Affaires de femmes

Don't watch this film without the volume control in your hand. The director let the actors whisper exactly half their lines, and the sound technicians did nothing about it. VERY IRRITATING. The bad writing and cliches were delivered surprisingly well most of the time, but you could see that the actors were uncomfortable with a lot of the dialogue. Some scenes were cut to fit the songs rather than having the songs fit the scenes. McPherson's hair wisps came and went at random as the multiple takes must have spanned days -- the wisp would cover an eye, disappear in the next angle, then move behind an ear as the angle returned to the original shot. It became quite comical. The four different stories were tied together by Channing as a psychiatrist. In case you missed the tedious point of each one, she recapped each story's moral into a tape recorder at the end of the episode. Unless you are snowed in, don't bother with this four hour marathon. Half of it should have been left on the cutting room floor, and you can never recover wasted time!

All the dialogue and the story is too expository by half. They might as well have had a sledgehammer. But this DVD is always always out at my local video shop. Why? Because lesbians are crying out for films that render us visible. No matter that it only takes up one of the four stories or no matter how bad it is. And this one is not the worst by far. How could Elle Macpherson making love to a woman ever be wrong? At any rate, film lovers, if you want a good lesbian film then get onto Showtime and New Line and Dreamworks and Paramount and tell them to invest in the dozens of awesome scripts featuring same sex themes that ARE out there.

This movie was great, acting was wonderful... but it left me with a disturbing thought. I very RARELY see a movie about men that depict them in a fair light. Take HBO's new comedy, "Mind Of The Married Man", it depicts men as being horny and uncontrollably sex crazed. In most of TV sitcoms, men are morons, and their women bail them out. "Family Matters", "Simpsons", "Everybody Loves Raymond", "Malcolm In the Middle", even one of me favorite, "Cosby Show". "The Man Show" might be a funny show, but it doesn't speak for all men. I support the female movement 100%, but maybe it's time there should be a male movement. The TV shows listed are, (for the most part), all fine shows, I just think there should be more TV and Films in the other direction as well.

How's that for a summary? I watched this miniseries on dvd last night, mostly because of the cast list. It's four separate stories, tied together by Stockard Channing as a psychiatrist who treats someone in each segment. The first hour is "the lesbian hour" with Kate Capshaw and Elle McPherson. The second hour has Rebecca DeMornay, Allison Janney and Glenn Headley as bickering sisters. The third hour (which, I'll admit I only watched 20 minutes of) stars Mia Farrow, Lynne Whitfield, and Linda Hamilton. The final hour centers around Stockard Channing, her secretary (played by S. Epatha Merkerson) and two patients, Camryn Manheim and Peta Wilson. Sprinkled throughout the entire program is Margo Martindale as the neighborhood coffeehouse owner. All four parts were written and directed by Lee Rose. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high), I'd rate them as follows: Part 1, 5; Part 2, 7; Part 3 (what I saw), 2; Part 4, 8. The acting across the board is a little stiff, almost like it were a filmed play. And the writing is ultra-predictable. Yet, I still found myself engrossed (except for part 3). My favorite part of segment 4 was seeing Peta Wilson in a role about as completely opposite as one could get from her best-known role of ass-kicking, girl-spy Nikita. Other standouts are Channing, Janney, and Manheim. All in all, an interesting psychological drama.

(Note: The dvd does not have a menu or chapter search capabilities, so if you stop somewhere in the middle, make note of where you are so you can forward ahead to that point when you get back to watching.)

Definitely a girl movie! It dealt with issues that would interest women. So being a girl i liked it very much. I enjoyed the second and fourth hour the most. It takes you through four very different situations from relationships to family to craziness. You wouldn't have to watch all four hours at the same time because they don't really relate to each other or rather they don't depend on each other. Watching it all at the same time could possibly tire you some. The cast was great and it was such an all-star cast at that. Allison Janney, Camryn Manheim, and Stockard Channing do an amazing job along with the others.