''Dying Young'' is a 1991 American

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed by

Joel Schumacher Joel T. Schumacher (; August 29, 1939June 22, 2020) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and originally became a fashion designer. He ...

. It is based on a novel of the same name by Marti Leimbach, and stars

Julia Roberts Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles in films encompassing a variety of genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and thr ...

and

Campbell Scott Campbell Scott (born July 19, 1961) is an American actor, producer and director. His roles include Steve Dunne in '' Singles'', Mark Usher in ''House of Cards'', Joseph Tobin in ''Damages'', and Richard Parker in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and ...

with

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

Colleen Dewhurst Colleen Rose Dewhurst (3 June 1924 – 22 August 1991) was a Canadian-American actress mostly known for theatre roles. She was a renowned interpreter of the works of Eugene O'Neill on the stage, and her career also encompassed film, early drama ...

David Selby David Lynn Selby is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for playing Quentin Collins on the daytime soap '' Dark Shadows'' (1968–71) and Richard Channing on the prime-time soap '' Falcon Crest'' (1982–90 ...

, and

Ellen Burstyn Ellen Burstyn (born Edna Rae Gillooly; December 7, 1932) is an American actress. Known for her portrayals of complicated women in dramas, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two Primetime Em ...

. The original music score was composed by

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, music producer and keyboardist. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores i ...

, with the main song "Theme from Dying Young" performed by American saxophonist

Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), known professionally as Kenny G, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and producer. His 1986 album '' Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the best-selling art ...

Plot

Hilary O'Neil is a beautiful, outgoing yet cautious young woman who has had little luck in work or love. After recently parting ways with her boyfriend when she caught him cheating, Hilary finds herself living with her eccentric mother. One day, Hilary answers an ad in a newspaper for a nurse only to find herself being escorted out before the interview starts. Victor Geddes is a well-educated, rich, and shy 28-year-old. As the film progresses, Victor's health worsens progressively, due to

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

. Despite his father's protests, Victor hires Hilary to be his live-in caretaker while he undergoes a traumatic course of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemother ...

. Hilary becomes insecure of her ability to care for Victor after her first exposure to the side effects of his chemotherapy treatment. She researches leukemia and stocks healthier food in the kitchen. Victor is "finished" with his chemotherapy and suggests they take a vacation to the coast. They rent a house and Hilary begins to feel that she is no longer needed to care for him. They fall in love and continue living at the coast. Victor hides his use of morphine to kill the pain. During dinner with one of the friends they made at the coast, Victor starts acting aggressively and irrationally. He collapses and is helped to bed. Hilary searches the garbage and discovers his used syringes. She confronts him and he admits he was not finished with his chemotherapy. Victor explains that he wants quality in his life and Hilary says that he has been lying to her. She calls his father, who comes to take him home, but Victor wants to stay for one last Christmas party. Hilary and Victor reconnect at the party and he tells her that he is leaving with his father to go back to the hospital in the morning. After speaking with Victor's father, who says Victor wants to spend one night alone before leaving, Hilary goes back to the house they rented only to find Victor packing clothes, ready to run away and not go with his father to the hospital. Hilary confronts him about running away and Victor admits that he is afraid of hoping. At this confession, Hilary finally tells Victor she loves him and they then decide to go back to the hospital, where he will fight for his life with Hilary. The last scene of the film shows Victor and Hilary leaving the house, which has a small picture of

Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 – February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for his paintings, murals, sketches, and other objets d'art. Klimt's pri ...

's ''Adam and Eve'' (the first painting Victor shows Hilary) in the window.

Cast

as Hilary O'Neil *

as Victor Geddes *

as Gordon *

as Estelle Whittier *

as Mrs. O'Neil *

as Richard Geddes *

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Be ...

as Malachi * A.J. Johnson as Shauna

Music

The original music score was composed by

, with the main song "Theme from Dying Young" performed by American saxophonist

, it was nominated for a

Best Pop Instrumental Performance The Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded between 1969 and 2011. *In 1969 it was awarded as Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental *From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance ...

. The soundtrack was released on July 2, 1991 by

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainment ...

Reception

Prior to its original 1991 release, ''

Premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its firs ...

'' magazine predicted the film to be the highest-grossing movie that summer. ''Dying Young'' grossed $33.6 million domestically and $48.6 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $82.2 million.

Critical response

The film earned mainly negative reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an approval rating of 25% based on 40 reviews with the following consensus: "''Dying''s easy; it's making audiences care about the romance at the heart of this inert drama that proves difficult." Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film 2/4 and wrote: "Dying Young is a long, slow slog of a movie, up to its knees in drippy self-pity as it marches wearily toward its inevitable ending."''

Variety magazine ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

'' wrote: "Julia's hot; Dying Young is lukewarm." The film was nominated for 3 MTV Movie Awards at the

1992 MTV Movie Awards The 1992 MTV Movie Awards was hosted by Dennis Miller. Performers *En Vogue — "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" *Ugly Kid Joe — " Everything About You" *Arrested Development — "Tennessee" *Vince Neil — " You're Invited (But Your Fri ...

: 'Best Female Performance' and 'Most Desirable Female' for

, and 'Best Breakthrough Performance' for

References

External links

* * * *
''Dying Young production notes''
{{Sally Field 1991 films 1991 romantic drama films 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 20th Century Fox films American romantic drama films Films about cancer Films based on American novels Films based on romance novels Films directed by Joel Schumacher Films scored by James Newton Howard