Editing The Lost Weekend (section)

==Reception==
[[James Agee]], critic and author, writing in ''[[The Nation (magazine)| The Nation]]'' 1945: "{{nbsp}}... it is unusually hard, tense, cruel, intelligent, and straightforward. But I see nothing in it that is new, sharply individual, or strongly creative. It is, rather, a skillful restatement, satisfying and easy to overrate in a time of general dereliction and fatuousness, of some sound basic commonplaces."<ref>Agee, James - ''Agee on Film Vol. 1'' © 1958 by The James Agee Trust.</ref> [[Leslie Halliwell]] gave it four of four stars, stating: "Startlingly original on its release, this stark little drama keeps its power, especially in the scenes on New York streets and in a dipso ward. It could scarcely have been more effectively filmed."<ref>Halliwell's Film Guide, 7th Edition 1987 ISBN 0-06-016322-4</ref> [[Pauline Kael]] wrote, "{{nbsp}}... an unusually daring popular melodrama{{nbsp}}... The picture lacks fluidity, and the slowly paced scenes seem overcalculated, with each colorful character and tense vignette standing out too sharply; everything is nailed down to a meaning for us. The whole thing is short in imaginative resonance; what it has is the Brackett-Wilder specialty—a distinctive cruel (and sometimes cruelly funny) edge."<ref>Kael, Pauline - ''5001 Nights at the Movies'' 1991 ISBN 0-8050-1366-0</ref> ''[[Leonard Maltin]]'' gave the film four of four stars: "Unrelenting drama of alcoholism—and a landmark of adult film-making."<ref>Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide - Third Edition 2015 ISBN 978-0-14-751682-4</ref>

On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film holds a 97% rating based on 74 reviews. The site's consensus: "Director Billy Wilder's unflinchingly honest look at the effects of alcoholism may have had some of its impact blunted by time, but it remains a powerful and remarkably prescient film."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lost_weekend | title=The Lost Weekend &#124; Rotten Tomatoes | website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] }}</ref>

===Box office performance===
The film was a commercial success. Produced on a budget of $1.25 million, it grossed $11 million at the box office,<ref name="numbers"/> earning $4.3 million in US [[Gross rental|theatrical rentals]].<ref>"All-Time Top Grossers", ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', 8 January 1964 p. 69.</ref>

===Academy Awards===
At the [[18th Academy Awards]] in March 1946, ''The Lost Weekend'' received seven nominations and won in four categories.

{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Category
! Nominee
! Result
! Lost To
|-
|[[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]
|[[Charles Brackett]]
|{{Won}}
|{{N/A}}
|-
|[[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
|[[Billy Wilder]]
|{{Won}}
|{{N/A}}
|-
|[[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
|[[Ray Milland]]
|{{Won}}
|{{N/A}}
|-
|[[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Adapted Screenplay]]
|[[Billy Wilder]] and [[Charles Brackett]]
|{{Won}}
|{{N/A}}
|-
|[[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
|[[John F. Seitz]]
|{{Nom}}
|<small>[[Harry Stradling]] for ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945 film)|The Picture of Dorian Gray]]''</small>
|-
|[[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]]
|[[Miklós Rózsa]]
|{{Nom}}
|<small>[[Miklós Rózsa]] for ''[[Spellbound (1945 film)|Spellbound]]''</small>
|-
|[[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]]
|[[Doane Harrison]]
|{{Nom}}
|<small>Robert J. Kern for ''[[National Velvet (film)|National Velvet]]''</small>
|}

===Cannes Film Festival===
This film also shared the [[1946 in film|1946]] ''[[Palme d'Or|Grand Prix du Festival International du Film]]'' at the first [[Cannes Film Festival]] and [[Ray Milland|Milland]] was awarded [[Prix d'interprétation masculine|Best Actor]]. To date, ''The Lost Weekend'', ''[[Marty (film)|Marty]]'' ([[1955 in film|1955]]), ''[[Parasite (2019 film)|Parasite]]'' ([[2019 in film|2019]]), and ''[[Anora]]'' ([[2024 in film|2024]]) are the only films ever to win both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival. (''Marty'' received the ''[[Palme d'Or]]'' (Golden Palm), which, beginning at the 1955 festival, replaced the ''Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'' as the highest award.)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037884/awards?ref_=tt_awd|title=The Lost Weekend Awards|website=Imdb}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048356/awards?ref_=tt_awd|title=Marty Awards|website=Imdb}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/the-festival/the-palme-d-or|title=The Palme D'or from its creation to the present day|publisher=Festival De Cannes|website=Festival de Cannes Official Website}}</ref>

===National Film Registry===
In 2011, ''The Lost Weekend'' was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States [[Library of Congress]] and selected for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]].<ref name="LOC">{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2011/11-240.html|title=2011 National Film Registry More Than a Box of Chocolates|work=Library of Congress|date=December 28, 2011|access-date=December 28, 2011}}</ref> The Registry said the film was "an uncompromising look at the devastating effects of alcoholism" and that it "melded an expressionistic film-noir style with documentary realism to immerse viewers in the harrowing experiences of an aspiring New York writer willing to do almost anything for a drink."<ref name="LOC"/>