Since I've only ever seen Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People, I've always thought of her as a dramatic actress. My mom, on the other hand, is surprised when she's not in a comedy. Heartsounds is an extremely heavy drama, even heavier than we both were expecting when we rented it. Be prepared to be unsettled, incredulous, and frightened that it could and will happen to you.
James Garner stars as a doctor who finds himself on the other side of the white curtain after he has a heart attack. It starts off with small things, like semantics between sending an ambulance and taking a taxi to the hospital, or his wife Mary gets transferred to the wrong ward when she telephones. The bedside manner insults him, as the doctor acts like James is not even in the room and gives his wife all the monotone directions. The mistakes and lack of care escalate to huge, life-threatening consequences, like misdiagnosing and misreading test results. It's absolutely horrifying that medical error is commonplace (one of the leading causes of death in the United States), and that "doctors are the only group of people privileged to commit manslaughter with full immunity from the law" (from the book and film Not as a Stranger). There is no accountability, no retribution, and no atonement. If you're not in the mood for this subject matter, keep it on the shelf for a while. Most people have either experienced medical negligence or incompetence, or know a family member or friend who have, so this story will hit home for a lot of audience members.
I'm actually surprised this movie got funding to be made at all, even with a smaller budget on television. Criticizing the medical establishment is a big no-no which people do at immense risk. This is a true story, based on the book written by Mary's real life counterpart. Big names attached their names to the project, and they were rewarded during the 1984 awards season. Nominated for Best Picture, Actor, and Actress at the Emmy's, and Best Actor at the Golden Globes, the acting in this tv movie is top-notch. When James lives through all the stages of his heart attack, it's so realistic, it's as if we're actually watching a man having a heart attack. Additionally, there's no "relax, it's just a movie" that we can tell ourselves, since it really happened.
While I tried to remind myself that James Garner was just an actor doing his job very, very well, life imitated art: five years after this movie was made, Garner underwent a quintuple bypass and refused to quite smoking, just like his character in this movie. It was extremely difficult to make it through this movie, even though both Garner and Moore were actors playing parts. They were so convincing, and the material they were performing was so upsetting, it didn't feel like they were actors. This is a harrowing tale that makes anyone fear being at the mercy of the medical establishment.
