James Joyce's Women

This is a towering performance of and about James Joyce and his works and women. Ms. Flanagan is sexual, as was Joyce and, of course, is life. Her work here reminds us of the depth and height that an artist can realize through film.

She addresses "Portrait of an Artist," "Ulysses" and even the lyric and mysterious "Finnegan's Wake." In counterpoint, she plays Joyce's real-life wife, the former Nora Barnacle -- they married after living together for 27 years We have nice bits by actors portraying such authors as E. Hemingway and F. S. Fitzgerald and poignant matter on the madness of Joyce's only daughter.

This will not make your local multiplex. But seek out the film, tape only, and watch it a few times.You will come away better understanding 20th Century writing, and, indeed, the human condition.