The film stars Nick Nolte, in an Oscar-worthy performance,
as an unemployed, lost, and miserably married football coach from the South,
who travels north to New York City after his twin sister, a poet, tries to
commit suicide. This is not her first attempt, and as we find out more about
Nolte’s character, we begin to understand why he has special reason to care for
her. They both had a traumatizing childhood.
In New York, Nolte meets his sister’s psychiatrist,
played by Streisand, who is also not happily married, and their conversations
change from therapeutic to personal, as both characters begin to feel that the
other is lonely and drawn away from the normal human cheer. Roger Ebert said in
his review, ‘We are familiar with the general profile of such relationships
from many other movies, but “The Prince of Tides” is not about anything so
banal as the ways that opposites attract. It is about two people whose
affection offers a cure for each other – if they have the courage.”
Streisand has a son, played by Jason Gould, who is
poor at sports, and Nolte agrees to throw a football around with him, getting
to like the boy in the process. Streisand also has a husband, played by Jeroen
Krabbe, who is a famous violinist and evil snob, who, as Ebert said, “gets
one-upped by Nolte in a scene so funny and impeccably written that it is a
crime, a violent crime against the cinema, that the surprise is spoiled in the
movie’s trailers and publicity clips.”
Nolte was once happily married to Blythe Danner, but
there is no more love in their marriage, maybe because of the pains he has deep
in him. There is a distance between himself and his children. He loves his
sister, played by Melinda Dillon, but feels hopeless to help her.
His emotional life still is around his mother, played
by Kate Nelligan (Ebert noted, “playing both young and old, in her second great
supporting performance in 1991, after “Frankie and Johnnie”)”. She was once
really poor, married to a violent alcoholic who abused her and her children. Then,
she married a local rich man whose evil was more superior. Her son hates her,
but cannot free himself of her.
Ebert mentioned, ““The Prince of Tides” is based on a
novel by Pat Conroy, who also wrote The Lords of Discipline, another novel in
which the lives of young men are scarred by the weaknesses of their elders.” However,
this time the movie is not quite that easy. These are complicated people who
have lived difficult lives, and a quick romance or some feelgood therapy is not
going to heal their pain. What Streisand shows, with likeable patience as both
a director and writer here, is that the people can heal best by learning to
build and trust relationships.
Ebert noted, “The movie is not all grimness and pain,
of course. A dinner party scene provides a big liberating laugh, and the
chemistry between Nolte and Streisand – such different people – is exciting
because their minds, as well as their bodies, touch and are soothed.”
Ebert ended his review by saying, “In “Yentl” and
again here, Streisand shows herself as a director who likes emotional stories –
but doesn’t simplify them, and pays attention to the human quirks and
strangeness of her characters.”
The late George Carlin plays Nolte’s gay neighbor in
here. This is a very emotional movie. Currently, you can stream this on Pluto
TV, and I do recommend this film. You should definitely give this a watch and
see for yourself what type of an emotional roller coaster ride of a film this
is. Once you see it, it will leave a lasting impression with you. Check it out
and see for yourself.
Look out next week when I finish “Nick Nolte Month”
with my absolute favorite comedy of all time.
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