''Seduced and Abandoned'' is a 2013 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by

James Toback James Lee Toback (, born November 23, 1944) is an American screenwriter and film director. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1991 for ''Bugsy''. He has directed films including '' The Pick-up Artist'', ''Two Gi ...

. The film details the journey of Toback and actor

Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his leading and supporting roles in a variety of genres, from comedy to drama. He has received List of awards and nominations received by A ...

, as they try to sell a film concept at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

in 2012. Taking part in several pitch sessions with producers as well as interviews with directors and actors, the duo explore the film production aspect of film financing. The film premiered at the festival a year later on May 20, 2013.

Cast

Ryan Gosling Ryan Thomas Gosling ( ; born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. His work includes both independent films and major studio features, and his accolades include a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, a ...

Jessica Chastain Jessica Michelle Chastain (born March 24, 1977) is an American actress and producer. Known for primarily starring in projects with Feminism, feminist themes, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Jessica Chastain, various ...

Diane Kruger Diane Kruger (; Heidkrüger; ; born 15 July 1976) is a German actress. Early in her career, she gained worldwide recognition and received the Trophée Chopard from the Cannes Film Festival. Kruger became known for her roles in films such as ...

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański (; born 18 August 1933) is a Polish and French filmmaker and actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Roman Polanski, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, three Britis ...

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...

Bérénice Bejo Bérénice Bejo (; born 7 July 1976) is a French-Argentine actress best known for playing Christiana in '' A Knight's Tale'' (2001) and Peppy Miller in '' The Artist'' (2011). Her work in the latter earned her a nomination for the Academy Award ...

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci ( ; ; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved inte ...

Jeremy Thomas Jeremy Jack Thomas (born 26 July 1949) is a British film producer. He is the founder and chairman of Recorded Picture Company. He produced Bernardo Bertolucci's '' The Last Emperor'', which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 20 ...

* Ben Schneider * Thorsten Schumacher *

Taki Theodoracopulos Panagiotis "Taki" Theodoracopulos (; ; born 11 August 1936) is a Greek writer and publisher who founded '' Taki's Magazine'' and co-founded '' The American Conservative''. His column "High Life" appeared in British weekly ''The Spectator'' from ...

Production

After discussing a film idea for quite some time, actor

and writer/director

decided to go to the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Austrian filmma ...

and document their search for investors. During their time at Cannes, Baldwin and Toback interviewed many high-profile figures in the film industry. "I knew all the directors I approached," said Toback. "I was pretty friendly with a few of them. Alec wanted those particular directors.

was his idea. I've known

for several years, and she was my idea. I hadn't thought about

before, but then we ran into her in the lobby of the Carlton Hotel n Cannes, France"

Release and reception

''Seduced and Abandoned'' premiered in the Special Screenings section of the

2013 Cannes Film Festival The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place from 15 to 26 May 2013. American filmmaker Steven Spielberg was the Jury President for the main competition. French actress Audrey Tautou hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. The French film ''Blu ...

on May 20, 2013. A week prior to its premiere at the festival, the North American rights to the film were acquired by

HBO Films HBO Films (formerly called HBO Premiere Films and HBO Pictures) is an American production and distribution company, a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. The division produces fiction and non-f ...

. It later aired on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on October 28, 2013 and will be given a cinematic release in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2013. The film received positive feedback from critics. Review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

gives the film a score of 86% based on reviews from 22 critics, with a rating average of seven out of 10.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, reports the film with two different scores. When combined, the film has a score of 74 based on 19 reviews.

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

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 ...

'' gave the film a positive review, calling the film "the year’s most entertaining put-on." Holden described it as a film that "rambles entertainingly from topic to topic. ..There is hardly a dull moment." Hank Stuever 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 ...

'' called the film "a fun, larky travel essay and commentary on the film biz, an exquisite wallow in the most rarefied sort of first-world problems." Conversely, David Hinkley of ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'' gave the film a negative review, stating, "In a perfect world, ''Seduced and Abandoned'' might have told us why it's so hard for grownups to find anything they want to see at the movies these days. Alas, while it flirts with that question and answer, in the end it plays a little too much like a home movie for the film industry."

References

External links

* * * {{Alec Baldwin 2013 films Documentary films about the film industry American independent films American documentary films 2013 documentary films Films directed by James Toback 2013 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language documentary films English-language independent films