Lianna

Lianna (Rachel Griffiths) is unhappily married to a cheating husband (John De Vries) and has two children. She falls for a female teacher (Jane Hallaren) and realizes she's a lesbian. She starts an affair with her and realizes she can't stay with her husband...she must find her own identity as a lesbian.

It's hard to believe this was made in 1983. Definitely a ground breaker. I remember it played forever in a small art house cinema in Cambridge MA. I didn't see it back then but I'm glad I got the chance. BTW, it was beautifully restored in 2003 and that's the print I saw. John Sayles wrote and directed the film and, like all his films, it has incredible dialogue and a believable script. This is probably the first realistic film to show a woman coming to grips with her sexual orientation--and embracing it completely. It does show the hardships she goes through adjusting to a life on her own and the relationship problems--but that's very true to life. The trip to a lesbian bar was surprising in a film this old. The acting by the leads is superb--Griffiths is perfect and Hallaren matches her. De Vries is good also but he's stuck with a 1 dimensional villain role. The supporting roles are somewhat amateurish--but they don't lessen the film. In fact it makes it seem even more realistic! The sex scenes are explicit but tasteful.

It's hard to believe a man wrote and directed such a sensitive portrayal of a woman. My only complaint is that it's a bit overlong--but this still should be seen. A groundbreaking and very honest film. An 8 all the way.

Linda Griffiths ('Overdrawn at the Memory Bank') plays the title character, a wife & mom unhappily married to unfaithful film professor Dick (Jon DeVries, "American Gangster"). She's long suppressed what turn out to be lesbian tendencies, only fully accepting this once she embarks upon a relationship with Ruth (Jane Hallaren, "Body Heat"), her child psychology professor. Naturally, this causes various problems in her formerly staid existence.

Writer / director / editor and indie favorite John Sayles was ahead of the curve here in his effort to tell a mature story of a lesbian romance, and his script is notably intelligent and compassionate. As always, he has a great ear for dialogue, and there are some very funny lines along the way. (Per his style, he gives himself an amusing supporting role as the character Jerry.) Moreover, the whole story is *believable*, and the characters come off as real, multi-dimensional people.

This little film is well cast right down the line, even if much of the cast are not exactly big names. Griffiths & Hallaren are wonderful in the leads, and Jo Henderson ('Search for Tomorrow') is likewise engaging as Liannas' good friend Sandy, who admits to being uncomfortable about Liannas' coming out, but who still intends to be the best friend that she can be. A young Chris Elliott ('Get a Life') made his film debut here, in a small role as a lighting technician.

Ultimately a sensitive tale of one womans' journey towards self-discovery, "Lianna" is one of those pictures that discerning viewers can't afford to miss.

Eight out of 10.

I think if you are interested in the subject matter, the content of the movie carries it. The comments thus far have been extremely positive, which is not quite in line with the current rating. So my comment would be to warn you that there is a lot of mediocre acting and the photography was not great. I'm sure the budget of the movie had a lot to do with it. And in some way the lack of great lighting, etc., and the "lameness" of the movie tends to work in its favor to present the subject matter as very ordinary, very commonplace, in opposition to how society wants to view this as something very unusual. I'm not a long-winded person. The need to pad this out to meet an IMDB requirement of ten lines would seem to ensure that there will be a lot of filler in these comments.

John Sayles' ability to get you acquainted with his characters shines again in this study of a wife and mother who is coming to terms with her sexuality. Unlike the tawdry stories that focus solely on the sexual aspect of lesbian relationships, Sayles explores and reveals the complexity of discovering homosexual orientation - what it means to Lianna as her sexuality emerges from repression and what it means to her and others that she chooses to live truthfully with it.

There are some very rare vignettes in this film that bely what it is like to discover the attractiveness of women for the first time. Sayles does such a masterful job at portraying this process of discovery - it is joyful, playful, and exciting. These scenes remind me of Truffaut's "The Man Who Loved Women" (also badly remade in the USA, starring Burt Reynolds), but they seem to have a more natural depth and feel. Sayles' movies are typically populated with real characters, not posing movie stars. This film is true Sayles...so much is at stake for Lianna, and you are drawn into the aspects and dimensions of her life, the complexities and facets of the human sexual nature and of life in general, and what it means to come to terms with being gay.

The previous review did a great job in outlining the movie.

One additional comment: This movie joints "Desert Hearts" and "If these walls could talk 2" in the pantheon of movies with the best romantic scenes between women.