Mona Simpson pres.: One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Director: Milos Forman, Milos Forman, Milos Forman

1975 / 133min / DCP

Mona Simpson, esteemed author and publisher of The Paris Review, comes to Metrograph on Saturday, April 8 to celebrate the publication of Commitment, her anticipated seventh novel.

Simpson will present a screening of Miloš Forman’s 1975 film One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, followed by a special conversation in theater with Rebecca Panovka, co-editor of The Drift, that raises questions over the enduring influence of the film today.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Ken Kesey’s 1962 cult novel of the same name found its ideal interpreters in Forman and his star Jack Nicholson, deliciously devilish in the role of Randle “Mac” McMurphy, a rowdy Irish-American reprobate who worms his way out of hard labor in the slammer by copping an insanity plea, only to find life in the mental ward under the dictatorial regime of Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) is no bed of roses. A cinematic blast of rude, rebellious laughter in the face of authority, with a peerless ensemble cast that includes Brad Dourif, Christopher Lloyd, and Danny DeVito.