''Coming Apart'' is a 1969 found footage feature film written and directed by Milton Moses Ginsberg, and starring Rip Torn and Sally Kirkland. Torn plays a mentally disturbed psychiatrist who secretly films his sexual encounters with women. Ginsberg filmed the entire movie with one static camera setup, in a manner simulating a non-constructed "fake documentary" style, influenced by Jim McBride's ''

David Holzman's Diary ''David Holzman's Diary'' is a 1967 American mockumentary, or work of metacinema, directed by Jim McBride, James McBride and starring L. M. Kit Carson. A feature-length film made on a tiny budget over several days, it is a work of experimental fic ...

''. The film was rated X for its sexually explicit scenes."Film Reviews: Coming Apart". '' Variety''. October 8, 1969. 28.

Plot

New York psychiatrist Joe Glazer, who is going through a divorce, rents an apartment under the assumed name of Glassman and installs a hidden movie camera in a mirrored box to record his life and occasionally talk to. Most of the people who visit his apartment are women, including Joann, a former patient; Monica, an ex-mistress; and Karen, the wife of one of his best friends. Joe has sexual encounters with some of them. The camera records Joe's words and actions as well as his ongoing mental breakdown.

Cast

* Rip Torn as Joe Glazer * Sally Kirkland as Joann * Viveca Lindfors as Monica * Megan McCormick as Joy * Lois Markle as Elaine * Lynn Swann as Anita * Phoebe Dorin as Karen * Nancy MacKay as Amy * Julie Garfield as

Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916December 10, 2005) was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. ...

campaign worker * Kevin O'Connor as Armand

Reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote, "As an attempt to elevate pornography ... into art, it is often witty and funny but it fails for several reasons, including Ginsberg's self-imposed limitations on form (to which he's not completely faithful)." He elaborated that "the screenplay, like the film, eventually drifts in a horizontal direction into a kind of foggy confusion." '' Variety'' stated, "The problem with ''Coming Apart'' is that while it suggests some interesting ideas, it can't deliver any of them in cogent form. If Torn is supposed to be some form of saint in the 20th century religion of psychiatry, prepared to accept the truth of his perceptions with detached irony, this only adds to the deadness of the film as public entertainment."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert. Siskel started writing for the '' ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4 and praised Torn for "a brilliantly controlled performance. He never appears to be acting." Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote, "In this dreary study of the disintegration of a New York psychologist (Rip Torn), Ginsberg made the mistake of placing professional actors in improvised

Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

-like situations ... What we're left with, consequently, is scarcely more than some mild but mainly tedious pornography for intellectuals." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' wrote, "Compared to the erotic satire, the film's serious pretensions seem so uninspired and derivative that it's only natural to find that your interest dwindles once the characters start sorting out their souls ... the breakdowns turn morbidly sentimental and theatrically pat." ''Life'' reviewer

Richard Schickel Richard Warren Schickel (February 10, 1933 – February 18, 2017) was an American film historian, journalist, author, documentarian, and film and literary critic. He was a film critic for ''Time'' from 1965–2010, and also wrote for '' ...

praised Torn's performance, Ginsberg's inventive use of camera and sound, and the "illuminating" portrayal of a schizophrenic breakdown.

Andrew Sarris Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Early life Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Kat ...

of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' gave it a less favorable review, however, and the film was a commercial failure.Smith, Dinitia
"After 'Coming Apart,' a Life Did Just That."
The New York Times, September 10, 1998 John Simon described Coming Apart as 'pretentious juvenile pornography'. The film has since attained a cult following among critics and filmmakers.

Soundtrack

Originally released with an X rating in 1969, a large part of the film’s intensity came from its use of several tracks taken from

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...

’s live album '' Bless Its Pointed Little Head''. The 35mm revival screenings in 1999 included the original soundtrack, but when the film was released on home video by Kino the following year, licensing the original Jefferson Airplane tracks proved impossible, so the entire soundtrack was replaced by Francis Xavier & the director himself. A significant problem in this alteration was that because the songs were played on set using a stereo system, the replacement tracks had to be layered over the originals to obscure them, but in order to retain the film’s original dialogue, the replacement tracks had to be muted in those sections. Careful listeners will be able to hear the original Jefferson Airplane tracks bleeding through under several of the dialogue exchanges. https://reprobatepress.com/2023/02/22/music-re-scoring-in-the-home-video-era/

References

External links