It fills me w/ mixed feelings---wish it had a happier ending---but on the whole, it's very impressive. It's really amazing that 21 years ago, a movie looked w/ such depth at the Coming Out process (virtually "Lesbian 101"---by a male director, no less!).
Linda Griffiths is fantastic in the title role (and very, very hot
). John Sayles' script and direction gives her the opportunity to create an extremely well-rounded and true portrayal of one woman's self-discovery (and the sometimes-painful consequences).The movie provoked two "A-ha!" moments in me: one was a comparison to last year's Lifetime movie An Unexpected Love. Covering some of the same traumatic territory, Lianna was vastly superior (and not just because some of Our Heroine's difficulties were more believable in 1983 than in 2003). The sex was better, too.
The second A-ha---which only hit me most of the way through the movie---was the similarity to Yours Truly's own life!
Let's see: well-established academic man, for whom wife has sacrificed considerably, freaks at said wife's sexual self-revelation, and kicks her out of the house and into poverty. Check, check, check, check, and check! 
(But I didn't have the compensations of a really hot lesbian affair. 
Though at least I didn't have kids to worry about either.)While this movie doesn't fall into the realm of "Lesbian Cliche'" (I don't think), it's too bad that Lianna's life doesn't turn out better. In many respects, the woman she falls for has some of the same bad qualities as her husband (she's a user, and closeted to boot). Lianna's a profoundly serious and intellectual person, and at the end of the flick she's working as a supermarket cashier to make ends meet (God Almighty, please don't let that be my fate!
). Perhaps most depressing, the movie ends much the same way it began: Lianna spilling her guts to her straight friend about her unhappiness in relationships (at the start, w/ her husband, at the end, over her now ex-lover).But life---along w/ dyke bars like the film's "My Way"---can be pretty dismal sometimes, can't they? Here's hoping Lianna's life took a turn for the better after the film's story ended . . . as does Yours Truly's!
GG Character's best observation: [said to mirror] "Lianna Massey loves pussy!"
Out 
and 
Forever! 
another movie that will never make it`s way to austria! i couldn`t get via amazon.de either. *snief* i didn`t even find a download version. by any chance can anyone help?