''Before and After'' is a 1996 American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, i ...

based on

Rosellen Brown Rosellen Brown (born May 12, 1939) is an American author, and has been an instructor of English and creative writing at several universities, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Houston. She has won several ...

's 1992 novel of the same name about two parents who must deal with the after effects when their son is accused of murder. The movie was directed by

Barbet Schroeder Barbet Schroeder (born 26 August 1941) is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette. Since the late 1980s, he has dire ...

and starred

Meryl Streep Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...

as Dr. Carolyn Ryan,

Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on '' Th ...

as Ben Ryan,

Edward Furlong Edward Walter Furlong (born August 2, 1977) is an American actor. He won Saturn and MTV Movie Awards for his breakthrough performance at age 13 as John Connor in James Cameron's '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day''; which was followed by a mini-seque ...

as Jacob Ryan, and Julia Weldon as Judith Ryan (who also narrated the movie).

Alfred Molina Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...

, John Heard, and Alison Folland appear in supporting roles.

Plot

In a small Western Massachusetts town, Dr. Carolyn Ryan and her sculptor husband Ben live with their two children Jacob and Judith. Their world is shattered when Sheriff Fran Conklin tells them that Martha Taverner has been killed and witnesses saw Jacob with her just before she died. When he asks to speak with Jacob, the family realizes that he's not in his room as they thought. Conklin asks to look at Jacob's car, but Ben refuses. When Conklin asks Judith where Jacob is, Ben demands the sheriff get a warrant. When Conklin leaves, Ben inspects Jacob's car, finding clothes and a car jack with blood on them. He burns the clothes and cleans the jack before the police return. When he tells Carolyn what he has done, she is afraid that Ben may have destroyed evidence that could help them find Jacob, as she is fearful that a maniac may have killed both Martha and her son. The Ryans plaster the town with signs trying to find Jacob, but the town ostracizes them, assuming Jacob is a murderer. Postcards start to arrive from Jacob. Over the course of five weeks, he sends postcards from all over the country. Carolyn is convinced that he's been kidnapped and wants to alert the police. Ben remains wary of disclosing anything, insisting they must keep the postcards a secret. Eventually Jacob is caught and brought back home to stand trial. For the first several days, he is catatonic, only speaking aloud to enter his plea at the arraignment. He speaks to Judith in their treehouse when she asks him if he really traveled all over the country. He explained that he would take the train to the Boston airport once a week and press the postcards on people who were headed to the cities on the cards. He would explain that he had just returned from a vacation there but had forgotten to mail the postcards to his parents, and he did not want them to think he'd forgotten them. The travelers would mail the cards for him when they arrived at their destination. The family receives a harassing phone call from one of the townspeople. Ben bitterly mocks the caller and offers an impassioned defense of his son. Touched by his father's sincerity, Jacob opens up and explains what happened. He had been fighting with Martha when she revealed that she was pregnant, in addition to the fact that she had been sleeping with several other boys. They made up, but while they made love in Jacob's car, they got snowed in. Unable to free the car through a variety of methods, they decided to try to jack one end of the car up while they packed snow under the other end. Their fight reignited and got violent. Martha swung a crowbar at Jacob and missed him by an inch. He charged at her, knocking her to the ground. She landed face first on the jack and was killed. Ben decides that it is best to not reveal the truth. He coaches Jacob on a different version of the story, which they tell to their lawyer, but the plan goes awry when Ben is deposed by the grand jury and realizes that there is no father-son privilege which exempts him from testifying. When Carolyn is called to testify, she reveals the truth. Jacob's lawyer is incensed, but he explains that he will simply treat Carolyn as a

hostile witness A hostile witness, also known as an adverse witness or an unfavorable witness, is a witness at trial whose testimony on direct examination is either openly antagonistic or appears to be contrary to the legal position of the party who called ...

and her testimony will amount to hearsay, since it conflicts with Jacob's account of the events. When Ben discovers what Carolyn has done, he is furious. A family argument ensues and in the morning, Jacob is missing again. He turns up at the police station, where he has given a full confession. As a minor, he needs his parents to sign his confession. Ben refuses, explaining that he could never sign anything that took Jacob away from him. Jacob is sentenced to five years for involuntary manslaughter, but is released after only 2 years with probation, and Ben is sentenced to almost one year for his cover up. The family relocates to Miami.

Cast

as Dr. Carolyn Ryan *

as Ben Ryan *

as Jacob Ryan * Julia Weldon as Judith Ryan *

as Panos Demeris * Daniel von Bargen as Fran Conklin * John Heard as Wendell Bye *

Ann Magnuson Ann Magnuson (born January 4, 1956) is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer. She was described by ''The New York Times'' in 1990 as "An endearing theatrical chameleon who has as many characters at her fingertips as Lil ...

as Terry Taverner * Alison Folland as Martha Taverner * Larry Pine as Dr. Tom McAnally *

Kaiulani Lee Kaiulani Lee is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Rachel Carson in both the film and stage version of ''A Sense of Wonder'', which she also wrote. Career Lee is also a well-known stage, television, and film actress. She ...

as Marian Raynor

Production

The film was shot on location in Egremont, Massachusetts on Baldwin Hill East at the Rathbun Farm. Scenes were also filmed in and around

Pittsfield Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield ...

Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

, Great Barrington and Lenox.

Soundtrack

# Main Title (4:01) # Searching for Clues (1:55) # Destroying Evidence (3:04) # Looking for Jacob (2:07) # First Postcard (1:48) # Dr. Ryan (0:51) # Apprehended (3:12) # Preliminary Hearing (1:04) # Ben & Carolyn (1:27) # Tree House (2:55) # The Confession (4:49) # The Grand Jury (1:46) # Carolyn (2:11) # It's Your Fault (1:54) # The Truth (1:41) # Jacob's Gone (2:00) # Before And After (4:16)

Reception

Box Office

''Before and After'' was not successful financially, grossing only $8.8 million in the United States and Canada and $15 million worldwide against a production budget of $35 million.

Critical Response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has an approval rating of 32% based on reviews from 19 critics. Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

'' said, "''Before and After'' is a long, slow slog through a story about a family crisis that is largely the fault of the family itself — especially the hot-tempered but loving father, who makes a series of crucial mistakes. It's one of those movies where you want to call out helpful advice to the screen, which would save the characters a lot of trouble."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Before And After (Film) 1996 films Hollywood Pictures films Caravan Pictures films American crime drama films 1996 crime drama films American courtroom films American mystery films Films about dysfunctional families Films directed by Barbet Schroeder Films with screenplays by Ted Tally Films produced by Barbet Schroeder Films produced by Roger Birnbaum Films scored by Howard Shore Films shot in Massachusetts Films shot in New Jersey Films about mother–son relationships Films about father–son relationships 1990s English-language films 1990s American films