Directed by: Susan Lacy
Starring: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Ted Turner, Troy Garrity, Sam Waterston, Tom Hayden
The first four acts of Jane Fonda in Five Acts are named for the most influential men in certain period's of the actor/activist's life. Act One is Henry (Jane's famous father), Act Two is Vadim (Director Roger Vadim, Jane's first husband), Act Three is Tom (Tom Hayden, Jane's second husband), Act Four is Ted (Ted Turner, Jane's third husband), and Act Five is finally Jane. In this act, Jane Fonda lives on her own terms after decades of turmoil and introspection. She is a beautiful, intelligent, fascinating subject; capable of self-criticism, regret, and reflection.
Jane Fonda in Five Acts isn't hagiography. She fearlessly revisits her tumultuous upbringing with a mentally ill mother who committed suicide when Jane was thirteen and her famous actor father who was beloved my millions of moviegoers but was cold, distant, and angry at home. Henry's relationship with his children heavily influenced her decision to enter acting and move to France to forge her own path. That is where she met, fell in love with, and married French director Roger Vadim (or Vadim as Jane calls him), who cast her in 1968's cult classic Barbarella. Jane had one daughter with Vadim, named Vanessa, who does not appear in the documentary. Jane encapsulates their troubled relationship near the end of the film, in which doubts and regrets are expressed over whether she was the best mother she could be. Considering her role models, Jane never felt as if she was capable of the love and affection her daughter needed from her.
After a divorce from Vadim, Jane marries activist Tom Hayden, who taught Jane to tap into her own well of discontent to rally against the Vietnam War (including the notorious "Hanoi Jane" photos taken with members of the Viet Cong) and numerous other equal rights and anti-big business causes. Jane and Tom didn't live the opulent lifestyle befitting a Hollywood star. They lived in a small house with no dishwasher or washing machine, almost in communal fashion with their neighbors. They didn't just talk the talk. The famed Jane Fonda Workout videos and books were created in order to fund a charity creating by Jane and Tom. The book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for two years.
The exhausting activist schedule soon took its toll on her marriage to Tom and they divorced, producing one son (actor Troy Garrity, who discusses what is was like to have parents so heavy into activism), and adopting another. Not long after divorcing Tom Hayden, Jane is asked out by billionaire media mogul Ted Turner, who is the sort of person she and Tom were rallying against for years. But, Turner was charismatic, charming, and shared Jane's love of nature. They married, with Jane withdrawing from her acting career to be Mrs. Ted Turner. It was Ted's neediness and desire to have Jane around him at all times which caused the marital troubles which ended in an amicable divorce. A touching visit to Turner's Montana ranch is shown late in the film, in which Jane refers to him as "my favorite ex-husband,"
Jane Fonda in Five Acts doesn't simply focus on her personal life, but also about the genesis of roles which won her Oscars (Klute, Coming Home) and bringing On Golden Pond to the screen, in which she co-starred with her father (he won an Oscar for the film). On Golden Pond acted as an onscreen reconciliation between Henry and Jane, which adds extra emotional depth to an extraordinary film.
Other films such as The China Syndrome were made to warn of dangers involving unchecked nuclear power. Weeks after The China Syndrome was released in 1979, the disaster at Three Mile Island occurred, proving the movie to be more prophetic than it ever expected to be.
Jane Fonda in Five Acts courageously gives us not only the Jane Fonda we thought we knew, but the one we didn't. There were stories of Henry Fonda's lack of affection which belied some of his more famous roles in which he played compassionate protagonists, but until now, we gain the full scope of how it affected Jane's future relationships and her own self-esteem. She laments losing a part of herself in each of her marriages, while at least learning enough lessons to present us all with an engaging and uplifting final act. She now stars in Grace and Frankie, which will soon be delivering its seventh season on Netflix, and at age 82, Jane Fonda seems to have reconciled with her past and continues to act, speak out for causes, and even get arrested. The 2010's are like the 1970's for Jane Fonda all over again, but without the self-doubt and ghosts haunting her.
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