[7]

Writer/director John Sayles serves up this intimate character drama about a TV soap star who has to learn to find new purpose in life after a car accident leaves her permanently wheelchair-bound. A live-in nurse becomes her lifeline, which makes Passion Fish a female buddy movie of sorts. Mary McDonnell (Dances With Wolves, Battlestar Galactica) plays the actress and Alfre Woodard (Cross Creek, Primal Fear) plays the nurse. Both women knock it out of the park here. The film features subplots with a lover for each woman, but the real relationship is the one between the women. Sayles writes the parts almost as though they were for men, with both characters keeping all their problems and emotions bottled up, always more likely to react with anger and violence. The Louisiana bayou makes for a wonderful backdrop, and there are also memorable supporting turns from Angela Bassett and Sayles regular David Strathairn. Nancy Mette also leaves an impression with a peculiar monologue in the middle of the movie, playing a fellow actress who recalls making the most of her one-line feature film debut with various readings of: “I didn’t ask for the anal probe.”

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress (Mary McDonnell), Best Screenplay (John Sayles)