Taglines: Sometimes life brings some strange surprises.
Don Johnston (Bill Murray), a former Don Juan who made a small fortune in the computer industry, wants to live in quiet retirement. He is content to lounge around watching old movies and listening to classical or easy listening music. His current girlfriend, Sherry (Julie Delpy), is ending their relationship and moving out of his house when a letter in a pink envelope arrives.
After she walks out, Don reads the letter; it purports to be from an unnamed former girlfriend, informing him that he has a son who is nearly nineteen years old, and who may be looking for him. Initially, Don does not intend to do anything about it, but his busybody neighbor Winston (Jeffrey Wright), who is a mystery novel enthusiast, urges Don to investigate. Winston researches the current locations of the five women most likely to have written the letter and gives Don the information along with maps and flight reservations, and persuades him to visit them.
Ultimately Don meets with four women (the fifth one had died before the events of the film), each encounter worse than the last and each woman damaged in some way:
Laura (Sharon Stone) works as a closet and drawer organizer and is the widow of a race car driver. She clearly has issues with men, coming across as grasping and overly eager, which she has passed on to her teenage daughter, Lolita (Alexis Dziena), who is a flirt, parading nude in front of Don on their very first meeting. That night, Laura sleeps with Don.
Dora (Frances Conroy) is a realtor. Once a “flower child” of the 1960s, she has reversed to the opposite extreme and is now apparently resigned to a very uptight existence in her otherwise happy marriage to Ron (Christopher McDonald).
Carmen Markowski (Jessica Lange) works as an “animal communicator.” Don recalls how she was formerly so passionate about becoming a lawyer. But “passion is a funny thing,” she says. She is cold to Don and has an odd relationship with her secretary (Chloë Sevigny).
Penny (Tilda Swinton) lives in a rural area amongst bikers. She still holds a grudge against Don, and apparent rage overall. When Don asks her whether she has a son, she becomes furious, which results in one of her biker friends punching Don out. The next morning, Don finds himself in his car, in the middle of a field, with a nasty cut near his left eye.
Broken Flowers is a 2005 French-American comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and produced by Jon Kilik and Stacey Smith. The film focuses on an aging “Don Juan” who embarks on a cross-country journey to track down four of his former lovers after receiving an anonymous letter stating that he has a son. The film stars Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy, Mark Webber, Chloë Sevigny, Christopher McDonald and Alexis Dziena.
The film was released theatrically on August 5, 2005 earning $780,408 from 27 theaters. After 15 weeks in release, the movie ended with a domestic total of $13,744,960. The film fared much better internationally, taking in $32,975,531 to bring its total gross to $46,720,491.
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Broken Flowers (2005)
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Bill Murray, Frances Conroy, Julie Delpy, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright. Chloë Sevigny, Alexis Dziena, Nicole Abisinio, Zakira Holland
Screenplay by: Jim Jarmusch
Production Design by: Mark Friedberg
Cinematography by: Frederick Elmes
Film Editing by: Jay Rabinowitz
Costume Design by: John Dunn
Set Decoration by: Lydia Marks
Art Direction by: Sarah Frank
Music by: Mulatu Astatke
MPAA Rating: R for language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use.
Distributed by: Focus Features
Release Date: August 5, 2005
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