Crimes du coeur

Putting three powerful actresses into one film isn't necessarily a guarantee that the project will work, however, this is one of those rare exceptions.

Beth Henley's play about three eccentric sisters in the south is adapted well to the screen, thanks in part to the careful direction of Bruce Beresford. Diane Keaton plays Lennie, the eldest sister, who's feelings of awkwardness prevent her from being happy. Jessica Lange is Meg, the fast-moving middle sister who packed up and left town for the big lights of Hollywood, only to be disappointed. And Sissy Spacek is Babe, the kooky youngest sister, recently charged with shooting her husband.

The sisters are tormented by their cousin and neighbor, Chick, played by Tess Harper. Her own desire to be an upstanding member of the ladies league, combined with her desire to outshine and belittle her cousins, make her the villain in this story.

The sisters are reunited when Babe shoots her husband. As she says, she 'didn't like his stinkin' looks.' Babe is slightly unbalanced. After shooting him in the stomach she went out and made herself a pitcher of lemonade. What was most bizarre was that she then had the nerve to offer him a glass!

Over the course of several days the sisters confront the demons that have been troubling them. Lennie has 'shrunken ovaries' and therefore cannot have children. She believes that this is keeping her from getting a man. Meg is tortured by her own selfishness. The rumors about her convincing Doc Porter (played by Sam Sheppard) to hang around in during a hurricane, only to suffer a life altering leg injury, are all true.

The film reads like the play from which is came from. The scenes are often long. The dialogue marches on from subject to subject. The characters are well fleshed out, however most of the information we get comes from suggestions and flashbacks made by the characters. One must listen to the dialogue in this film in order to truly follow the story.

The acting is first rate by all four leads. Sissy Spacek and Tess Harper are definate standouts. They each received nominations at the Oscars that year. Lange and Keaton play their parts well. The cast works as an ensemble, with no upstaging, but rather opportunities for everyone to shine.

Crimes of the Heart is a first rate piece that may not be appropriate for all movie goers, simply because it requires the viewer to pay attention to detail. The action is slow moving, making room for some wonderful dialogue.

Enjoy this film as it offers some great acting with a pretty decent script.

Mississippi-born Beth Henley adapted her Pulitzer-prize winning play to the screen and, for that reason alone, is worth a look-see especially if you haven't seen the theatre production. Directed here by Bruce Beresford, this is quintessential Henley -- her first work to be produced professionally -- offering the story of the three quirky, maladjusted Magrath sisters, who reunite following family misfortune to reflect on their unstable past, present and futures.

Lenny, the eldest sister, is the repressed 'plain Jane' self-imposed into early spinsterhood because of her barren condition. Considering herself damaged goods, she now conducts her life as such, tending to her garden and other non-romantic pursuits. Meg, in the middle, is the listless live wire, the capricious, hard-living beauty who fled the coop early to pursue an aimless career in Hollywood as a singer. The prodigal daughter finally returns, rather reluctantly, when serious trouble brews back home. Babe, the youngest and most susceptible to eccentric behavior, seems to take after their dead, self-destructive mother (a suicide) as she battles with manic depression and resorts to off-the-wall bits of craziness. In jail at the present for critically shooting her husband (she "didn't like his looks"), her bizarre action prompts this filial reunion.

As served up by a triune of powerhouse, Oscar-winning ladies, the star performances should have really cooked. Instead they seems unoriginal and pat. Diane Keaton and Jessica Lange are overtly mannered as the two older sisters Lenny and Meg. Keaton especially, easily the "Sandy Dennis of the 70s and 80s", has her neurotic fireworks on full display. The snorting laughter, the flailing gestures, the quizzical eye-rolling, the stammering speeches. What seemed delightfully offbeat in Woody Allen comedies has become old hat and irksome as the years roll on. Lange, too, has her patented affectations on all four burners. The far-away gaze, the slow, reflective speech patterns, the whimsical, lackadaisical laugh and edgy stance. Both of the actresses have represented themselves much better in other vehicles. Ironically, Sissy Spacek, whose character lends itself to be the most neurotic of the three, comes off more inspired and assured -- a complete departure, by the way, from her typical "Coal Miner's Daughter" money-maker. Good for her.

