - unless, of course, you're a culture warrior like Ms. Dargis with a perpetual grievance-axe to grind. I enjoyed the world series last night thinking it was just a baseball game but I guess it somehow exposed some egregious racial/gender/religious injustice that I somehow missed. I eagerly await Ms. Dargis - or any of the infinite number of like-minded writers at the Times - pointing out my ignorance in not seeing said injustice.
9
The main premise that this review is built upon is severely flawed. To say that Jack killing himself was an act of a "man's sacrifice" is so completely misguided. This isn't the same as going to war for your country or running into a burning house to save your Wife, etc.
Jack's suicide was selfish and weak, plain and simple.
He was on this path from the beginning of the film and even said he tired to kill himself when he was a kid. His brother in the movie even told Ally that it had nothing to do with her.
But back to my main point, which was the reviewers main point... To paint his suicide as an act or heroism "sacrificing himself becomes and eternally perfect love" is so backwards in thinking.
He was a mess, his suicide was his lost battle with his demons. The reviewer acts like we all think it was the macho thing to do for his wife. NO, we ALL know that the right thing to do would have been to be strong for his wife. Just because it was a sacrifice in his mind doesn't mean it was in ours.
And the end montage of them laughing, crying and playing together was merely showing the joy they had moments before the tragedy. It showed what he was throwing away and what they could have had...
19
I generally like Manohla Dargis' criticism, but I think she reads way, way too much archetypal drama into A Star is Born. And I agree with the tenor of most of the commenters who like the movie.
I responded deeply to the film, despite not caring for the genre. I more than liked it: I admired it. Pauline Kael called Citizen Kane a "shallow masterpiece" -- a film that takes a familiar, well-worn theme and does it so pitch-perfectly that it seduces even the most unwilling viewer.
Years ago, I recall reading a French movie critic in an obscurely written, highbrow movie journal confess: "It's a film that I like -- even though I know I shouldn't!"
2
Very, very smart. And well worth watching in full:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akaPSGMi03k
1
I went to see "Star" the day it came out because Bradley Cooper is gorgeous and I wanted to see Lady Gaga act.
They both did brilliant, believable acting but you are right - it's acting, not reality.
More often today women who want to get ahead don't try to find men who will support them. Because of the male model of "power over" many men think they can't support a strong, smart, courageous woman. It's not "manly".
As Bob Dylan sang many years ago, "The Times They Are a Changin" and in a very good way. Most young people today are generous toward their partners and want to get ahead as a team. They work together. They tend to be less racist, sexist and rigid in their thinking.
The entertainment and other corporate worlds have become so brutal it boggles my mind that anyone with a Social Conscience and smarts even wants to participate. Time for the brutality to give way to cooperation. It will make the world a much nicer place to inhabit.
3
@njglea: I do not know how old you are all but ALL OF THAT "young people today are....this or that....less racist, less sexist, more free and open and less rigid"....was said about...baby boomers.
How'd that turn out?
2
@Concerned Citizen. Your final question seems to embody the cliche that scorns an entire generation, ignoring the fact that the youthful idealism of the Sixties inspired a reactionary onslaught that has worked tirelessly to take over the US government ever since (and appears to be on the verge of ultimate success). To learn how the idealists were routed (temporarily, one hopes) by corporate authoritarianism, check out the infamous Powell Memo that Elizabeth Warren recently publicized. https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corpora...
1
Like a good book, a good movie can open itself to different pathways to enjoyment and understanding. I also disagree with the thought that this is mostly male sacrifice given to advance the success of a female. The movie manages to go deep into a number of its characters. Jack's issues are far more complex than Ally's success. I would not even say it played a major part in his suicide. The conversation Jack had at the rehab center, though to me one of the most artificial parts of the plot, revealed Jack's attempt at suicide as a child. His life was peppered with issues way bigger than his success and professional decline that point to an unhappy ending with or without Ally. The central message for me (and each can take their own from this movie) was the challenges found in forming and dissolving relationships. This idea is central to life as we advance through our years and not just to heterosexual bonds.
5
Even in the movie, Lady Gaga proves she is a towering performer! Who can deny, that she already holds a hallowed place among the all time female legends! Tony Bennett knew what he was doing.
5
Male sacrifice? Totally disagree. Gender -- vis a vis plot, character development and the romance -- was irrelevant. Jack's untreated childhood trauma, which led to addiction, was the sad thing. Ally was going to be OK whether she met Jack or not.
