Pleasantville (film)

David Wagner ( Toby Maguire ) lives in 1998 in the United States . He is withdrawn and distracted from reality by watching the old black-and-white television series about the Parker family (George, his wife Betty and their children, Bud and Mary Sue ), who live in the 1950s town of Pleasantville, in which everything is “pleasant” ( hence the name Pleasantville, from English pleasant - pleasant). His sister Jennifer ( Reese Witherspoon ) leads a much less chaste life and once quarrels with her brother over a TV remote control . The console breaks, and immediately a suspicious repair worker appears, who takes David and Jennifer to the television series about Pleasantville. Young people become his heroes (taking on the guises of Bud and Mary Sue) and are forced to adapt to the environment. The fact is that Pleasantville lives according to the laws of utopian cinema ethics of the 1950s : there are no poor or asocial inhabitants in it, husbands go to work, wives regularly housekeeping, in the bedrooms the spouses sleep in separate beds, athletes of the school basketball team always get into ring, at geography lessons they study the geography of only the city itself (the existence of the outside world outside the city for residents of Pleasantville is beyond understanding), in Pleasantville there is always summer with a moderate sun without rain, and the Pleasantville fire brigade It only deals with taking cats off trees (in the world of Pleasantville, fire burns only where it should).

David tells Jennifer that they need to follow the plot of the television series so as not to disrupt the city’s order of life. Jennifer agrees solely because, in accordance with the canon, her Mary-Sue must go on a date with school handsome Skip Martin ( Paul Walker ). However, on a date (the cliche of American films of that era in the form of joint gatherings in a car in a local park on a clear evening), she is surprised to find that the maximum sex in the world of Pleasantville is just a kiss, and its inhabitants do not even suspect the existence of sex . She doesn’t give a damn about her brother’s advice, she has sex with Skip, which ultimately becomes the impetus for many further events, thanks to which the world of Pleasantville begins to become more realistic up to the point that from black and white it gradually becomes colored, and its inhabitants begin to acquire personality. However, not everyone is happy with the changes and a riot erupts in the city.

• Toby Maguire - David Wagner (1998), Bad Parker (1958)
• Reese Witherspoon - Jennifer Wagner (1998), Mary-Sue Parker (1958)
• William Macy - George Parker
• Joan Allen - Betty Parker
• Jeff Daniels - Bill Johnson
• Don Notts - Repair Worker
• Paul Walker - Skip Martin
• J.T. Walsh - Big Bob (mayor)
• Jane Kachmarek - David's mom
• Marley Shelton - Margaret Henderson

• 1999 - two Saturn Awards: Best Young Actor ( Toby Maguire ), Best Supporting Actress ( Joan Allen )
• 1999 - three nominations for the Academy Award: best work of production designer / decorator (Johnnin Oppavol and Jay Hart), best costume design ( Judyanna Makovsky ), best music for a dramatic film ( Randy Newman )
• 1999 - Three Saturn Award nominations: Best Fantasy Film, Best Costume Design (Judyanna Makovsky), Best Screenplay (Gary Ross)
• 1999 - Hugo Award nomination for Best Drama
• 1999 - Young Hollywood Award for Most Breakthrough Actress (Reese Witherspoon)

1. Across the Universe - Fiona Apple (The Beatles)
2. Dream Girl - Robert and Johnny
3. Be-Bop-A-Lula - Gene Vincent
4. Lawdy Miss Clawdy - Larry Williams
5. Sixty Minute Man - Billy Ward and the Dominoes
6. Take Five - The Dave Brubeck Quartet
7. At Last - Etta James
8. (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley
9. Rave On - Buddy Holly and the Crickets
10. Please Send Me Someone to Love - Fiona Apple
11. So What - Miles Davis
12. Suite from Pleasantville - Randy Newman

• Pleasantville on the Internet Movie Database
• Pleasantville (English) on allmovie