In support, rangy actor/writer Sam Shepard, Lange's long-time off-camera squeeze, has little to do here but look longingly as Lange's on-camera squeeze. But Tess Harper goes way overboard as the overly-opiniated Chick, the snippy, mullet-haired cousin and next-door neighbor, who stereotypes the vicious down-home chatterbox to the nth degree. While her villainy (which kept jogging my memory of wonderful Madeleine Sherwood's Sister Woman portrayal in "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof") certainly enlivens the action as chief foil to the sisters, they tear down the walls of believability as well.

Despite some well-acted moments from this unarguably talented cast, the overbaked production cannot overcome its stagy origins, striving much too much to push the "black comedy" element down the viewer's throat. One wacky scene has Diane Keaton chasing Tess Harper out of her house and around the backyard with a broom, a bit that comes off just plain ridiculous even though it's meant to be a catalyst for liberating Keaton's Lenny character. I'm sorry, but broom-chasing went out with Marjorie Main's "Ma Kettle" character years ago. This and other eccentric scenes simply come off forced, as if the actors are playing the intention instead of the moment. Lange and Shepard's giddy dancing drunk scene, Spacek's over-sugared lemonade bit, and even Keaton's impromptu birthday cake segment are guilty of this felonious acting charge.

While definitely Tennessee Williams-influenced, the rather thin Henley story and characters pale in comparison. Working much better on stage, this movie remains, however, a curiosity item that somehow ended up on simmer instead of boil, despite the obvious potential.

Usually when I sense that the actors had a great time making a movie, the result isn't particularly noteworthy. ("Cannonball Run" comes to mind.) But "Crimes of the Heart" is an exception. If Jessica Lange, Diane Keaton and Sissy Spacek weren't absolutely delighted to tackle the lead roles in this film, they are much better actors than I thought.

The material is reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor, who wrote some of the most humorous, offbeat Southern fiction extant.

The three sisters are so controlled by their visceral reactions that one wonders if any of them have ever had an intellectual moment. Although it would be maddening to have such people for friends, they're great instruments for movie comedy.

One final note: If anyone thinks Sissy Spacek is goofy-looking (as I used to), they will change their mind when they see her in this. She is absolutely gorgeous here.

Tedious story of neurotic Southern women, each of whom should be in the loony bin. Great shame, as each of the three principals is a fine actress who's done great work in other films. The movie's only virtue is providing a topic for academic discussions: Is it possible to enjoy a film if you do not like even one of the main characters?

Honestly, there's not a lot to say about this film. Sissy Spacek, Diane Keaton and Jessica Lange star as three Southern sisters who reunite when one (Spacek) shoots her husband. The sisters are, of course, incredibly different and their personalities collide over the course of a few days, dealing with what Spacek's character has done while old feuds come to the surface. Clearly based on a play, most of the action takes place in the same house and the film puts everything on the shoulders of the three central women.

Keaton plays Lenny, the matriarch of the trio (both of their parents are deceased and their grandfather who raised them is in the hospital) who is socially inept and often gets stepped on by her siblings. Lange is Meg, the popular and outgoing wild girl, man-eater and failed actress. Spacek rounds it out as the potentially insane and murderous Babe. Tess Harper steals her few scenes as Chick Boyle, who lives next door to the house, but the whole thing is centered around the three sisters and that's what makes it work. The film never takes itself too seriously, despite it's morbid themes and narrative, and the women all do a marvelous job of bringing the laughs mostly without overdoing it.

Crimes of the Heart is a film that on paper doesn't appeal to my tastes at all, but I often found myself cracking up at the ridiculousness of these characters. The women play the characters as straight as possible, approaching them as characters rather than jokes, and this helps make it an enjoyable experience as opposed to a grating one, although Keaton does overdo it at times. The characters are erratic and very large, which opens itself up to potential disaster, but in selecting the proper actresses for each role they were able to make it an entertaining little movie. It's a simple, light and enjoyable film; certainly nothing memorable and I'm sure I won't be thinking about it at all in a few days, but a nice experience while it lasts.