An excerpt from this feature film.
An excerpt from this feature film.
The credits for this feature film.
Mesmerized
Film (Excerpts) – 1984
A young woman in colonial New Zealand (played by Jodie Foster, post-Taxi Driver pre-Oscars) flees an orphanage to find herself trapped in an arranged marriage to an older businessman (fellow US actor John Lithgow). Voyeurism, hypnotism and dodgy doctoring feature in the thriller from US director Michael Laughlin, from a screenplay by Jerzy Skolimowski. Mesmerized was made in NZ as an international co-production with RKO during the 80s tax break era. It was released in the US as My Letter to George in 1986. Laughlin also shot cult horror Dead Kids (1981) in NZ.
I don't like contemporary, eccentric, modern — call them what you will — movies. I believe in the rules for a genre picture. I like to improvise and put my own personal touches and twists to them so I can play the melodies a little differently. But I always stick to the ground rules.– Director Michael Laughlin in Starburst 66, February 1984, page 34
Key Cast & Crew
Jodie Foster
Antony I Ginnane
Georges Delerue
Jerzy Skolimowski
John Lithgow
Michael Laughlin
Produced by
-
RKO Pictures
Music
Closing credits song 'Manurere' written by Sam Freedman, performed by the Saint Joseph's Maori Girls' College Choir
Tags
More Information
If you liked this, you might also like...
The Piano
Another colonial woman in an arranged marriage
It's Lizzie to those Close
Another colonial woman looks for emancipation
Race for the Yankee Zephyr
Also made in NZ by Australian producer Antony Ginnane
Dangerous Orphans
More dangerous orphans
Desperate Remedies
More romantic complications in colonial NZ
Reunion
Another dark domestic tale co-starring an overseas actor
Jack Be Nimble
More gothic horror
The Murder House
More confronting dentistry
Utu Pihikete
The travails of another colonial woman