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CODA is a 2021 coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Sian Heder. An English-language remake of the 2014 French-Belgian film La Famille Bélier, it stars Emilia Jones as the titular child of deaf adults (CODA) and only hearing member of a deaf family, who attempts to help her family's struggling fishing business, while pursuing her own aspirations of being a singer. The American version uses deaf actors to play the deaf characters who use American Sign language. Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin are featured in supporting roles. An international co-production between the United States and France with La Famille Bélier producer Philippe Rousselet reprising his role as producer, it was filmed on location in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the United States.

CODA
Official release poster
Directed by	Sian Heder
Screenplay by	Sian Heder
Based on	La Famille Bélier by Victoria Bedos Thomas Bidegain Stanislas Carré de Malberg Éric Lartigau
Produced by	Fabrice Gianfermi Philippe Rousselet Jerôme Seydoux Patrick Wachsberger
Starring	Emilia Jones Eugenio Derbez Troy Kotsur Ferdia Walsh-Peelo Daniel Durant Marlee Matlin
Cinematography	Paula Huidobro
Edited by	Geraud Brisson
Music by	Marius de Vries
Production companies	Apple Original Films Pathé Films Vendôme Pictures
Distributed by	Apple Studios
Release dates	January 28, 2021 (2021-01-28) (Sundance) August 13, 2021 (2021-08-13) (United States)
Running time	111 minutes
Countries	France United States
Languages	American Sign Language English
Budget	$10 million[1]
Box office	$1.6 million[2]

CODA had its world premiere on January 28, 2021, at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where Apple acquired its distribution rights for a festival-record $25 million. The film was released in theaters and through the Apple TV+ streaming service on August 13, 2021. It received positive reviews from critics, although feedback from deaf viewers was polarized. It was named one of the top 10 films of 2021 by the American Film Institute.

CODA won numerous awards, including the three nominations it received at the 94th Academy Awards – Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Kotsur, and Best Adapted Screenplay – becoming the first film both distributed by a streaming service and the first film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to win Best Picture.[3] The film also won the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, while the cast won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Plot

In Gloucester, Massachusetts, Ruby Rossi is the only hearing member of her family; her parents, Frank and Jackie, and older brother, Leo, are all deaf. She assists with the family fishing business and plans to join it full-time after high school. One day Ruby impulsively signs up for choir at her school. The music teacher, Mr Villalobos encourages Ruby to sing. He assigns her to sing a duet with Miles, a boy she likes. She struggles to balance music practice with Mr Villalobos, duet practice with Miles, and the family business. Her family struggles to run their business without Ruby to interpret for them to the hearing world. This puts Ruby in a hard position when she auditions for Berklee College of Music in Boston and is accepted. Eventually her parents and brother become supportive, they hire a hearing person to work with them, and insist she go to Boston for college.

Cast

• Emilia Jones as Ruby Rossi
• Troy Kotsur as Frank Rossi, Ruby's father
• Marlee Matlin as Jackie Rossi, Ruby's mother
• Daniel Durant as Leo Rossi, Ruby's brother
• Eugenio Derbez as Bernardo "Mr. V" Villalobos, the high school choir director
• Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as Miles, Ruby's love interest
• Amy Forsyth as Gertie, Ruby's best friend
• Kevin Chapman as Brady

Production

Development and writing

CODA, written and directed by Sian Heder, is an English-language remake of the French-language film La Famille Bélier, which was released in 2014 and was successful at the French box office. Philippe Rousselet was one of the original film's producers, and he had the rights to do a remake.[4] He and producer Patrick Wachsberger approached Heder to direct a remake for a United States audience.[5] Heder said, "They were interested in adapting the film, but they wanted someone to make it unique and take the premise from the original and, also, reinvent it."[4] By May 2019, the companies Pathé Films and Vendôme Group had formed a film production partnership to develop and produce English-language films, with the first being CODA.[6]

