Crimes of the Heart

In the fictional town of Hazelhurst, Miss., the three Magrath sisters are having a rough day. Lenny (Diane Keaton) is in a dither because it’s her birthday and she’s alone. She’s alone because younger sister Babe (Sissy Spacek) is in jail, having just shot and wounded an abusive husband.

Things don’t get much better when the other sister, Meg (Jessica Lange), arrives from Hollywood. Meg’s singing “career” has never gotten started, and all she has now is a proposition from an old flame (Sam Shepard), now married, who stayed in Hazelhurst.

Gee, this sounds sort of depressing. As a matter of fact, it’s not. Crimes of the Heart is a very funny look into the lives of these derailed sisters, all of whom are partially touched in the head. They’ve all been – well, eccentric, since that long­-past day when their mother hung herself along with the family cat. Crimes of the Heart is based on Beth Henley’s play (she also adapted the screenplay) about the various self-discoveries made by these three during their odd reunion. Henley also wrote the script for the recent True Stories and Nobody’s Fool, and those films often seemed unpleasantly condescending to their rural, down-home characters.

Except for an outrageously overdrawn cousin (Tess Harper, the wife from Tender Mercies), Henley avoids that sort of stereotyping here. All the sisters are well drawn and honestly played. And they’re so well acted, by the three Oscar winners, that you never think about the fact that Henley’s script isn’t really about all that much.

Keaton’s flibberty performance is pretty much her patented routine, but she does it so well (and so rarely these days) that it’s a welcome turn. She’s made to look spinsterish and shapeless here, but her face lights up in the final scenes, when she comes out of her shell, and the transformation is delightful.

Spacek has some funny throwaways; when reminded of her sister’s inability to have children, she drawls, “Yeah, that deformed ovary,” with a hilarious deadpan sigh. It’s a reminder that this actress is at her best with opportunities for comedy (as her recent films, such as Marie and Violets Are Blue, have not provided).

In a way, Lange holds it together. She seems to get better with each film, and her concentration on character here – idly sampling chocolates and rubbing her fingers on a sofa, teasing her hair with a disposable razor while sitting on the front porch waiting for a beau – is strong and honest.

With three such performances from name actresses, there’s sure to be Oscar talk. Actually, all three are so generous with each other that the movie lacks the sort of showboating that usually draws Academy attention. But they’re all deserving.

Aussie helmer Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Breaker Morant) directs, without much subtlety or grace, but with a sure sense of where the energy is. With three of our top actresses in form and having a lot of fun, you put them in the frame and let them at it; that’s all the direction necessary.

First published in The Herald, January 1987

Spacek took at Best Actress nomination, and Tess Harper was nominated for Supporting (Henley was also nominated for the screenplay). For the record, the Nobody’s Fool referenced here is of course the 1986 Rosanna Arquette-Eric Roberts picture, not the terrific Paul Newman movie. I’m not sure why I sound so cheerful here, but the movie must have something going for it – not that I’ve re-visited since writing this review.