Tout pour être heureuse

Well-heeled wife of a rising attorney in Southern California (Meredith Baxter Birney) has body issues stemming from childhood--seems her wheedling mother once told the girl, "Your father left us because you were bad!" She's on a binge-and-purge cycle, which she keeps hidden until she passes out one afternoon while driving with her daughter. "Kate's Secret" (from two overeager female writers, Denise DeGarmo and Susan Seeger, who have too much to say in a short space of time) is really two different movies: one-part domestic soap (is Kate's husband fooling around with his sexy law partner?) and the other part a rehabilitation drama. However, since the host of high-strung women we meet in the clinic have issues that are never dealt with satisfactorily, the histrionics and counseling feel like padding. The writers attempt to build in a little suspense: will Kate overcome her bulimia and make weight, or will she die in this (rather plush and cushy) hospital ward? Do you have to ask? *1/2 from ****

This movie tells the story of Kate, a beautiful housewife and mother who's constantly exercising, and eating lightly, but who goes on binges for food and desserts. She then goes and "gets rid" of the food in her stomach. Her secret is finally disclosed when she's driving her little girl home from scouts, and she passes out while driving. Her little girl is fine, but the doctor discovers that Kate is bulimic, and tells her husband about her condition, Kate has many battles trying to overcome her problem in the clinic for anorexia and bulimic women, but finally gets on the road to recovery. Meredith Baxter was fabulous as Kate!

Meredith Baxter Birney who played Kate was excellent. It showed her as a closet bulimic. She is so into having a perfect body. She is constantly exercising, running, watching her calories during the day, but when she's starved herself too much, she ends up binging on food secretly at night at her home, or going out to one fast food place to another gorging on burgers, fries and anything she can get her hands on. She even has her little daughter exercising and waters down her daughter's juice to curb HER calories. It takes a toll on her body and she has some dizzy and fainting spells along with a car crash while she's transporting her daughter. Her husband has never caught on about her secret. Finally she is found out about. This is an excellent movie. Meredith Baxter Birney is the best!

As she portrays Kate, a Stepford type wife living the American dream- her husband is an attorney, she has a beautiful house and great kids...yet what is missing? Ben Masters is also very effective as the "perfect" husband, handsome and successful, but oblivious to his wife's illness. This film was made when bulimia was still taboo- and anorexia was considered the vogue(guess things haven't changed that much, at least in the entertainment industry). There are some excellent scenes, such as when Kate caters a party and stares at the sumptuous food-but will not eat until she is alone-away from people. There is also a hint that her mother is somewhat responsible- nothing that Kate does is ever good enough, etc.

Once Kate is hospitalized, she meets Tracy Nelson, a model who is pressured into anorexia for her profession. Nelson is sympathetic and believable; saying how everyone loves her when she weighs 96 lbs. Liz Torres is also very good as an overweight bulimic patient, who starts crying in group therapy, saying she probably represents every pretty girl's worst nightmare- obesity. Then Nelson counters with ..."I hate myself too; I think I look just like you, when I look in the mirror"...

Clearly, this illness is complex, and this film treats it as such. I would also recommend "Hunger Point" (with Barbara Hershey) and "For the Love of Nancy" (Tracey Gold and Jill Clayburgh), which deal with similar issues in a sensitive yet realistic manner. If you have a daughter or friend suffering with this disease, these films address crucial issues.

Meredith Baxter Birney moonlights from her sitcom gig as Elyse Keaton to play Kate, a suburban mother, housewife, and bulimic. This film was well-done on the topic. It shows how a normal person like Kate could eat and binge before self-induced vomiting out in the sink or toilets. I remember watching her going to the store and eating everything in sight and hiding it from her family only to vomit later and say something like something didn't agree with me. When she's caught, she's got to go to rehab and face her bulimia. She does give a good performance as Kate. Baxter was known to moonlight in television movies during her Family Ties years. She wasn't the only one. I always loved watching familiar faces pop up when I least expect it and knowing them from somewhere else. It's a shame that NBC doesn't make movies anymore or comedies.