CODA is set in Gloucester, Massachusetts. While its predecessor La Famille Bélier was set on a rural dairy farm in France, Heder chose to set CODA in Gloucester, being familiar with the city from visiting the North Shore in the summer when growing up. Heder explained, "For me, it has the combination of being very picturesque and quintessentially New England but also with a working-class grit to it."[4] Heder learned American Sign Language in the process of writing the script, with 40% of it ultimately being in ASL.[4] The director was helped by two deaf collaborators whom she called "ASL masters", Alexandria Wailes and Anne Tomasetti.[5]

To prepare for the film, Heder observed a fish processing plant and consulted the local harbormaster about how authorities would raid a boat. She received feedback from director Kenneth Lonergan—who directed the 2016 film Manchester by the Sea, which was set in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts[7]—and members of the fishing-industry nonprofit Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association. Several consultants and a fisherman educated Heder in local fishing practices.[7]

Casting

Heder first cast Marlee Matlin in CODA. During the development process, the film's financiers resisted casting deaf actors for the remaining deaf characters. Matlin threatened to drop out unless deaf actors were cast, and the financiers ultimately relented.[8]

Heder described the casting as an opportunity for Matlin to play against type, her previous roles having been "'put-together' and classy characters". Heder said, "Marlee, in real life, is much more funny, and she has a dirty sense of humor. This (role) was a working-class fisherman's wife, and she has a lot of elements of her personality that were very right for this character." Matlin used her connections with Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles, California, to help Heder find additional deaf actors. Heder saw Troy Kotsur in a Deaf West production and cast him as the fisherman and father. She cast Daniel Durant after finding him through auditions. Matlin, Kotsur, and Durant were already familiar with one other through their collaboration on the Deaf West production of the musical Spring Awakening.[4]

Matlin described her interest in getting CODA made, "I felt that audiences would really see deaf people in a film ... There are so many levels for people to identify with and, for people with no connection, who have never met a deaf person, to see sign language, to see deaf people in normal, day-to-day settings ... People think that deaf people are monolithic in how they approach life. And this film bursts that myth ... But to burst that myth, it had to be told as authentically as possible. And it's strange because studios clearly have the ability to greenlight a film and cast whomever they want, and there continues to be a lack of awareness that you can tell universal stories with deaf characters."[8] Kotsur said, "You have to think a little bit outside the box and present more opportunities, instead of just having two options ... You know, you write this script because somebody's deaf, or I'm writing it because it's a character that happens to be deaf. There's a distinction there."[5]

For the deaf actors, Heder hired a rotating group of ASL interpreters that facilitated communication with signing and speaking among the cast and crew.[4] She connected with the deaf community in nearby Boston to secure the interpreters for on-set communication.[7] Matlin said, "[Heder] really immersed herself into our culture and made every attempt to learn and to work with us and having two directors of sign language on the set, plus interpreters, plus the crew who learned our language, everyone working together, it was working like on any other set, but the sign language aspect made it extra special."[9]

The director also auditioned hundreds of teenage girls before casting Emilia Jones as the hearing member of the deaf family. Jones took voice lessons and learned ASL for nine months before filming started. Heder also chose to cast Eugenio Derbez as the girl's choirmaster, seeing him as a fit for her "amalgamation of Heder's college rhythm teacher and her high school drama and English teachers".[4]

Filming

The film was shot on location in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the middle of 2019.[7]

In the film, the family lives in what WBUR's The ARTery described as a "creaky clapboard cottage [with] a yard jammed with boats, traps and nets". During location scouting, Heder came across what she found to be the ideal house for the family home and received permission from its residents to use it as a filming location. The choirmaster's home was a Victorian-style house on the sea, where Heder had visited family friends multiple times in her childhood, and they allowed her to film there.[7]

A fisherman who educated Heder in local fishing practices allowed his fishing trawler to be used as a film set. Scenes set in a flooded quarry were filmed at the Steel Derrick quarry in Rockport, Massachusetts.[7]

