Glenn Close Channels Theda Bara in Maxie (1985)

Abstract

Maxie (1985) is a lightweight comedy that was clearly designed to exploit the extraordinary range of Glenn Close.¹ She had been in films for ten years and had impressed audiences with The World According to Garp (1982), The Big Chill (1983), and The Natural (1984), but it would be her next film, Fatal Attraction (1987), which would make her a star. Maxie called for her to play a dual role: Jan, a mousy and repressed church secretary who unintentionally starts channeling the spirit of a 1920s flapper, and Maxie, the very spirit of a silent film actress who died on the way to a breakout screen test. Jan’s husband, Nick (Mandy Patinkin), summons Maxie’s spirit after they rent her old apartment, discover her lipstick graffiti behind the old wallpaper, and learn about her from her former song and dance partner. Since Nick is an ardent lover of silent film, he arranges to watch her only existing scene.