It's too bad that this film had an obviously limited release because the subject matter is so depressing that Warner Brothers probably didn't think that it would bring in an audience. What it has brought in however nearly 40 years later are raves for the future two-time Oscar winner Dianne Wiest who would have certainly been a contender for the award had she been nominated that year. Yes, she is playing her typical sweet wife and mother, but unfortunately she's married to a brute of a husband Cliff De Young who thinks it's fun to throw lit matches at her. You don't see the physical abuse at first, Jesse a verbal attacks on her right in front of her family which includes an equally abusive father and the sweet mother in denial, Anne Haney. Fortunately she has a strong brother who truly loves her, the wonderful David Keith, the leading actor in this movie who storyline takes a background to Wiest's.
It's interesting to point out that Keith's girlfriend (Kathleen Quinlan) is the daughter of Frances Sternhagen here, a stage actress beloved for her character roles in films. I've always thought that Haney and Sternhagen could have played sisters, and here they are in the same film. The story for the top-billed actors is rather simple, a light romance where no one's ready for commitment, and Keith certainly is busy in his protection of older sister Weist which makes him a hero in multiple ways. The way he stands up to De Young makes you cheer for him even when his sister hey, feeling threatened with her husband standing there, tells him to mind his own business even though secretly she's crying out for help.
This is one of those small films that nobody has ever heard of that once they do they can't stop talking about. I felt that way when I saw it on Home Video years ago, and that feeling has not changed. Wiest has become one of my top 5 favorite actresses in films of the past 40 years, and this sleeper film for her should have gotten a lot more attention. Be prepared for a heartbreaking ending, one that initially had me shaking because I did not see it coming. This is without a doubt on my list for the top 10 best pictures of 1983, mainly because I was emotionally drawn into the more sympathetic characters, and genuinely cared even though I knew what I was watching was fictional. But it's fiction in the sense that you know it can happen in real life, and that is what makes the tragic ending so much more profound and emotionally draining.
It's interesting to point out that Keith's girlfriend (Kathleen Quinlan) is the daughter of Frances Sternhagen here, a stage actress beloved for her character roles in films. I've always thought that Haney and Sternhagen could have played sisters, and here they are in the same film. The story for the top-billed actors is rather simple, a light romance where no one's ready for commitment, and Keith certainly is busy in his protection of older sister Weist which makes him a hero in multiple ways. The way he stands up to De Young makes you cheer for him even when his sister hey, feeling threatened with her husband standing there, tells him to mind his own business even though secretly she's crying out for help.
This is one of those small films that nobody has ever heard of that once they do they can't stop talking about. I felt that way when I saw it on Home Video years ago, and that feeling has not changed. Wiest has become one of my top 5 favorite actresses in films of the past 40 years, and this sleeper film for her should have gotten a lot more attention. Be prepared for a heartbreaking ending, one that initially had me shaking because I did not see it coming. This is without a doubt on my list for the top 10 best pictures of 1983, mainly because I was emotionally drawn into the more sympathetic characters, and genuinely cared even though I knew what I was watching was fictional. But it's fiction in the sense that you know it can happen in real life, and that is what makes the tragic ending so much more profound and emotionally draining.