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This article was originally published on November 8, 2019.
Were republishing it with the news of Shelley Duvalls death.
The movie,as you might have heard, is pretty good.
But I wasnt quite prepared for what I witnessed this time around.
Many viewers even some who loveThe Shining find Duvalls actingstrangelycartoonishwith its wild expressions of anxiety and fear.
It was certainly much maligned back in 1980, but then again, so was the movie itself.
(Both Duvall and Kubrick were nominated for Razzies at the time.)
For King, the movies Wendy was one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film.
Shes basically just there to scream and be stupid.
He said, as I remember, that she couldnt say them.
It becomes inescapable an existential fact.
You cant ignore it, or let your mind wander while watching it.
You have to confront it, and reckon with it.
Wendy is clearly an abused woman.
But the hesitation in her delivery is not that of an actor stumbling.
Its a vision of trauma, and Duvall nails it.
This becomes even clearer in the light of Nicholsons performance.
In truth, the two performances work distressingly well together.
Consider an early scene of the Torrance family in their car as they drive to the Overlook Hotel.
Anyone whos seenThe Shiningwill remember it.
He saw it on the television.
Theres a snide, cutting quality to Nicholsons demeanor in this scene.
More than anything, he just seems downrightcruel.
Thus, his performance goes perfectly alongside Duvalls fragility.
Jack starts off sarcastic, judgmental, angry, and Wendy starts off nervous, frightened, hesitant.
Her behavior is a response to his; shes clearly been brutalized before the movie even begins.
This perhaps speaks to some of the changes that Kubrick brought to the character of Wendy.
In his conception, Wendy had to be more mousy and vulnerable.
(I havent seenDoctor Sleepyet, which apparently depicts Wendy in flashbacks.
Ill be curious to see which version of her made it into this new film.)
We watch the movie with the helplessness of children watching their families fall apart.
And the seeds of that violence are there right at the beginning.
