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DAVIDTZ, Embeth
Amerikaans filmactrice (1966- )
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* ± 1966, Trenton, NJ 
Education: Rhodes University The American-born Davidtz was raised and educated in South Africa where she performed classical and contemporary drama in both English and Afrikaans. She made her professional acting debut at age 21 playing Juliet in a National Theatre Company production of Romeo and Juliet, which won her rave reviews. She twice earned the South African equivalent of a Tony nomination for her theater work. Davidtz distinguished herself in the politically sensitive South African feature A PRIVATE LIFE (1989), as the daughter of an interracial couple, and garnered a South African "Oscar" nomination playing a deaf-mute in the psychologically intense Afrikaaner feature NIGHT OF THE NINETEENTH. Davidtz moved to Los Angeles in 1991 and promptly landed major roles in TV projects, including the movie TIL DEATH US DO PART (NBC, 1992) with Arliss Howard and Treat Williams, and the crime drama miniseries DEADLY MATRIMONY (NBC, 1992) with Williams and Brian Dennehy. Her first released American film was Sam Raimi's third EVIL DEAD movie, ARMY OF DARKNESS (1993), in which she played the female lead as the lovely maiden Sheila and her demonic alter ego. Davidtz generated a lot of favorable press with her poignant portrayal of Helen Hirsch, the brutalized Jewish maid, in Steven Spielberg's SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993). Drawn to roles in films with strong political themes or overtones, she played Christian Slater's lawyer girlfriend in the fact-based film MURDER IN THE FIRST (1995). Davidtz displayed her versatility in the Merchant/Ivory production FEAST OF JULY (also 1995); she garnered glowing critical praise for her deft portrayal of a young woman who, in searching for the lover who abandoned her, ultimately brings tragedy to the family that offered her refuge.
Filmografie 1995 Feast of July.... Bella Ford
Directed by Christoffel Hermenaul, Embeth Davidt, Tom Bell, Greg Wise. Despite forsaken plumy Toffs for gritty northerners, this Merchant Ivory production, based on an H.E. Bates novel, still displays the hallmarks of their period pieces. Romantic rejections, familial squabbles, and silly sideburns are all to the fore in this solid, if never totally absorbing; would-be weepy. Losing a child after a harrowing birth, Bella Ford (Davidtz) is given refuge by kindly Ben Wainwright (Bell) and his wife (Gemma Jones). From here, the plot develops along two lines with Bella searching for errant lover Arch Wilson (Wise) who left her penniless and pregnant, while contending with the advances of the Wainwrights' sons; likeable Matty (Kenneth Anderson), smoothie Jedd (Jarnes Purefoy) and intense Con (Ben Chaplin). Secret trysts and fraternal tensions ensue, until the reappearance of Wilson shatters the idyll, propelling events on a downward spiral into the realm marked tragedy. There's much to admire here. Eschewing chocolate box pictorialisme, the low-key evocative look enhances the impending sense of doom, while moments of blood-soaked brutality go some way to cutting through the mush. And the dramatic highpoints are well handled by first-time movie director Menaul (Prime Suspect). But the screenplay never really comes to life, and the performances are decidedly one note, with Davidtz failing to infuse Bella with the subtleties and vulnerability she displayed in Schindler's List, and Wise unable to flesh out his bit-part bounders. Srill, for those hungry for a confession of costume drama clichés, Feast Of July serves up enough goodies to sate the appetite. 1995 Murder in the First .... Mary McCasslin 1996 Matilda .... Miss Jennifer 'Jenny' Honey 1997 The Garden of Redemption (TV) .... Adriana 1998 Fallen .... Gretta Milano 1999 Simon Magus .... Leah 1999 Bicentennial Man .... Little Miss Amanda Martin/Portia Charney 2001 Bridget Jones's Diary .... Natasha 2002 The Emperor's Club .... Elizabeth 2002 Shackleton (TV) .... Rosalind Chetwynd 2005 Junebug .... Madeleine 2007 Fracture .... Jennifer Crawford 2008 Winged Creatures (post-production) # |