Music

Marius de Vries composed the film's soundtrack and had compiled and co-produced the album with Nicholai Baxter, featuring original score and incorporated songs.[10] Speaking on creating music for the film, which had predominantly deaf characters playing the leading roles, he called it as his "biggest challenge" and added that the music should be strong to connect with the emotions.[11] Most of the incorporated songs in the film, were recorded live and sung by the lead actors Emilia Jones and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, accompanied by the CODA choir, who are students at Berklee College of Music and Gloucester High School.[12][13] The soundtrack also featured an original song sung by Jones, titled "Beyond the Shore" which is played during the end credits of the film.[14] The soundtrack album was released by Republic Records on August 13, 2021, coinciding with the film's release.[15]

Release

Screening

CODA had its world premiere on January 28, 2021, at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival as one of the opening-day films.[16] It screened as part of the festival's US Dramatic Competition.[17] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States at the time, CODA was screened virtually.[7]

The film received "immediate rave reviews", according to Agence France Presse, which highlighted the positive comments from Variety and Deadline Hollywood.[18] IndieWire wrote, "[Heder] has reportedly crafted a crowd-pleasing tearjerker whose commercial promise will easily spark a bidding war between theatrical distributors and deep-pocketed streamers."[19] USA Today summarized the reception, "Propelled by its powerful inclusivity of the deaf community, it's a refreshing reboot of the traditional teen romance and coming-of-age story."[9]

Two days after CODA's premiere, Apple acquired distribution rights to the film for a festival-record $25 million.[20] At Sundance, CODA won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize, U.S. Dramatic Audience Award, and a Special Jury Ensemble Cast Award. The film's director Sian Heder won Best Director in the U.S. Dramatic section.[21]

In March 2022, CODA was screened at the Family Theater of the White House.[22][23]

Theatrical and streaming

The film was released in theaters and through the streaming service Apple TV+ in selected countries on August 13, 2021.[24] IndieWire estimated the film grossed around $100,000 in its domestic opening weekend.[25]

Apple spent about $10 million on the film's award campaign.[26] Free screenings in select theaters were also held February 25–27, 2022.[27] By March 20, 2022, the film had been streamed in 973,000 households in the United States, including 375,000 since the Oscar nomination announcements on February 8.[28] In the three days following its Best Picture win, the film saw a 300% increase in views from the previous week and was the most-streamed program on Apple TV+. It was also re-released into 600 theaters the following Friday.[29]

According to Kotsur, the film was initially rated R "for language," as displayed in the subtitles during the deaf characters' dialogue in some scenes, but after several "back-and-forths" and fights with the MPA, it was ultimately reduced to PG-13 "for strong sexual content and language, and drug use" months before its official release. Kotsur added "...vulgar sign language is just a part of our culture. But are you hearing people ready? That's why it was so cool. It's fascinating to see that in the script".[30]

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 94% of 282 reviews of the film were positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "CODA's story offers few surprises, but strong representation and a terrific cast—led by Emilia Jones' brilliant performance—bring this coming-of-age story vividly to life."[31] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[32]

The Guardian-based Benjamin Lee's 3-star review summarised "Coda is a mostly likable concoction, but one that's just too formulaic and ultimately rather calculated to secure the emotional response it so desperately wants by the big finale."[33] Writing for The New York Times, editor Jeannette Catsoulis summarised it as "An openhearted embrace of deaf culture elevates this otherwise conventional tale of a talented teenager caught between ambition and loyalty".[34] Variety's Owen Gilberman stated that Sian Heder got the gift, "the holy essence of how to shape and craft a drama that spins and burbles and flows".[35] He claimed that the film "brings this all off with such sincerity and precision" and is so "enthrallingly well-acted, that you may come away feeling grateful that this kind of mainstream dramatic craftsmanship still exists", and also praised Jones and Kotsur's performances.[35]

