Donne

This miniseries bought a change in my life. I grabbed for the book, which is even more involved and recognized the life I had chosen at the age of 20. I recognized so many women I knew and my stand out performer is Colleen Dewhurst. Lee is perfect in the lead and Patty Duke is just brilliant as the woman who totally loses everything. I would love to get my hands on a copy of the DVD. I had my daughters' read the novel, which they totally got.

For anyone who was raised in the 40's to the 60's it will bring back memories good and bad. There is a thread of too much feminism but this can be overlooked for what the story is really telling us about a moth meta morphing into a butterfly.

In the book the main character decides she and her grad school friends are definitely gay--but given that era--the book makes then closeted and sort of indirect about their sex lives,. On the TV version she finds love with a guy instead of women.

Satisfactory adaptation of the Marilyn French bestseller. Lee Remick is Myra, a thirtyish housewife who decides to abandon her cheating husband (a pre-Cheers Ted Danson) and dull suburban lifestyle, and return to graduate school. There, she becomes involved in the burgeoning women's movement and eventually finds sexual fulfillment in the arms of a younger man (Gregory Harrison). As Remick's character develops from a naive, sheltered young bride to an aware, independent woman, the viewer is introduced to two sets of female characters (Patty Duke, Tyne Daly and Kathryn Harrold are her suburban friends, all trapped in unhappy marriages, and Colleen Dewhurst, Tovah Felshuh, Lisa Pelikan and Mare Winningham are her graduate school associates) who, through their own experiences, help to shape and inform Myra's self-identity. Ultimately, Remick concludes that her happiness need not be dependent on any man. While I wouldn't characterize the film as "man-hating", as other on-line comments have suggested, it very definitely has a feminist sensibility. The acting is generally quite fine. Remick offers her usual capable performance, Dewhurst excels as her sexually frank, liberated friend and Winningham is very good as Dewhurst's neglected daughter. Patty Duke, while often compelling, is occasionally over the top as Remick's emotionally unstable friend; Tyne Daly manages a similar role with far more subtlety.

With such talents as Patty Duke Astin, Lee Remick, Colleen Dewhurst, Tyne Daly, Mare Winningham and more in one single film, how can one go wrong?

This is an excellent story of Mira (Remick) as she experiences being a wife and mother from the 1950s, through the 70s. Outstanding performances all around. Astin and Dewhurst were both up for supporting Emmys. Just watch as Astin has her final scene, where she is telling Remick what it was like to be locked up in a nut house. Powerful stuff and acting does not get any better than this.

Remick, who was unjustly overlooked for a nomination, hasn't been better since Days of Wine and Roses. She carries the picture very well.

A Pre-Cagney & Lacy Tyne Daly also does some of her best work in this film.

Please ignore the comments by the first reviewer. This is NOT a man-hating movie! I am a man and was not one bit offended by anything in the story.

This is not available on video, so try to catch it next time it is on Lifetime!

If your idea of a good time is to watch a movie about a group of women p***ing and moaning about men, this is your film. One of their complaints is that men simply cannot aim properly in the bathroom.