The Prince of Tides
3/4
Starring: Nick Nolte, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Kate Nelligan
Rated R for A Scene of Sex-Related Violence and for Strong Language
I suppose it is ironic that some people can crack jokes as a way of avoiding their pain. I've never been good at that sort of coping mechanism, so I wouldn't know. But that's how Tom Wingo manages to deal with a lifetime of pain. He survived, sure, but hasn't coped much better than his suicidal sister. Try telling him that, though.
Tom (Nolte) is an ex-football coach whose life has stalled. His wife Sally (Danner) is so fed up with his emotional walls that she's about to leave him. He no longer has a job. And he can't stand his parents, Lila (Nelligan) and Henry (Brad Sullivan). Just when things couldn't get any worse, they do: his sister Savannah (Melinda Dillon) has tried to kill herself again. Tom goes to New York to care for her. There, he meets her psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein (Streisand), who demands that Tom pay a heavy price. In order to help Savannah, the good doctor needs to know more about her life growing up. That means that Tom has to confront the painful demons of his past.
"The Prince of Tides" is part nostalgia trip, part soap opera, part romantic fantasy. It's also an actor's dream, since it requires them to run the gamut in terms of human emotion. It would be more impressive, I guess, if it added up to much, but the truth is a lot of it feels like a regurgitation of psychotherapy cliches in an Oscar bait 101 movie. Sure, Nolte and Streisand are fine actors and do their jobs, but seriously. There's plenty of artifice to go down with the suds.
I wonder what attracts Nick Nolte to confronting their dark histories. Or more specifically, why the Academy loves him when he does it. The three times he was nominated for Oscars (this, "Affliction," and "Warrior"), he did this very thing. He does it as well as anyone, I suppose, and shows us the hidden depths in Tom's personality. Barbara Streisand is also good as the professional woman who starts out looking to him for answers and ends up putting him on the couch (in more ways than one). Veteran character actors Blythe Danner and Kate Nelligan provide solid (if unspectacular support)
To be fair to Streisand, she's ambitious. There is a lot of material to cover and a lot she wants to say. Yet the film is too busy dotting every i and crossing every t to really engage us emotionally. A narrower focus would have strengthened the film's themes and made it provoke a more powerful punch. As it is, it has so much ground to cover that she's forced to use psychotherapy and childhood trauma cliches as cinematic shorthand. Everything may be explained, but it doesn't pack the emotional wallop that she intends.
One thing the film does have is a sense of place. It consistently looks great (Stephen Goldblatt received a well-earned Oscar nomination for his camerawork), but that's one thing. What is striking is that we feel the culture shock that Tom experiences when he travels between New York and South Carolina. It adds personality and perspective that enhances the film's themes. It doesn't solve the film's shortcomings, but it at least compensates for them.
"The Prince of Tides" is your generic Oscar hopeful movie: strongly acted, well-told, but not to the point where it's especially memorable. I was entertained and I'm glad I saw it, but it won't stick with me for long.
Starring: Nick Nolte, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Kate Nelligan
Rated R for A Scene of Sex-Related Violence and for Strong Language
I suppose it is ironic that some people can crack jokes as a way of avoiding their pain. I've never been good at that sort of coping mechanism, so I wouldn't know. But that's how Tom Wingo manages to deal with a lifetime of pain. He survived, sure, but hasn't coped much better than his suicidal sister. Try telling him that, though.
Tom (Nolte) is an ex-football coach whose life has stalled. His wife Sally (Danner) is so fed up with his emotional walls that she's about to leave him. He no longer has a job. And he can't stand his parents, Lila (Nelligan) and Henry (Brad Sullivan). Just when things couldn't get any worse, they do: his sister Savannah (Melinda Dillon) has tried to kill herself again. Tom goes to New York to care for her. There, he meets her psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein (Streisand), who demands that Tom pay a heavy price. In order to help Savannah, the good doctor needs to know more about her life growing up. That means that Tom has to confront the painful demons of his past.
"The Prince of Tides" is part nostalgia trip, part soap opera, part romantic fantasy. It's also an actor's dream, since it requires them to run the gamut in terms of human emotion. It would be more impressive, I guess, if it added up to much, but the truth is a lot of it feels like a regurgitation of psychotherapy cliches in an Oscar bait 101 movie. Sure, Nolte and Streisand are fine actors and do their jobs, but seriously. There's plenty of artifice to go down with the suds.
I wonder what attracts Nick Nolte to confronting their dark histories. Or more specifically, why the Academy loves him when he does it. The three times he was nominated for Oscars (this, "Affliction," and "Warrior"), he did this very thing. He does it as well as anyone, I suppose, and shows us the hidden depths in Tom's personality. Barbara Streisand is also good as the professional woman who starts out looking to him for answers and ends up putting him on the couch (in more ways than one). Veteran character actors Blythe Danner and Kate Nelligan provide solid (if unspectacular support)
To be fair to Streisand, she's ambitious. There is a lot of material to cover and a lot she wants to say. Yet the film is too busy dotting every i and crossing every t to really engage us emotionally. A narrower focus would have strengthened the film's themes and made it provoke a more powerful punch. As it is, it has so much ground to cover that she's forced to use psychotherapy and childhood trauma cliches as cinematic shorthand. Everything may be explained, but it doesn't pack the emotional wallop that she intends.
One thing the film does have is a sense of place. It consistently looks great (Stephen Goldblatt received a well-earned Oscar nomination for his camerawork), but that's one thing. What is striking is that we feel the culture shock that Tom experiences when he travels between New York and South Carolina. It adds personality and perspective that enhances the film's themes. It doesn't solve the film's shortcomings, but it at least compensates for them.
"The Prince of Tides" is your generic Oscar hopeful movie: strongly acted, well-told, but not to the point where it's especially memorable. I was entertained and I'm glad I saw it, but it won't stick with me for long.
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