# Under the Volcano (1984 film)

Under the Volcano is a 1984 drama film directed by John Huston and starring Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, and Anthony Andrews, based on Malcolm Lowry's semi-autobiographical 1947 novel. The film follows the last 24 hours in the life of Geoffrey Firmin (Finney), an alcoholic British former consul in the small Mexican town of Quauhnahuac on the Day of the Dead in 1938. The film is an international co-production between Mexico and the United States.
The film premiered at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or. Under the Volcano received Oscar nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Finney's performance and Best Original Score for Alex North’s score, along with Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Finney) and Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (Bisset).

## Plot

On the Day of the Dead in 1938, Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British consul to Mexico, despondent from the yearlong absence of his wife Yvonne, wanders the streets of Quauhnahuac in a stupor, observing the festivities and crashing a Red Cross charity ball. He searches for letters she sent him, unable to remember where he might have left them.
In the morning, Yvonne returns to attempt reconciliation and they are joined by Geoffrey's half-brother, Hugh, who has recently returned from the Spanish Civil War. Hugh is a journalist, investigating a possible plot by the Germans. Both Yvonne and Hugh are alarmed at how far Geoffrey's alcoholism has progressed, to the point that he must drink or suffer delirium tremens. The trio decides to visit by bus one of the twin volcanoes that rise above the town, Popocatepetl. They stop for brunch along the way at a restaurant that overlooks a bullfighting ring. At one point, Hugh jumps in and successfully uses a Muleta (the red capes) with a bull charging him. The crowd celebrates his bravado. Geoffrey finally says aloud the secret they have all avoided discussing, an affair between Yvonne and Hugh.
Geoffrey boards the bus to return, yet gets off at cantina he had mentioned earlier as a place where he might have misplaced the letters. It is also a bordello and upon seeing him, the proprietor/pimp reveals he indeed has the missing letters from Yvonne.

## Cast

* Albert Finney as Geoffrey Firmin
* Jacqueline Bisset as Yvonne Firmin
* Anthony Andrews as Hugh Firmin
* Ignacio López Tarso as Dr. Vigil
* Katy Jurado as Señora Gregoria
* James Villiers as Brit
* Dawson Bray as Quincey
* Carlos Riquelme as Bustamante
* José René Ruiz as the Dwarf
* Emilio Fernández as Diosdado Brell
* Jim McCarthy as Gringo in Brothel
* Hugo Stiglitz as Sinarquista
* Günter Meisner as Herr Krausberg
* Araceli Ladewuen Castelun as Maria
* Eleazar Garcia Jr., Salvador Sánchez, and Sergio Calderón as the Chiefs

## Production
### Development

In the late 1950s, Under the Volcano author Malcolm Lowry adapted his novel into a screenplay and attempted to interest Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to produce it after being hired to adapt F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night. The studio passed and Lowry died in 1957. Actor Zachary Scott optioned the novel in 1962, but after he died his widow sold the rights to brothers Robert and Raymond Hakim.
Guy Gallo, a novice playwright who had written two academic papers on Malcolm Lowry at Yale University, began to write a screenplay.

### Casting

Albert Finney was cast in the lead role of Geoffrey Firmin, Jacqueline Bisset as his wife Yvonne, and Anthony Andrews as his half-brother Hugh. Firmin's friend Dr. Vigil was played by Ignacio López Tarso, an actor lesser known to English-speaking audiences but highly recognized by Mexican ones as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, winning the Ariel Award for Best Actor in 1973 for the Roberto Gavaldón film Rosa Blanca. The supporting cast includes several prominent Mexican filmmaking personalities, including director and occasional actor Emilio Fernández, cult film actor Hugo Stiglitz, and actress Katy Jurado.

### Filming

Principal photography began on August 8, 1983, in the village of Yautepec de Zaragoza, a short car ride from Cuernavaca.

## Reception

The film was entered into the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or.
Upon general release, it received generally positive reviews from critics. Reviewing in The New York Times, Janet Maslin especially praised Finney's performance.

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| Academy Awards | Best Actor | Albert Finney | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | Best Original Score | Alex North | Nominated |
| Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | John Huston | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Albert Finney | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Jacqueline Bisset | Nominated |
| London Critics Circle Film Awards | Actor of the Year | Albert Finney | Won |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actor | Albert Finney | Won |
| National Board of Review Awards | Top Ten Films | Top Ten Films | 10th Place |
| National Society of Film Critics Awards | Best Actor | Albert Finney | Runner-up |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Actor | Albert Finney | Runner-up |

## Related works

Huston's drama has sometimes been shown in tandem with an earlier documentary film: Volcano: An Inquiry Into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry (1976) is a National Film Board of Canada feature-length documentary produced by Donald Brittain and Robert A. Duncan and directed by Brittain and John Kramer. It opens with the inquest into Lowry's "death by misadventure," and then moves back in time to trace the writer's life. Selections from Lowry's novel are read by Richard Burton amid images shot in Mexico, the United States, Canada and England.
There are two documentaries about the making of the Huston film: Gary Conklin's 56-minute Notes from Under the Volcano and the 82-minute Observations Under the Volcano, directed by Christian Blackwood.