9
Aware of the irony inherent in what I'm about to write: I honestly believe this review is a form of gas-lighting. It's contributing to a omnipresent culture of second guessing everything we do, think, say, and believe about ourselves and our experiences.
15
Stories told well can have many interpretations. What counts is how they touch you. This film hit me like a train. Bradley Cooper succeeded at many levels in its creative heart and soul. And Lady Gaga was incredible; she owned the screen.
I’ll gladly pay the admission price again just to see the performances in the earlier part of the movie.
8
Not sure what this article is advocating for. Stories about male sacrifice are sexist? Ok, flip the genders—isn’t a story about female sacrifice for male success even more sexist? Change it to LGBTQ characters—now the complaint is that’s LGBTQ characters dying for ANYTHING reflects a subliminal LGBTQ hostility by the writers. So should we not have any stories that have any notions of sacrifice at all?
15
This version is the fourth re-make, after the Gaynor/March version, the Garland/Mason version, and the Streisand/Kristofferson version. All these remakes and sequels are making movie entertainment pretty dull.
2
@Sea Chick Jarrold: the Streisand version is from the 70s -- like 40+ years ago -- so I think it is fair game to remake.
2
It's about addiction and greed.
Talk about sacrifice...sitting through this movie trapped between people and unable to leave I just about lost it. Hour after hour of listening to dialog muttered by people who seemed to think acting was best approached by muttering under their breath particularly as the two male leads sought to imitate each other's garbled speech was no picnic.
3
Male sacrifice? She, whether in this version of "A Star is Born" or others, is saddledbwirg his legacy. His failure. his setting sun becomed the millstone around her neck. if we want the reality, the story of two equals in the real world, we should make more stories like the real-life story of "Walk the Line" of Johnny Cash and June Carter-Cash. Neutger sacrificed themselves and left the other to bear their legacy. They endured, and died not tragically, but naturally, and June shortly after Johnny. why keep feeding the tragic romance when the reality is so much more romantic and sweeter?
4
liked some of the scenes, but this review makes a weak movie do too much heavy lifting. It's not clear what the message and tone were meant to be save for a damaged self destructive drunk finally killing himself. Didn't really need the "fame" part for this. "leaving the Las Vegas" did this better.
2
Say what you will about #metoo, I personally would never, ever spend movie theater money to watch a remade remake of a remake. There is something so egotistical about movie stars making movies about the protagonist becoming a star. Is the movie really about telling a story with a theme or is it more about showcasing the talents of Bradley Cooper and Gaga so they can make copious amounts of money as stars themselves?
3
I kept reading your article looking for the truth I saw in the movie and didn't find it: Jack had sacrificed his hearing to the din of the rock world. He was warned repeatedly and was offered devices to soften the effect; he ignored the warnings. I saw his frustration and descent into alcoholism and addiction as a response to the realization that his physical disability, most likely created by his own actions, had destroyed his career thereby making him feel inadequate to his newly successful wife. Sad but understandable.
18
Jack suffered for his art as the film covered regarding his hearing problems caused by years exposed to loud music and the overbearing fans who attacked him in public. Being famous and successful has its rewards but it also has a price to pay in ones personal life.
The use of drugs and drinking by Jack are only a sign of self medication for depression to help him deal with his family history and to block out and numb all that is effecting his life in ways he can not control.
The Jack protrayed by Bradley Cooper is the poster child for the artist who is so in tune to life and sensitive to it that it literally kills him like so many artist before him.
2
Male sacrifice is a common theatrical theme because it resonates with the experience of many men. I suppose its just viewed today through the lens of gender politics, which is unfortunate.
6
Female sacrifice is a common theatrical device because it resonates with many women. I suppose it’s viewed today throught the lens of gender politics, which is unfirt
6
I enjoyed the film. And I understand and agree with Ms. Dargis’ interpretation. The film did not bring me to tears. The main characters are attractive, talented and have moments of intimacy-but ultimately they are not in love with each other, as much as they are in love with the “culture of narcissism.” These characters have sacrificed their capacity for placing their love for another person and love for artistic purity in favor of the the more superficial and ultimately less fulfilling rewards of being entertainers to the masses and the material and emotional “rewards” that come with it. That to me is sad, worthy of pity perhaps, but not tears.
7
Equality is deadly? Did we see the same movie? This is what I saw:
Male music star is cracking up. Meets woman with genuine talent but insufficient confidence to make her voice heard. Shares his venue with her so her voice can be heard and her song-writing talent can be witnessed. The two are happy as a duo, singing and writing songs together.
