Mrs. Harris (2005) (TV)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Phyllis Nagy

Writers:

Shana Alexander (book)
Phyllis Nagy (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 January 2007 (Hungary)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Based on the sensational 1980s media event, famed cardiologist Herman Tarnower meets a particularly brutal end at the hands of his jilted lover, Jean Harris.

Plot Keywords:

Gun | 1980s | Doctor | Marriage Proposal | Lingerie Slip

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 3 wins & 21 nominations

Cast

Annette Bening	...	Jean Harris
Ben Kingsley	...	Herman Tarnower
Cloris Leachman	...	Pearl 'Billie' Schwartz - Tarnower's Sister
Lawrence O'Donnell	...	Judge Leggett (as Lawrence O'Donnell Jr.)
Frank Whaley	...	George Bolen
Bill Smitrovich	...	Joel Arnou
Frances Fisher	...	Marge Richey Jacobson
Michael Gross	...	Leslie Jacobson
Ronald Guttman	...	Henri
John Patrick Amedori	...	Young David Harris
Brad McCoy	...	Young Jimmy Harris
John Rubinstein	...	Tarnower's Best Friend
Brett Butler	...	Tarnower Ex #1
Lee Garlington	...	Tarnower's Ex #2
Ellen Burstyn	...	Former Tarnower Steady

Runtime:

Canada:94 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Argentina:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:M | South Korea:15 | Singapore:M18 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

John Wells Productions

Trivia:

Ellen Burstyn received an Emmy nomination for her performance, even though her character only appears on screen for 11 seconds and has only two lines.

Quotes:

Vivian Schulte: I know a lot of women who'd like to do to their husbands what Jean did to Hy. Fortunately, not a lot of women carry around pistols in their purses.

Movie Connections:

References Gilda (1946)

Soundtrack:

It Must Be Him

Best movie I saw at Toronto Film Festival

My husband and I sat through 20 films this year and this one, along with Michael Haneke's "Cache," was by a long way the best and the most surprising we saw. You go to a gala at a film festival and you're prepared for mostly safe stuff chock full of movie stars, so many of them, like curios in cabinets ("Walk the Line" and "North Country" are two such examples; there are others), that you lapse into a deep sleep just looking at the credits, knowing the exercises in taste and decorum that will follow. I wasn't encouraged by the cast list of "Mrs. Harris" but was really interested in the whole Jean Harris story so along we went to the screening.

For those of you who are not familiar with the tale, this is the murder of the Scarsdale Diet doctor saga in 1980. Jean Harris was an uptight headmistress who, so the media spun it at the time, in a fit of jealous rage drove from Virginia to New York in a blinding rainstorm and pumped the doctor full of bullets because he wanted to marry another woman.

What seems like a pretty straightforward narrative turns out to be anything but that, principally because of the way the story is told in this version and the incredible performances, not just from Annette Bening, though I have never seen such subtlety from this actress but also from Ben Kingsley, Cloris Leachman, Frances Fisher, Mary McDonnell and a host of others in truly perfectly judged cameos.

The first-time writer and director of "Mrs. Harris" never judges the characters and thus wisely puts the responsibility for making any judgments solely in the laps of the audience. The tonal shifts in this film are dizzying but never confusing and perhaps the most brilliant thing about it is the way in which you're seduced into laughing at or with all the insanity and then immediately are shown something that makes you question why you laughed in the first place.

It's not an easy ride or the most comfortable of films to watch, but it's one of the finest depictions of obsession, dependency and love gone wrong I've seen in a long time. It's not for everyone. My husband, who also loved it, had a heated debate with another couple we saw it with who hated it and mostly hated it because of the way it refuses to score easy victim versus villain points. It's divisive and from time to time you wonder about certain shots or the juxtaposition of certain scenes but these are minor quibbles. This is a debut feature that outclasses most of what I've seen in multiplexes this whole year. Go if you want to think and feel as a result of that thinking.

I heard a rumor that the film is not going to be released in movie theaters but will air on HBO. That, if true, is a pity because it's something that should be seen and the performances, writing and direction are first rate.