Mal à l'âme

Lovers Michael Nouri and Farrah Fawcett can't get any time together alone because of his wheedling, overbearing mother (played to the hilt by Emmy-winner Colleen Dewhurst). This monstrous mama, a perfectionist who comes between her son and his wife on more than one occasion, is at times a fascinating character--but a little of her goes quite a stretch. The lovebirds share a few tender moments, but it isn't long before Fawcett realizes Dewhurst is never going away and that husband Nouri is unable to stand up to her (he matches wits with his mother but can never win an argument). When Farrah finally blows off some steam, it's a relief to us--and yet the wife's sudden surge of spunk is immediately shot down, and soon we're back at the beginning. There's a great deal of realism in these family arguments and personality clashes, and the acting is uniformly terrific, but this kind of issue movie doesn't entertain as much as it leaves viewers in knots. ** from ****

This quiet movie worked for me. I have never seen the potentially explosive, often confusing relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law addressed so sensitively--or at all, come to think of it. Every character was believable, even the children. Watch for the subtle history lesson the son communicated with just a few words and body language in the dinner table scene. This movie was carefully crafted, a gentle master work worth catching if you can (I saw it on Lifetime). It is one of those rare gems that inspires without sappiness or a sledgehammer. In the end, we are left wanting to pick up the phone and appreciate the people in our lives, no matter how difficult they are, even when it doesn't seem to make sense.

This is a touching very realistic drama about a woman caring for her dying mother in law.Colleen Dewhurst is superb and Farrah Fawcett is as good as she was in "The Burning Bed"'Not widely known but is definitely worth a look.Very well done and not the least bit sappy and quietly effective study of losing a loved one.

This is probably the best I have ever seen Farrah Fawcett act in any tv series or movie. I am not a great follower of Ms Fawcett but she has come a long way since Charlie's Angels. I do have to give her credit she really carried this movie with her acting abilities and not her looks.

The film does explain the cause of Dewhurst's overbearing nature and there is resolution to the story, though to be more specific than that would be to "spoil." I agree that the tension for most (but not all) of the picture is grueling, but the end product is one of the most realistic portrayals I've seen of what it is like to provide in-home care for a family member. I was glad that the characters weren't Hollywood-obvious "good" and "bad" and that the plot wasn't tied in a neat and tidy (tiresome and clichéd) manner. The choice of opera in the soundtrack and the inclusion of W.B. Yeats poem, "The Second Coming" is especially powerful.

There's a lot between-the-lines here too about vulnerability in the guise of brashness, masking insecurity with micro-management, and how the sins of one generation are spilled to the next. This is a film worth watching several times.