The Hollywood Reporter's Jon Frosch opined "CODA faithfully works its way through a checklist of tropes from high school comedies, disability dramas, musical-prodigy and inspiring-teacher narratives, coming-of-age tales about young people struggling to declare independence from overbearing families and indie chronicles of blue-collar America."[36] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post called it as "an old-fashioned movie that adheres to admittedly familiar principles of storytelling and emotional stakes, but by way of such a winning cast, evocative atmosphere and genuine tone that its impossible not to love".[37] RogerEbert.com based critic Tomris Laffly wrote "It's not that Heder doesn't embrace the aforesaid conventions for all their comforting worth—she does. But by twisting the formula and placing this recognizable story inside a new, perhaps even groundbreaking setting with such loving, acutely observed specificity, she pulls off nothing short of a heartwarming miracle with her film."[38] Brian Lowry of CNN wrote it as "small movie that hits all the right notes".[39]

In contrast, Tim Robey, writing for The Telegraph, criticised it as "dramedy that have taken more risks", and added "Heder's script makes every easy and rigged choice available, reducing far too many of the family dynamics to the level of a bickering sitcom." Comparing it with the Darius Marder-directed Sound of Metal (2020), which was "a genuinely adventurous, formally experimental take on deaf issues", he wrote CODA "feels too cute by half".[40]

Response from the deaf community

USA Today reported deaf viewers' varied reactions to the film. They praised the casting and performances of deaf actors, and found the depiction of deaf characters as self-sufficient and sexually active people to be in welcome contrast to previous depictions on screen. Delbert Whetter, vice chair of nonprofit RespectAbility, said, "After seeing so many stories where people with disabilities are depicted as helpless, forlorn souls needing to be rescued, it is so refreshing to see a story with Deaf characters that are small business owners and leaders in their fishing community, with depth and nuance that rival and even exceed that of their hearing counterparts in the story." Deaf writer Sara Nović also said, "I liked that these characters were sexual beings—deaf and disabled people are often neutered or virginal in movies and books, and that's extremely boring and inaccurate."[41]

Jenna Beacom, a sensitivity reader and young adult author, found much of the film "misrepresented, especially deaf people's competence and ability to thrive in 2021", and said that, while "thrilled that the movie exists, in the sense of contributing to more deaf representation and hopefully more opportunities for even better representation", she was "very disturbed by how negatively the movie portrays the deaf and CODA experiences."[41] A deaf parent of a singer herself, Beacom found the film's assumption "that being deaf means that you can't enjoy music, or understand anyone else's enjoyment" to be unfounded.[42] Nović also said, "I actually think the story of a first-gen college student, just without the music—she could have been studying anything—is more compelling, anyway ... I don't think that we needed the music part for this to be an interesting story."[43] Other viewers also criticized the portrayal of deaf characters' inability to appreciate music as a trope common in films featuring deaf characters, such as Mr. Holland's Opus, Beyond Silence, and Sound of Metal.[44][45] Lennard Davis, a CODA and disability scholar, wrote, "this genre of films is glued to a different reality: it is as if birds were obsessed with making movies in which humans were miserable about their inability to fly."[45]

The film's depiction of the hearing child interpreting for her parents even in settings where professional interpreters would be required by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, such as a court hearing and medical appointments, received widespread criticism as being misrepresentative.[41][46][47]

Accolades

At the 94th Academy Awards, the film won all three awards that it was nominated for: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Kotsur), and Best Adapted Screenplay.[48] It is the first film produced and/or distributed by a streaming service, the first Sundance film, and the first film featuring predominantly deaf actors in leading roles to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.[49] CODA is also the sixth film and the first since 2018's Green Book to win Best Picture without a director nomination, and the Best Picture winner with the fewest nominations since 1932's Grand Hotel.[50]

CODA was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Supporting Actor (for Kotsur) at the 79th Golden Globe Awards. It received three nominations at the 75th British Academy Film Awards, winning two, including Best Supporting Actor for Kotsur, making him the first deaf person to ever win a BAFTA, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Heder. At the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards, the film made history with Kotsur, Matlin and Durant becoming the first deaf/non-hearing performers to win, along with Jones, Derbez and Walsh-Peelo, for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.[51] At the 33rd Producers Guild of America Awards, the film was also awarded the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture.[52]

