Inside Daisy Clover
In the mid-1930s, Daisy Clover (Natalie Wood) is a teenage tomboy, who lives in a ramshackle trailer with her eccentric mother (Ruth Gordon) on a California beach and dreams of Hollywood stardom. She submits a song recording to the well-known film producer Raymond Swan (Christopher Plummer), who puts her under contract. Ray and his wife Melora (Katharine Bard) foster Daisy's rise to fame by any means necessary, forcing Daisy to deal with the pressures of stardom and the Swans' manipulation of her life and career. Daisy reluctantly accepts the placement of her mother in a mental institution, to protect Daisy's reputation as "America's valentine", and is told to tell any interviewers that her mother is dead.
Daisy finds some relief in a fellow Swan-discovered star, Wade Lewis (Robert Redford). The two begin a relationship, though their heavy drinking and partying is not good for either of their reputations. Ray (whom Wade has nicknamed "The Prince of Darkness") fears that the romance will interrupt Daisy's busy schedule. To quell his worries, Wade asks Daisy to marry him, and the ceremony is held on the Swans' estate. However, the first night of their honeymoon in Arizona, Wade drives off while Daisy is sleeping, abandoning her. Daisy returns to the Swan home and runs into an extremely intoxicated Melora who reveals to Daisy that Melora had an affair with Wade who is actually a closet homosexual. The next morning, Ray tells Daisy that he knew about Wade's sexual orientation, but that she had to find out for herself, as did his wife. Ray then scoops her into his arms and kisses her, which begins their affair.
Daisy takes her mother out of the mental institution and moves her into a beach house. After her mother's death, Daisy has a nervous breakdown at the studio. She goes back to the beach house and spends her day after day silently in bed under the care of a private nurse. Melora visits, assuring Daisy she is not jealous of her affair with Ray. Wade comes to see Daisy, but the most he gets out of her is a smile. Ray, impatient that Daisy is taking so long to recover, loses his temper and tells her she must finish the pending motion picture. He also tells her that he has her under contract for five years, but does not care what happens to her after she completes the film. Ray fires the nurse and leaves the beach house.
Right after Ray's departure, Daisy attempts suicide by putting her head in the oven, only to be interrupted by ringing phones and the arrival of visitors. The next day Daisy cuts her hair, changes her clothes, and turns the gas oven back on. She then lights a flame on the stove, grabs a cup of coffee, and strolls out of the house to the beach. The house explodes behind her. When a passerby asks what happened, she shrugs and replies, "Someone declared war!"
cult, depressing, romantic, melodrama