Beloved

Snubbed: Oprah Winfrey 

Dir. Jonathan Demme. 1998, U.S. 172 mins. 35mm. With Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Thandiwe Newton, Kimberly Elise, Beah Richards. In the hands of director Demme and producer-star Winfrey, Toni Morrison’s presumed unadaptable supernatural novel becomes a cinematic tour de force, furiously bringing the Nobel Prize-winning author’s epochal metaphors to blistering, bruising life. Winfrey disappears into the role of Sethe, an escaped slave living in Ohio whose life with her teenage daughter is interrupted by the arrival of a most unexpected visitor: Beloved, the ghostly manifestation of her long-deceased baby girl, embodied with alarming commitment by a brilliant Newton. One of the greatest American epics of the last thirty years, Beloved is a work of astonishing empathy and visual invention, which had been presumed an Oscar front-runner for Winfrey, Newton, and much of the cast—perhaps until people saw it and realized what an unusual, aptly discomfiting experience it was. 

NOTE: The February 17 screening will take place in the Bartos Screening Room.

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.