The Passion of Ayn Rand is a 1999 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 directed by Christopher Menaul

Christopher Menaul

Christopher Menaul is a British film, television director and television writer.Christopher Menaul left Cambridge with a First in History and quickly established anillustrious career as a multi award-winning TV and Feature film director...

. It is based on the book of the same title

The Passion of Ayn Rand

The Passion of Ayn Rand is a 1999 film directed by Christopher Menaul. It is based on the book of the same title by Barbara Branden...

 by Barbara Branden

Barbara Branden

Barbara Branden is an American Objectivist writer, editor, and lecturer, known for her relationship and subsequent break with philosopher Ayn Rand.-Life:...

 (one of Rand's former associates and Nathaniel Branden

Nathaniel Branden

Nathaniel Branden, né Nathan Blumenthal , is a psychotherapist and writer best known today for his work in the psychology of self-esteem from a humanistic perspective...

's first wife). The screenplay is written by Howard Korder

Howard Korder

Howard Korder is an American screenwriter and playwright. He is the author of the 1988 coming-of-age play Boy's Life, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nomination. His play Search and Destroy was adapted into a film in 1995. Among the screenplays he has written are The Passion of Ayn...

 and Mary Gallagher

Mary Gallagher

Mary Gallagher is an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, actress, director and teacher. For six years, she was artistic director of Gypsy, a theatre company in the Hudson Valley, New York, which collaborated with many artists to create site-specific mask-and-puppet music-theatre with...

.

Plot

The film stars Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...

 as the philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....

, who engages in an affair with a psychologist 25 years her junior by the name of Nathaniel Branden

Nathaniel Branden

Nathaniel Branden, né Nathan Blumenthal , is a psychotherapist and writer best known today for his work in the psychology of self-esteem from a humanistic perspective...

, played by Eric Stoltz

Eric Stoltz

Eric Hamilton Stoltz is an American actor, director and producer. He is widely known for playing the role of Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film Mask, which earned him the nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture...

. Branden built up an institute to spread Rand's ideas, but the two eventually had a falling out. The film also stars Julie Delpy

Julie Delpy

Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...

 as Branden's wife, Barbara, and Peter Fonda

Peter Fonda

Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...

 as Rand's husband Frank O'Connor.

Cast

Actor	Role
Helen Mirren Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...	Ayn Rand Ayn Rand Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
Eric Stoltz Eric Stoltz Eric Hamilton Stoltz is an American actor, director and producer. He is widely known for playing the role of Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film Mask, which earned him the nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture...	Nathaniel Branden Nathaniel Branden Nathaniel Branden, né Nathan Blumenthal , is a psychotherapist and writer best known today for his work in the psychology of self-esteem from a humanistic perspective...
Julie Delpy Julie Delpy Julie Delpy is a French-American actress, director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa , The Voyager , Three Colors: White , Before Sunrise...	Barbara Branden Barbara Branden Barbara Branden is an American Objectivist writer, editor, and lecturer, known for her relationship and subsequent break with philosopher Ayn Rand.-Life:...
Peter Fonda Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...	Frank O'Connor

Critical reception

Based on reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, the film has an overall approval rating from critics of 80%, with an average

Weighted mean

The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...

 score of 6.8/10. Writing in Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

, David Kronke called the film "an ambitious, visually sumptuous attempt to depict a bizarre element of a controversial personality's life". Kronke went on to say, "Unfortunately, its insistence on maintaining a detached point of view towards its characters - or, rather, no point of view at all, as the filmmakers seem reticent to offend either Rand fans or detractors - renders it dramatically inert."

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
1999	Emmy Award Emmy Award An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Helen Mirren Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...	Won
		Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Peter Fonda Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...	Nominated
2000	Golden Globe	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV	Peter Fonda Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...	Won
		Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV	Helen Mirren Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...	Nominated
	PGA Awards	Television Producer of the Year Award in Longform	Peter Crane, Linda Curran Wexelblatt, Marilyn Lewis, Irwin Meyer, Steven Hewitt	Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards Screen Actors Guild Awards A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries	Helen Mirren Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...	Nominated
		Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries	Peter Fonda Peter Fonda Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...	Nominated

External links