Rachel, Rachel

Rating: R

Movie Release Date: August 26, 1968

DVD Release Date: February 17, 2009

Plot 411: A single woman living in her childhood home with her mother experience life for the first time when a boy from her past returns.

Review: Joanne Woodward plays Rachel, a woman living (but just barely) with her overbearing mother. She is 35 years old, repressed and waiting for her life to start. It gets jump started when a boy from her childhood returns home to visit his parents. They have a brief relationship - a fling to him, a life-changing experience for her - and she finally decides to take her life into her own hands. The movie is filled with flashbacks of her childhood (she was the daughter of an undertaker), and you can tell it was a tough one. From an early age she was sheltered and very insecure with herself. The life she leads today reflects this upbringing and at times she is consumed with morbid thoughts. Interestingly though, she is actually capable of widely ranging emotions, which becomes just the thing she needs to change her life. Her mother is horrid, yet you still feel sympathetic toward her. She is like any other person who is growing older - afraid of what lies ahead, of change and of being alone. This is Paul Newman's directorial debut.

Watch It: For a really good, character-driven movie in which Woodward won a Golden Globe Award for best motion picture actress.

Skip It: If you're looking for high-flying action and death-defying thrills.

The Three Faces Of Eve

Rating: Not Rated

Movie Release Date: September 23, 1957

DVD Release Date: October 5, 2004

Plot 411: A true story about a married woman with dissociative identity disorder.

Review: The movie was shot like a historical reenactment with a narrator throughout the entire piece. He even opened up the movie to clarify that this was indeed a true story and not one simply based in truth. Joanne Woodward did a pretty good job portraying a woman tormented with three separate personalities. However, some of the scenes were really hard to believe. For instance, when she switched from one personality to the next it seemed that the process was what everyone expected rather than how it might actually happen in real life. I'm not psychiatrist or doctor but I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen by simply putting your head down or instantaneously upon command. The contrast between today and when the film was made was really evident in some scenes and actually bothered me a bit. I realize that you have to take things in historical and cultural context and not pass judgment using today's standards, but it was really annoying to see how Eve's husband treated her. The film showed how completely male dominated the world was back them. Even the complete faith Eve and her husband put in the doctors and their word shows an America and Americans who were more innocent than we are today. I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing.

Watch It: For what seems to be an interesting case study of a woman with three personalities.

Skip It: If you're just looking for a good black and white period piece. I'm sure there are others that are more interesting than this one.

Movie Clip: