Littman's Testament Gets Criterion Blu-ray Release
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- "Testament" (1983), directed by documentary filmmaker Lynne Littman and adapted from Carol Amen's 1981 short story "The Last Testament," arrives on Blu-ray via the Criterion Collection on March 17, with extra features including some of Littman's earlier documentaries
- The low-budget indie, produced for PBS' "American Playhouse," secured a theatrical release and earned Jane Alexander a Best Actress Oscar nomination for playing a mother who loses her family one by one after a nuclear attack
- Littman, a first-time fiction director, cast children who already resembled their characters and shot home-movie footage first so the actors could bond as a family before principal filming — a documentary-style technique she credited for the film's intimacy
- Alexander called the contained, non-spectacular approach — "we don't see the missiles flying" — central to its power, and said it was the only feature she ever made with a woman director, praising Littman's attention to domestic details like sheets and kitchen items
- William Devane was the only actor Littman clashed with; Alexander speculated he was "jealous" because his character disappears from the narrative early, while Littman recalled telling him, "I know more about this story than you ever will"
- Littman and cinematographer Steven Poster deliberately made the film "more beautiful as the story gets uglier," intending the horror to emerge from the loss of ordinary life rather than spectacle
Why it matters: The Criterion release lands as Alexander warns nuclear dangers have worsened — "anybody can run tests in the atmosphere" — giving a 40-year-old minimalist drama about a family's quiet annihilation renewed urgency. The package also bundles Littman's documentary shorts as bonus features, connecting the film to the career of a director who never wanted to leave nonfiction in the first place.
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