Wildflower

(Diane Keaton, USA, 1991)

Many film buffs have an inbuilt and entirely understandable prejudice against watching telemovies. So often dull, formulaic, and lacking any attempt at style, telemovies of the past have seemed like impoverished substitutes for real movies.

However, in the era of cable and home video, the structures of film financing and production have changed dramatically right around the world. As a result, today's telemovies can sometimes be like yesterday's B movies – modest but surprising gifts brimful with ideas and feelings.

Diane Keaton's Wildflower is one such gift. In her first fiction film after the documentary Heaven (1987), Keaton has made a wise choice of genre. This is a period film with a rural setting, mixing a confronting issue with a touching love story, in the manner of The Prince of Tides (1991) or Rambling Rose (1991).

The issue here is the brutal domestic violence inflicted by a father against his wife and epileptic daughter Alice – the wildflower of the title (played powerfully by Patricia Arquette) locked up for her entire life like an animal in a shed.

Alice is discovered by young Ellie (Reese Witherspoon) and her brother Sammy (William McNamara), who have domestic problems of their own dealing with a gruff, widowed father (Beau Bridges). They initiate Alice's long and difficult journey towards communication and trust – a journey further complicated by the superior and repressive attitudes that colour even supposedly decent society.

Like Robert Mulligan's remarkable The Man in the Moon (1991, featuring another early role for Witherspoon), Wildflower adopts a refined, contemplative, lyrical style that increases both the complexity of the story and its ultimate emotional impact.

In the heartrending simplicity of its wordless final scene, Diane Keaton announced her arrival as a narrative director of major promise.

MORE Keaton: Hanging Up, Unstrung Heroes

© Adrian Martin August 1993