Face of a Stranger

Gena Rowlands is very likeable here as a wealthy Seattle woman whose husband dies, leaving her broke, and who makes a connection with Tyne Daly as a homeless person, who camps opposite Rowland's apartment building. The teleplay by Marsha Norman, inspired by the article My Shadow by Mary Stuart, includes Rowlands' chance for new love with a school friend (Harris Yulin), and the disapproval of her daughter (Cynthia Nixon). However amidst these issues, Rowlands tries to discover Daly's backstory, when Daly is hospitalised and Rowlands is her only contact. Although Norman's treatment isn't realistic, neither is it sentimental, and thankfully all the plot strands aren't tied up happily at the end. However director Claudia Weill handicaps Daly with the music score of Lee Holdridge, telegraphing her emotion. The women's connection is presented on a spiritual level, as Rowland's sleep is disturbed at a moment Daly flinches in pain, and Rowlands is presented as more tolerant of someone like Daly, than her doorman.

This is a relationship drama in which every character is important playing a vital part in the impossibility of sorting out human relationships. Gene Rowlands finds herself an impoverished widow after her husband's sudden death sitting watching the TV, leaving nothing behind but debts and what's worse, gambling debts, which no one in his family had any idea of. What's even worse is, that her daughter's engagement is broken off by her boyfriend probably because of the family's new social and financial situation. Gene Rowlands finds an old friend of her youth, who always remained her admirer, the always reliable Harris Yulin, here called David Jordan. But she also has another friend, a bag lady causing nothing but trouble, who also helped sabotaging the daughter's marriage. This is Tyne Daly, and although her part is far from sympathetic, she dominates the film by her constantly importuning great acting, always going too far but consistently and admirably convincing. How the relationships are sorted out, developing and finding new ways, is beyond this sincere social document of a movie, which really only presents a beginning.

Although this is Gena Rowlands' movie, and she does a beautiful job of crafting a society woman with a brave, humanitarian heart, to me the movie belonged to Tyne Daly. This woman continues to amaze me in everything she does. I found myself wondering how she so ably captured the look, posture, speech patterns and outbursts of this mentally disturbed woman. We ache for Dollie as we get some flashbacks into what caused her to lose the life she once had. She inhabits her pain like the heavy, shapeless coat she wears all through the movie. With these two strong actresses, the friendship does not seem unlikely at all. I also liked the fact that the movie did not turn into a diatribe about the plight of the homeless, but rather left one with the thought that, as Pat tells the unsympathetic doorman, "we are all just one step away."

This made-for-TV film is still quite moving 14 years later; Gena Rowlands, for me, is always an actress worth watching; her understated style can speak volumes without her saying a word (those eyes: that pinched smile!); Tyne Daly's work is never excessive either; this bag lady often speaks the truth with great wisdom, learned out in the real world. When Rowlands has to go there, her wealthy "friends" are no help at all; finally, near the film's conclusion Rowland's daughter Tina (the very under-rated Cynthia Nixon) begins to see the importance of her mother's compassion and empathy for others less fortunate. Those "Ronald Reagan Rejects" are still out there, aren't they?

One of the many network tv films with a solid cast, that got one airing then disappeared forever. This one never even made it to video. It would be so nice for CBS and the others to dig out some of these and give them new life. I would rather they. Show this to a new audience than see a parade of reruns and Reality shows. REALLY??? Emmy worthy but forgotten