Paul's Case (TV) [1980] Eric Roberts

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Paul's Case (TV 1980)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081316/

Release Date:11 February 1980 (USA)

Eric Roberts ... Paul
Michael Higgins ... Paul's Father
Gus Kaikkonen ... Charlie
Tom Stewart ... Yale Man
Lindsay Crouse ... First Actress
Justine Johnston ... Madame Heinzel

Paul's Case is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in McClure's Magazine in 1905. 'Paul's case' is the way teachers and his father refer to Paul concerning his lack of interest in school.

Paul moves through his world awkwardly, never truly fitting in anywhere or ever feeling comfortable in his own skin. He is obsessed with art, theater, and music, and his job as an usher at Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh allows him to indulge these obsessions. Paul has an unrealistic idea that the art world is an ideal fantasyland, and he uses art as a sort of drug to escape his dreary existence. He has no desire to join the art world he admires; rather, he wants to sit back and observe other people. Paul feels contempt for his teachers, classmates, neighbors, and family members, all of whom he sees as hopelessly narrow-minded. Besides art, Paul is also obsessed with money. He longs to be rich and believes that great wealth is his destiny. Because of his selfishness and desperation to escape his own unspectacular life, Paul lies constantly, sometimes to get out of a sticky situation and sometimes to impress his classmates and teachers. Cather makes it clear that Paul has homosexual tendencies, although it is not clear whether he acknowledges or acts upon them. He feels alienated from society because of his homosexuality and general disdain for other people.

Introduction by Henry Fonda.