Home \ Signature Roles \ Klute (1971) — Jane Fonda
JANE FONDA · 1971 · SIGNATURE ROLES
Bree Daniels is a New York call girl who is also an aspiring actress, and Jane Fonda plays her as a woman who has learned to perform for everyone — clients, cops, herself — and who is terrified of being seen clearly.
Bree Daniels is a New York call girl who is also an aspiring actress, and Jane Fonda plays her as a woman who has learned to perform for everyone — clients, cops, herself — and who is terrified of being seen clearly. When a detective arrives asking about a missing friend, Bree’s defenses become the film’s subject: the tape-recorded therapy sessions, the apartment she keeps immaculate, the wit she uses as armor.
Director Alan J. Pakula shoots Bree in long, still takes that let Fonda’s face do the work, and the performance won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. It is a thriller that is really a character study, and Fonda’s Bree — funny, frightened, furious at being a victim — is why it endures.
