Broadcast on Arte this Wednesday March 27, 2024, the film “Kramer versus Kramer” is a masterpiece of cinema. However, the filming was tense between the two main actors.
It's a masterpiece of American cinema that viewers can (re)see this evening. Kramer versus Kramer is broadcast on Arte this Wednesday, March 27, at 8:55 p.m. This five-Oscar-winning drama released in 1979 follows Ted Kramer, a man who has abandoned his family life to prioritize his career, who finds himself forced to take care of his son alone when his wife, Joanna, can no longer bear it. to bear the burden of her home and the education of their son alone, leaves him and disappears. Initially clumsy, Ted Kramer ends up getting used to his new life and developing a tender relationship with his son... Until his ex returns and demands custody of their child.
Thanks to the masterful interpretation of Dustin Hoffman and (especially) Meryl Streep in the main couple, this feature film questions women's rights, divorce, the life of single parents in American society in the 1980s, far to be Manichaean or dependent. However, the filming experience was painful for Meryl Streep.
Tensions emerged between the two main actors of Kramer vs. Kramer, particularly because of Dustin Hoffman's methods. During one take, he notably slapped Meryl Streep, before throwing his glass of wine against a wall during an argument scene without the cameraman or the actress being aware.
Worse still, in order to push her to her limits and give her the best possible performance, Dustin Hoffman often spoke to her about his companion, John Cazale, who had just died from lung cancer, reveals the unauthorized biography Becoming Meryl Streep written by Michael Schulman. Speaking to the New York Times in 2018, Meryl Streep returned to this filming experience, and in particular to the slap she suffered: “It was my first film, and it was my first take and he just slapped. It wasn't in the script and it remained in the film [we don't see the slap, but we see his shocked reaction, editor's note]. He crossed the line."
However, she clarified: "It's tricky, because when you're an actor and you're doing a scene, you have to feel free. I've definitely hurt some people unintentionally during physical scenes. And we forgives himself, in a way." If the famous slap does not appear on screen, Meryl Streep's shocked reaction is clearly visible. She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, while Dustin Hoffman won the Best Actor prize. This drama will also win the statuettes for Best Film, Best Direction and Best Adaptation.
