Revisiting "Crimes of the Heart"
Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at 3:45PM In honor of Diane Keaton’s AFI Lifetime Achievement Award tomorrow, here’s Eric Blume with a look back at Crimes of the Heart (1986)
Beth Henley won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for her play Crimes of the Heart, and five years later it was retooled by Henley herself in a film version directed by Bruce Beresford. The film teamed three of the biggest actresses of the 80’s: Diane Keaton as the oldest spinster sister Lenny, Jessica Lange as saucy middle child Meg, and Sissy Spacek as spacey youngest Babe.
Keaton is forced to carry the film for the first ten minutes out of the gate, and she’s strapped with some clunky exposition. She feels tentative, which is partly aligned with her character, but in a way where she feels not fully assured, like she’s finding her way into the role. Her Southern accent doesn’t come easily to her, and it takes her a while to learn how to make the accent soar to funny dimensions.
But then ten minutes in, she has her first scene with Lange, and the film starts to find its groove...