“AN AMERICAN ‘BLOW-UP’?”

By Raymond Benson

Jerry Schatzberg made a few interesting and notable pictures, some of which you may know—The Panic in Needle Park (1971), Scarecrow (1973), The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), Honeysuckle Rose (1980)—but his debut feature slipped under the radar in 1970 when it was released, despite starring the charismatic and beautiful Faye Dunaway when she was Hollywood Hot.

Schatzberg began his career as a fashion photographer, and he’d made some commercials. The story goes that he wanted to make a film about a fashion model he had known. Puzzle of a Downfall Child was the result. The screenplay was written by Schatzberg and Adrian Joyce (the pen name of Carole Eastman), whose best-known work is Five Easy Pieces (also 1970).

The semi-autobiographical tale focuses on the enigmatic Lou Andreas Sand (Dunaway), a model with, well, problems. From the get-go we can see that she’s not a stable person. She’s insecure and, as it turns out, what they used to call in those days “neurotic.” She befriends Aaron, a photographer with whom she works (Barry Primus, in his debut role). Aaron is the stand-in fictional character for Schatzberg. He falls in love with Lou, and she keeps him at arm’s length. At the same time, she has no problem bedding other men, including businessman Mark (Roy Scheider in an early role). The men all treat Lou badly, and Lou treats the men the same way. Eventually, Lou has a breakdown and must reach out to Aaron once again for comfort.

That’s the movie in a nutshell, but of course, there’s more, but mostly it’s all a bunch of angst and sex and drugs and alcohol and anger. When released in the U.S., the studio forced an opening over the credits with narration by Aaron “explaining” what the movie was going to be about. Schatzberg was against the idea, but he had no choice but to comply. Fortunately for him, when the picture was released in Europe, his original opening was restored (and that’s what is on this Blu-ray disk).

Adam Holender’s cinematographer is gorgeous, but the direction takes on the style of the French New Wave in spades, which was rather common in Hollywood in the late 60s and early 70s—erratic editing, non-linear narrative, “arty” shots, and pseudo-existential themes. While there is much to admire in Dunaway’s performance, the movie comes off as an eccentric American pastiche of Antonioni’s Blow-up (1966), which also focused on the world of fashion photography (albeit in London). Puzzle may have attempted to be edgy in 1970, but there is an unfortunate pretentious amateurishness to the proceedings. Luckily, Schatzberg would improve and deliver much more accomplished pictures in his future career.

Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray looks marvelous and comes with English subtitles for the hearing-impaired. An audio commentary by film historian/filmmaker Daniel Kremer and film historian/podcaster Bill Ackerman accompanies the feature. Supplements include a recent interview with Schatzberg (now 93) on a Zoom call (it was shot post-Covid); the alternate studio-cut opening (not in high definition); and a “Trailers from Hell” episode on the film featuring Larry Karaszewski. Trailers for this and other Kino Lorber titles round out the package.

Puzzle of a Downfall Child will be of interest to fans of Faye Dunaway and experimental art films of the period.

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