Then a reptilian manager appeals to her vanity, telling her he can make her a star. He does so by making her look and sing like every other pop star, complete with inane songs that are not her true story-telling or voice, makeup and hair that are decidedly not her, and dancers frolicking about around her.
She wins fame and fortune, but loses her genuine voice and the love of her life as he watches her turn into something he doesn't even recognize or respect from the sidelines. He sinks back into despair, then kills himself so as not to stand in the way of her cookie-cutter success.
They were happy, genuine, and successful enough as a duo. She got corrupted by greed and fame and lost the most important things in her life--her love and her own unique voice. How can you not see that?
59
@Denise, I agree with you. That's the movie I saw last night, not the one the reviewer wanted it to be.
5
@Denise, EXACTLY. Thank you! This piece is way off the mark.
2
The article is emblematic of the one-note chiming of the #metoo movement. of course gender issues are legitimate fodder, but they are not THE ONLY issues. You have to twist your viewing in knots to see the male sacrifice issues here. Jack was scheduled for death before he even met Ally -- see the foreshadowed nooses on the billboard before he goes to the drag bar. The fact that he refused to hear throughout the movie is another of the clues that this writer misses as to the intended meaning of the film and that has nothing to do with gender roles (unless the postulate is that men are too stupid to preserve their own lives. more elementally, as we consider addicts and the children of addicts and how they act, they cannot get away from each other or the tragedies they pass down through generations. they PRESERVE the goodness in the lives that were lost on those tragedies and that is NOT a boy-girl thing. that is a human being thing. but there are no human beings in #metoo any more. there are good girls and bad guys. resilient women and flawed men. it's ridiculous and in tn years it will be he subject of lampooning on Saturday Night Live. which is unfortunate but with a little luck maybe #metoo will be survived by a sincere balanced look at relations between men and women that are more insightful than this rubbish.
13
This movie, in all its iterations, is about the inability of a person to overcome their addictions, grow up and be a responsible supportive partner. It’s a boring story no matter who is in the movie. I’m still kicking myself I bothered to see it again.
8
I am a true fan of Lady GaGa as a singer and Bradley Cooper as an actor. However, the film was no more than a badly acted sappy chick flick which I feel sure the women will be holding back the tears at the end. Lady GaGa is a terrific performer and singer but really needs some acting lessons. Mr. Cooper spent the entire film portraying a drunk chain smoking cigarette has been singer. So much very little of his acting skills came through. It was a waste of talent.
1
I don't agree with this take on the latest "A Star Is Born." Bradley Cooper's Jack was very clearly already on the trajectory that led to his death at the start of the movie before he ever met Ally. While he may have disagreed with Ally's musical and career choices, saying his fate was due to the fact the he couldn't accept that she was more successful in the music industry (and not to his own flaws and demons) seems like a willful misreading to me.
25
While I don't necessarily disagree that one can view the movie from this lens of gender identity, and you have an important message, I would be curious to see how you define any sacrifice that is inherently needed by both people in a big relationship with big careers. How would this story play out if it were a same sex relationship? A platonic friendship? Siblings? It doesn't always move humanity forward to keep our identities political.
10
Spare us! This was a movie,very enjoyable, with great talent,music and direction. I loved the Garland-Mason version but it was sloppy. The new one was not. Some movies are just meant to entertain and this one aced it. Must everything be related to the war between men and women!
21
Ms. Dargis is a talented critic, but she misreads the film. This is not a story of male sacrifice. The heart of the tale is rising star and fading star. Talent, fame, career, addiction and love are at the heart of what makes this story resonate. The story could work equally well were the older, fading star a woman and the younger, rising star a man. With the right cast, music and director, such a reversal could be quite powerful. Of course, any attempt to follow on the heels of the stellar work by Mr. Cooper and Lady Gaga would be hard pressed to equal, let alone surpass it.
38
I think you missed two things about the movie. Firstly, how mediocre it really is (the take on the music industry is utterly flatulent)-- she just walks on stage with an established act-- thanks honey!-- and becomes a star? And nobody minds the shortcut?), and, secondly, how utterly narcissistic it is, especially in that final scene of Ally performing her "tribute" to Jack. To assuage my feelings of being cheapened, I rewatched "Once" and "The Commitments"; then, for good measure, "The Last Waltz", for a cleanse.
6
Woman and rabid feminist here: I didn't take away this message from the movie at all. Ally was the reason Jack stayed alive and sober-ish for as long as he did. She saved him, in some sense, but love isn't enough to keep an addict healthy and a depressed man happy. It was a realistic ending to the fairy tale.