CODA was one of 28 films that received the ReFrame Stamp for 2021, awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame for films that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring.[53] The film was also given the Seal of Authentic Representation from the Ruderman Family Foundation for Matlin's and Durant's roles as Ruby's mother and brother. The seal is given to films and series that feature actors with disabilities who have at least five lines of dialogue.[54]

Planned stage musical adaptation

On March 23, 2022, it was reported by The New York Times that in order to keep the film's relevance going after awards season, the film's producers will team up with Deaf West Theatre to develop a stage musical adaptation of the film, with a creative team and production calendar yet to be announced. DJ Kurs, Deaf West's artistic director, expressed excitement for the project by saying "As a Deaf person, I knew from the start that CODA would make a perfect musical: It addresses our relationship with music and how we move through the world of sound like immigrants in a foreign country, learning new, seemingly arbitrary rules on the fly." Like Deaf West's production of Spring Awakening, the musical will incorporate both signing in American Sign Language and live singing.[55]

The report also revealed that Rousselet was originally asked in 2014 about making a stage version of La Famille Bélier prior to this incarnation, but that he and the producers wanted to prioritize making CODA and forging a relationship with Deaf West first before pursuing a stage version. Rousselet further remarked "It's going to be a new adventure for us. But I think it has everything — the characters, the music, the wonderful environment — to make a beautiful musical." Kotsur revealed that he hopes the musical will have its initial staging within two years, possibly hinting at his return to reprise his role as Frank in the production.[55] Kurs also revealed his desire to have Matlin and Durant also come back to reprise their roles as Jackie and Leo, respectively, along with Kotsur.[56]

See also

• Gloucester, Massachusetts § Film
• Khamoshi: The Musical, Indian film released in August 1996 with similar theme
• Beyond Silence, German film released in December 1996 with similar plot
• Children of a Lesser God, released in October 1986 also stars Marlee Matlin and explores similar themes and subjects
• List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing

References

External links

• CODA at IMDb
• Official screenplay

На других языках

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[de] Coda (Film)

Coda ist ein Filmdrama von Siân Heder, das Ende Januar 2021 beim Sundance Film Festival seine Premiere feierte. Am 13. August 2021 kam Coda in die US-Kinos. In dem Coming-of-Age-Film ist die 17-jährige Ruby Rossi, gespielt von Emilia Jones, das einzige hörende Mitglied ihrer ansonsten gehörlosen Familie. Als sie ihre Leidenschaft für das Singen entdeckt, gerät die junge Frau in einen Konflikt zwischen der Verantwortung gegenüber ihrer Familie und ihrem Traum, am Berklee College of Music Gesang zu studieren. Im Rahmen der Oscarverleihung 2022 erhielt Coda insgesamt drei Auszeichnungen, unter anderem als bester Film.

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- [en] CODA (2021 film)

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[es] CODA (película)

CODA (CODA: Señales del corazón en Hispanoamérica) es una película de comedia dramática y coming-of-age que sigue a una adolescente, la única con capacidad auditiva en una familia en la que tanto los padres como un hijo mayor que ella son sordos; se trata, por tanto, de una chica CODA (las siglas en inglés Child Of Deaf Adults: niña de adultos sordo).

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[ru] CODA: Ребёнок глухих родителей

«CODA: Ребёнок глухих родителей» (англ. CODA) — комедийно-драматический фильм 2021 года о взрослении, англоязычный ремейк французской ленты «Семейство Белье» (2014). Режиссёром и автором адаптированного сценария выступила Шан Хейдер. Эмилия Джонс исполнила роль Руби, так называемой CODAruen (англ. child of deaf adult, рус. ребёнок глухих взрослых), единственного слышащего члена семьи, которая изо всех сил пытается сбалансировать свою жизнь, одновременно помогая семейному рыболовному бизнесу и развивая свой певческий талант.

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