Una strana storia d'amore

Why this movie isn't screened more often I can't understand. It was delicately and sensitively played by all the actors, and incorporated a gamut of emotions from comedy to pathos, but never becoming over-sentimental, gushy, or stodgy.

The problems of males "getting spliced" on the Prairies in the mid 19th century, must have been difficult to solve at any time considering there were about ten men to one woman. For a widower with a bunch of kids in tow it would have been virtually impossible, particularly if he was a sod-buster...the lowest of the low in farming circles.

This was beautifully and amusingly solved by the dying wife, by arranging impending nuptials between her soon to be bereaved husband and a whore looking for a way out of her present predicament.

The film is strikingly, if not lavishly photographed, has an intelligent well crafted script, which makes all the points it can out of a rather thin plot, and some lovely accompanying music to boot.

It may not appeal to others as much as it did to me, but it's well worth a watch, and I also think worthy of a place in anyone's library.

I have to admit that I never expected Lea Thompson to do such an amazing job with this role but she was outstanding! The concept of the movie was seen through the eyes of the old west days and this I am sure was just too good to be true. But..."this is how it should be" in the face of adversity and one human being relies on another. It brings out the maternal instincts to a point of extreme in finding hope for the children in the near future not knowing if or when things will change but knowing that they WILL medically speaking. At first, it was slow but picked up with real emotion and Farrah was excellent in her role as well. She really depicts the true emotion of a "working women" not being kissed because that is intimate and special. So the real emotion came shining through when she finally intimately kissed back on the lips. Truly logical and sensible in the way the whole situation was handled yet in today's society I can't think of anyone that would put up with this arrangement! Brought genuine tears to my eyes and the friendship between Lea and Farrah was brought out in real tear jerking mode! I really loved it!

1869, at a farm in Nebraska. Amy Hightower (Lea Thompson) discovers that she is affected by an incurable illness. Wife and devoted mother, she decides to find a new woman for her husband, Martin (Peter Weller). Having finally persuaded her husband, Amy visits numerous widows, but always returns empty-handed. Frustrated, she eventually makes her proposition to prostitutes. One of them, Pearl ( Farrah Fawcett), accepts immediately...

Looking like "The Little House on the Prairie ", with a shot of vulgarity and a good dose of unlikeliness. On this insipid cream tart, a cherry: Farrah Fawcett!

Imagine this. In a pioneer farm in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska, a women knows she is going to die in a few weeks because of a disease she has. She sets out to find another women to replace her with her husband and their four young children. Since there are six males for one female in that part of the country at that time, she has to fetch very far... and finally comes back with an aging prostitute (prostitutes start early to be aging...) who can't stand her life anymore. There is no other way for her husband to guarantee that he will be able to keep the family farm and their four children together after she dies.

Sounds odd to you? Actually, this starting point leads to some "triangle" situations that are even more peculiar. I liked to watch how the plot developed; many situations are clearly not predictable, and you can't really guess the conclusion before it comes up.

Granted, some aspects could have been developed more deeply, and you are left wondering about the realism of the story. For instance, how could the four children possibly react to such a situation? The movie doesn't really get into that. But then, it just preserves the unity of the plot, and you have more than enough watching how this courageous wife, this outsider women and this perplexed man-and-husband interact and work their way through this harsh and unusual situation.

I think this film clearly deserves more than the 5.2 / 10 it currently displays on IMDB. I give it a strong 7.

this is its basic virtue - it is a different western. not only because the classic confrontations between men front to saloon are absent but for the delicate, seductive and touching answer for a basic question about the brave men . it is a comfortable film. and one who, with high care, gives a precise portrait of family life in prairie, with humor and tenderness, bitter scenes and using the poetry of small details. a film like a book from lost age. with the perfect resurrection of atmosphere and a form of romanticism who not becomes too sweet as great virtues. so, a refuge. or, just a great and profound love story.