You're making us look bad with this one.
70
Exactly. He finished what he set out to do at age 13. It might be a little heavy-handed, but the end is pre-figured through the imagery — including the music — from the very beginning. The story as told in this version approaches classic tragedy in that coincidence brings together two people who are already on their own trajectories. The trajectories are interrupted for a while but, ultimately, remain unaltered. As his brother acknowledges, there is no greater act of hubris than suicide. Cooper, ya know, has a degree in English!
10
@T.
I agree. I haven't seen the new version so I can only comment on the story as told in the Garland version and it's always seemed clear to me that the Norman Maine character was on a trajectory to suicide from the opening scene. He sought redemption in loving Esther and helping her career, but that wasn't enough to sustain him and save him from his own demons. Her career may have been an excuse for his suicide, but it was never the reason. The story is one about love and depression and alcoholism, not sacrifice.
5
Jack didn’t do what he did out of the blue. He speaks at one point about his attempt at suicide as a boy. His addictions resulted from, or were in addition to, his tortured past. In the end, I think he knew he was going to go down the road of alcohol and drug abuse again.. he finally carried out what he tried to do in his youth.
Also, can we just please enjoy a well made love story, so rare these days?
Finally, please put a spoiler alert up top of the article!!
28
Wow Ms. Dargis, you and I saw a different A Star is Born. While I admire Bradley Cooper, this version ranks as the worst. There was never any emotional attachment to these characters. Mr. Coopeer’s Jackson was a puzzle: he never explored his troubled past enough to under the angst or pain he went through. As for Ms. Gaga, her Ally was Lady Gaga in disguise. Her acting was horrific.
The music is no match for Streisand’s version.
Evergreen explained beautifully the relationship between Esther Hoffman and John Norman Howard. Watch Closely Now/With One More Look At You solidified how John will always be a part of Esther. The chemistry that everyone is talking about between Cooper and Gaga doesn’t even spark one tenth as Streisand/Kristofferson.
Cooper ripped off Streisand’s scene by scene.
How is this thrilling or authentic? A Valentine??
Maybe you need to rewatch Streisand’s version again? Especially the scene where John introduces Esther at The Indian Relief Concert where men are yelling for her to get off the stage. If that’s not a #MeToo moment I don’t know what is.
7
Jack's to severe addiction to alcohol and drugs causes his downfall rather than male sacrifice. Granted he opened doors for Ally. Once she was heard her talent drove her success. I just Jack could have found AA or gotten into a good treatment program.
16
Was I at the same movie? Male sacrifice was absolutely NOT what I got out of this film. Cooper's character was lovable, but flawed. I felt she knew what she was getting herself into. She saw he was a drunk and an addict, although a charming and talented one. It was obvious, even though she loved him, her career became more important than her relationship with him. Cooper's character, already weak, couldn't survive it and so he took his life, not out of sacrifice but because he was unable to rise above his deep self-loathing and feelings of depression (see his relationship with his father and brother). This movie didn't embody male sacrifice, if anything, it's a poster child for recognizing depression! Are we supposed to hate her new style and wish she were back singing with him? I truly did. She sold out, he caved into his lifelong depression.
43
I've seen the first two of the three "ASIB" movies and my take was always that the men were feckless losers. But actually I like this column's take better. And it's clear now that the reason these movies work is because the men who write them know we (especially women) are suckers for hoping that the world will return to the way it never was.
6
It's actually the fourth remake.
1937. Janet Gaynor & Fredric March
1954 Judy Garland & James Mason
1976, Barbara Streisand & Kris Kristofferson
2018 Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper.
3
@PRRH No, it is the third RE-make of the 1937 original.
7
@PRRH
It's the fourth "make," but the third REmake.
5
@PRRH My math tells me that there are 3 remakes: the 1937 movie was the original, then they re-made the movie based on the original 3 times: in 1954, in 1976 and now in 2018.
2
Sometimes a movie is just a movie.
31
A movie is never just a movie. Nor is a book just a book. Subtexts abound in both. "Intentions" of a movie or book are irrelevant as once the director/author distributes it, the audience sees what it sees. The term is "intentional fallacy" as a good part of the time the author's intentions are undiscoverable even within his or her own mind. Sometimes authors/directors lie about their intentions. Ultimately it's the audience which determines the meaning of the piece. The audience whose interpretation we see here is Manohla Dargis, and many people will agree. Personally, I thought the movie was boorish and sexist, and I thought the Jack character a whiner.
2