Crimes of the Heart

Tess Harper—working again with director Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies)—scored an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Chick Boyle, the very proper, very nosy cousin (and neighbor) of three eccentric sisters, Lenny McGrath (Diane Keaton), “Babe” McGrath (Sissy Spacek) and Meg McGrath (Jessica Lange) in Crimes of the Heart. It’s easy to see why, because Harper has so completely nailed a certain type of Southern woman that she seems to inhabit the character. Every nuance is there: the ability to deliver a well-aimed insult while appearing as nice as pie, the sense of being better than everyone else, a barely-disguised penchant for gossip, and her busybody nature. That she manages to stand out in this perfectly cast, perfectly written, perfectly crafted, perfectly scored ensemble piece is a testament to her artistry. That she does this without upstaging the other performers is a testament to her wisdom as an actress. Beresford’s film of Beth Hanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about three sisters drawn together when one of them, Babe, shoots her husband, is an amazing creation overall. The material is at once steeped in the “dark secret” school of the Southern Gothic, while simultaneously satirizing its own genre by focusing on the absurdities—of which there are many—of the form. The dark secrets here are always tinged with the ridiculous, but the amazing thing is that this is never at the expense of the humanity of the characters—all of whom seem realistic in their combination of resilience and fragility. Simply put, this is a wonderful film—funny, moving, involving, and one of the few pictures about life in the South that rings true from beginning to end.

Director: Bruce Beresford
Producer: Freddie Fields
Writer: Beth Henley
Cinematographer: Dante Spinotti. 
Editor: Anne Goursaud
Production Company: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
Cast: Diane Keaton, Sissy Spacek, Jessica Lange, Tess Harper, Sam Shepard, Hurd Hatfield.