Mal à l'âme

Original title: Between Two Women

TV Movie
1986
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

When shy schoolteacher Val marries Harry, the son of an aged opera star, she quickly discovers that Harry's mother Barbara is not very happy with their union. In fact, Barbara tries to separ... Read allWhen shy schoolteacher Val marries Harry, the son of an aged opera star, she quickly discovers that Harry's mother Barbara is not very happy with their union. In fact, Barbara tries to separate the couple. But when Barbara suffers a debilitating stroke, Val's compassion and empat... Read allWhen shy schoolteacher Val marries Harry, the son of an aged opera star, she quickly discovers that Harry's mother Barbara is not very happy with their union. In fact, Barbara tries to separate the couple. But when Barbara suffers a debilitating stroke, Val's compassion and empathy mend the rift between the two women, giving Barbara the will to survive. But will Barba... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

271

YOUR RATING

9User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 1 win total

Trivia
Spalding Gray was considered for Michael Nouri's role. He even discussed being considered for the part and auditioning for it in his monologue Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure (1987). According to Gray, the original title of the film was "Leftover Life to Kill".

Connections
Featured in The 38th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1986)

User reviews9

Featured review

Superb Colleen Dewhurst

There was a time when the television networks made movies, small films that would never have been made by the big studios for theatrical release. This is one of those movies, and though it's a small story about human relationships it looms large in the wondrous performances of Colleen Dewhurst and Farrah Fawcett.

Dewhurst plays a former opera singer, a grand dame who lives in a picture-perfect rural Connecticut home with her husband (Steven Hill). She's about to welcome her son (Michael Nouri) and to meet his new girlfriend (Fawcett). She instantly dislikes the young woman.

The story then details the "family" relationships over the next 14 years years but centers on the changing relationship between the women. As the years tick by, they get to know each other better but their relationship remains prickly. It's only after Dewhurst suffers a stroke that they begin to move toward the center of their enduring bond and recognize it for what it is.

Dewhurst never lets this get cloying or overly sentimental, and Fawcett turns in a gritty performance as the determined younger woman. Nouri and Hill are fine. Bronson Pinchot has a cameo as a wedding photographer.