Mrs. Soffel

In early 1902, a pair of brother inmates at a Pittsburgh county jail, sentenced to death following their conviction on a murder charge, escaped with the help of the jail warden’s wife, Kate Soffel, who then accompanied the men when they fled north in a desperate bid to evade recapture. Eight decades later, when MGM, seeking a director to shoot Ray Nyswaner’s fictionalized screenplay about the jailbreak, recruited Gillian Armstrong for the project, the Australian auteur would become one of the first non-American women hired to direct a major Hollywood studio production. Starring Diane Keaton in the title role alongside Mel Gibson and Matthew Modine as prisoners Ed and Jack Biddle, the resulting film offers a layered portrayal of unruly desires and liberatory impulses, showcasing Armstrong’s signature talent for infusing finely wrought period ambiance with real feeling and immediacy