Rachel's hair pattern changes in two continuous shots on the hospital bed.
The front camera angle shows her hair in front of her ears but the side camera shows her hair behind her ears.
During the course of their 50-year marriage (1958-2008), Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward appeared in 10 films together, and in 1968, Newman directed the first film of his career, "Rachel, Rachel." Although he would go on to produce and/or direct 11 more, only five of those dozen featured his wife in front of the camera: "Rachel, Rachel," "They Might Be Giants," "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" (a film that, like "Rachel, Rachel," featured the Newmans' cute little daughter, Nell Potts), "The Shadow Box" (a TV movie) and "The Glass Menagerie.
I've always admired both Newman and Woodward since first becoming aware of them as a child in the 60s. I was sad when Newman passed on 12 years ago and sad to learn of Woodward's dementia now going on in her later years.
Rachel Rachel is more likely to be one of those movies that managed to get made because the producer happened to be a hot property and was in a position to negotiate deals with film companies, who knew well, that by giving him a free hand to try something 'different', they would garner bigger money from other projects they cast him to 'star' in. And they did.
This is Paul Newman's directorial debut starring his wife Joanne Woodward. Rachel is a spinster school teacher.
A Haunting Story of a Middle-Aged Spinster (read virgin) Trapped into Living with Her Mother. While Obsessing with Death and Contemplating a Worthless Life, She Discovers Sex and a Possible, Positive Change in Her Completely Unsatisfying Life.
Exploration of feelings nuances , force of an actress, a gray story, a splendid acting.salted flavor of a life who begins later and one of the greatest role of Joanne Woodward, the precise work of Paul Newman and something else, who seduce and fascinate the viewer.
This small, naturalistic film is one of the more honest films to come out of Hollywood. Its portrait of unexceptional lives strikes chords most movies never hear.
Joanne Woodward gives a marvelous performance -- which, of course, is a done deal. Miss Woodward, I am convinced, is no more capable of giving less than a marvelous performance than I am of flapping my arms and flying to the moon.
For Paul Newman's directorial debut, a property was chosen that was a real star vehicle for his spouse Joanne Woodward. In a distinctly unglamorous part, Rachel Rachel is about a 30 something spinster schoolteacher who lives with her perpetually sick mother and yearns to have something more out of life.
