Gilliatt, Penelope

Penelope Gilliatt
Born	Penelope Ann Douglass Conner March 25, 1932 London, United Kingdom
Died	May 9, 1993 London, United Kingdom
Occupation	Film critic and novelist

Penelope Gilliatt (/ˈdʒɪliət/; born Penelope Ann Douglass Conner; 25 March 1932 – 9 May 1993) was an English novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and film critic. As one of the main film critics for The New Yorker magazine in the 1960s and 1970s, Gilliatt was known for her detailed descriptions and evocative reviews. A writer of short stories, novels, non-fiction books, and screenplays, Gilliatt was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for 1971's Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Gilliatt began her work as a film and theater critic with London's The Observer, where she wrote numerous reviews between 1961 and 1967. In 1967, she began a column in The New Yorker, in which she alternated for six-month intervals with Pauline Kael as that publication's chief film critic. Gilliatt's column ran from late spring to early fall, and Kael's for the remainder of the year. The contrasting perspectives of Kael and Gilliatt were a significant attraction to the magazine. Gilliatt's criticism tended to focus on visual metaphors and imagery, describing scenes from films in detail in her characteristically grandiose style. She also prided herself on knowing actors and directors personally, and tended to interweave her acquaintance with them into reviews of their films. Many of Gilliatt's readers appreciated her colorful and detailed writing, while other readers saw her style as distracting and superfluous to film criticism, and felt that her description of films was too complete.

Gilliatt wrote profiles on many directors, with her favorite directors including Ingmar Bergman, Jean Renoir, Luis Beñuel, Jeanne Moreau, and Woody Allen.

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