Scott Fitzgerald drew on his own experience of his marriage with Zelda to paint this haunting and often frightening portrait of a relationship foundering on the rocks of social and financial success. Peter Strauss gives a career best performance as Dick Diver, a successful psychiatrist, who can't do a thing to prevent the alcohol-fuelled mental decline of his wife (Mary Steenburgen). There are moments of sheer Fitzgerald brilliance, for example, the speech given by Diver to friends at a candle-lit dinner party in front of his Cote d'Azure villa. The supporting cast is fine, including a then little known Jean Reno who's since gone on to do worse things.
Review of Tender Is the Night
