Editing Faye Dunaway (section)

=== 1969–1973: Career setbacks ===
[[File:Faye Dunaway on the set of A Place for Lovers, 1968.jpg|thumb|Dunaway in ''[[A Place for Lovers]]'' (1968)|278x278px]]
Following the completion of ''The Thomas Crown Affair'', Dunaway leapfrogged France's [[French New Wave|new wave]] directors to begin filming in Italy [[Vittorio de Sica]]'s romantic drama, ''[[A Place for Lovers]]'' (1968). This film was with [[Marcello Mastroianni]], in which she played a terminally ill American fashion designer in Venice who has a whirlwind affair with a race-car driver. Although Dunaway had always wanted to avoid romances with her co-stars, she began a love affair with Mastroianni that lasted for two years.{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=189}} The film was an artistic disappointment and a commercial failure. In 1969, Dunaway appeared in [[The Arrangement (1969 film)|''The Arrangement'']], a drama directed by [[Elia Kazan]], based upon his novel of the same title, opposite [[Kirk Douglas]]. The film did poorly at the box office, receiving mostly negative reviews, although Dunaway was praised, with Roger Ebert writing that her acting "is not only the equal of in ''Bonnie and Clyde'', but is, indeed, the only good acting she has done since".<ref name="ebert-arrangement"/> Vincent Canby of ''The New York Times'' wrote that she was "looking so cool and elegant that the sight of her almost pinches the optic nerves".<ref name="nytimes-arrangement"/> Also in 1969, ''[[The Extraordinary Seaman]]'', a comedy adventure directed by [[John Frankenheimer]] and also starring [[David Niven]] that she shot right after ''Bonnie and Clyde'', was released to poor reviews and proved to be a commercial failure. Despite protests from her agent, Dunaway turned down many high-profile projects to spend time with Mastroianni.{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=197}}

In 1969, Dunaway took a supporting role as a favor to Arthur Penn in his Western, ''[[Little Big Man (film)|Little Big Man]]''.{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=198}} In a rare comic role, Dunaway played the sexually repressed wife of a minister who helps raise and seduce a boy raised by Native Americans, played by [[Dustin Hoffman]]. The film was widely praised by critics and was one of Dunaway's few commercial successes at this point. That same year, she appeared in the lead role in ''[[Puzzle of a Downfall Child]]'' (1970), an experimental drama directed by [[Jerry Schatzberg]] and inspired by the life of model [[Anne St. Marie]]. The film failed to generate commercial interest, though it earned for Dunaway a second Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. The film remained in obscurity over 40 years, until it was revived at the [[2011 Cannes Film Festival]] in honor of Dunaway.<ref name="cannes-poster"/> Involved in domestic issues in Italy with Mastroianni, after some months away from the industry, she finally found her next role in the Western ''[[Doc (film)|Doc]]'' (1971), which tells the story of the [[gunfight at the O.K. Corral]] and of one of its protagonists, [[Doc Holliday]]. During the filming, Dunaway realized how much she had missed working.{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=208}} That same year, she went on to make the French thriller ''[[The Deadly Trap]]'' with her Lincoln Center compatriot [[Frank Langella]]. Rather than working with a director from the already crested new wave, [[Jean-Luc Godard]], who had originally made contributions to the first script of ''Bonnie and Clyde'', she worked with the French postwar director, who was held in the highest respect, [[René Clément]].{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=214}} Only five months after the first day of shooting, the film was screened at the [[1971 Cannes Film Festival]] but was not entered into the main competition.

Neither ''Doc'' nor ''The Deadly Trap'' had generated much attention, either critically or financially, so Dunaway accepted an offer to star in a movie for television, ''The Woman I Love'' (1972), in which she portrayed [[Wallis Simpson]].{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=227}} She returned to film in 1973 with [[Stanley Kramer]]'s drama, ''[[Oklahoma Crude (film)|Oklahoma Crude]]'', opposite [[George C. Scott]]. It was an ambitious project in which Dunaway had to play another complex character, "a woman who is caught between her ambition and her femininity. When the film opens, she is as tough as nails, a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later woman. Along the way, she slowly opens herself up to her estranged father and a lover. I understood that dilemma well, the conflict between ambition and love, the fear of trusting someone else with your love."{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=220}} The film was a modest success, but Dunaway received good notices for her performance. In his review of the film, Roger Ebert noted how she had never topped the work she did in ''Bonnie and Clyde'', and said that her career had been "rather absentminded" ever since. He praised her performance in ''Oklahoma Crude'', saying that she played the role with "a great deal of style," while adding, "Perhaps she has decided to get back to acting."<ref name="ebert-oklahoma"/>

In 1972, following the filming of ''Oklahoma Crude'', Dunaway returned to the stage in an adaptation of [[Harold Pinter]]'s ''[[Old Times]]''. She found the stage more challenging than film.{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=233}} "''Old Times'' affected me in a lot of very complex ways. The play itself reminded me during a difficult point in my life that there are a million facets to life. There is never just one answer. Professionally, if I hadn't taken that step to go back to the stage, in a serious way, I think I would have suffered for it."{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=233}} The following year, Dunaway portrayed [[Blanche DuBois]] in a Los Angeles stage production of [[Tennessee Williams]]'s ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire]]''. "It was a fun performance for me, but hard, very draining. At the height of the madness each night, I would go from standing straight up to falling to my knees, in one swift move."{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=241}} Williams himself praised Dunaway for her performance, "He told me later that he thought I was brave and adorable and reminded him of a precocious child, and that my performance ranked with the very best. It was high praise indeed coming from him."{{sfnb|Dunaway|1995|p=242}} Also in 1973, Dunaway appeared as the villainous [[Milady de Winter]] in [[Richard Lester]]'s ''[[The Three Musketeers (1973 live-action film)|The Three Musketeers]]'', based on [[Alexandre Dumas]]' [[The Three Musketeers|novel of the same name]], co-starring [[Michael York]], [[Oliver Reed]], [[Richard Chamberlain]], and [[Charlton Heston]]. Eventually, producers decided to split the film into two parts: ''The Three Musketeers'' and ''[[The Four Musketeers (1974 film)|The Four Musketeers]]'' (released in 1974). Critics and audiences alike praised the film for its action and its comic tone, and it was the first in a line of successful projects for Dunaway.