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The Prince of Tides (2000) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski) |
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The Prince of Tides (1991) is an excellent character driven drama/romance directed superbly by Barbara Streisand, where she again shows that she will do what it takes to bring a complex story to the screen without losing the complexity. |
| Nick Nolte, in a Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated performance, plays a southern man in a stagnant marriage haunted by memories of his dysfunctional family, and beaten by the recent death of his brother. He is notified that his twin sister, a famous New York poet, has again attempted suicide, and he is sent to assist her shrink (Barbara Streisand) with her recovery. Streisand specializes in disorders of the rich, and is in a loveless marriage with a famous violinist. She also has an obnoxious teen-aged son. |
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| Over the course of
the film, we learn the dark family history that caused Nolte's sister
to block out most of her memories and Nolte to be dominated by
negative feelings for his parents. While gathering information to
assist her with the sister, Streisand also helps Nolte to remember,
and finally to cope with, the trauma at the root of all of the
problems. She also hires Nolte (a former football coach) to teach her
son football, and help round out the spoiled and insecure violin
prodigy. Along the way, Nolte and Streisand and Nolte fall in love.
One of the many interesting sub-texts to the main story is the
contrast between Nolte, who is a dysfunctional football coach from
poor white trash southern roots, and affluent Jewish American Princess
Streisand. If nominations were awards, they would have had to build a trophy room for this film, but it was a strong year, with Silence of the Lambs emerging as the film Oscar gave everything to. Any nudity would have been from Streisand, and she wisely chose not to have any rather than to use a double. Nudity would not have made the film any better anyway, especially since it is about emotions and memories, not actions. The film did receive some criticism for portraying an un-ethical affair between a psychiatrist and the married relative of a patient, but I am sure this could actually happen, and didn't feel that the film made a moral judgment about the affair, although the affair did help everyone involved.
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Scoopy's notes. There seems to be no middle ground in attitudes toward Barbra Streisand. She has worshippers and she has detractors. Not many people in between. Tuna likes Barbra, and I don't, which is why I think he has underrated this movie. You have to understand where I'm coming from. I hate the sight of this woman, the sound of her speaking voice. She can sing, but I don't like the style of music she generally performs. I pretty much hate everything she's ever done or been associated with. Despite that fact, I think that The Prince of Tides is terrific. I popped it in for the first time fully expecting to last about three minutes, and I found it to be a really engaging psychological mystery cum offbeat romance. I was also very impressed with the complexity of the performance she drew from Nick Nolte. Given that fact, I think the correct score must be a B or higher. It is a movie you can enjoy even if you hate Barbara Streisand movies. |
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