moonspinner55 Review of The Prince of Tides

The Prince of Tides (1991)

Forget the characters...for Streisand, it's all about the romance

[6/10 · 11 November 2001]

Middling adaptation of Pat Conroy's bestseller by Conroy and Becky Johnston is ostensibly about a suicidal poetess in New York City (by way of South Carolina) whose psychiatrist contacts her twin brother to order to aid in his sibling's recovery process after she's tried yet again to end her life. However, this troubled writer (played by Melinda Dillon) is stuck away in a hospital bed for much of the movie, leaving the emphasis to fall on Nick Nolte's conflicted family man and director-star Barbra Streisand's well-groomed Dr. Susan Lowenstein, both of whom are in shaky marriages. Their slow-blooming love affair is the part of the story that has obviously attracted Streisand. Yes, she's focused and intense as a filmmaker when covering the youngsters' volatile childhood (including a secret from the past that must be dredged up in order to heal old wounds); but, between Nolte and Streisand swooning over each other, Nolte fighting with his domineering mother (Kate Nelligan, who has remarried into prominence) and his estranged wife (Blythe Danner)--plus Streisand dealing with her own louse of a husband (expert-rotter Jeroen Krabbé)--the film becomes a sea of soapy clichés. Streisand gets a good rhythm going in the scenes between Nolte and Jason Gould (Barbra's real-life son playing her screen son), but she seems to have no inspiration when depicting simple scenes of chit-chat (a lunchbreak moment wherein she and Nolte buy chili from a street vendor is so phony, we can't even be sure either of them has taken a bite). As to the romance, Streisand pours on the candlelight, pretty music, and a flirty football montage. The suicidal sister is "improving", we're told, as the film fades-out, leaving us only with the doctor's heartbreak and the brother's newfound resilience. It's a false front. Seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Streisand received a DGA nomination for her direction but was overlooked by the Academy. Conroy and Johnston received a WGA nomination for their adapted screenplay. **1/2 from ****