IMDb RATING
6.3/10
4.5K
YOUR RATING
Three southern sisters try to come to grips with the meaning of their mother's suicide.Three southern sisters try to come to grips with the meaning of their mother's suicide.Three southern sisters try to come to grips with the meaning of their mother's suicide.
- Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 3 wins & 4 nominations total
Gregory Eugene Travis
- Willie Jay
- (as Gregory Travis)
Robert J. Maxwell
- Bus Passenger
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJessica Lange was pregnant during principal photography. Lange gave birth to her second child at age 36, a daughter Hannah Jane Shepard on 13th January 1986. The child's father is her then partner and co-star in this film, Sam Shepard.
- Quotes
Meg Magrath: Why'd you do it, Babe ? Why'd you put your head in the oven?
Babe Magrath: I don't know... I'm having a bad day.
- SoundtracksHappy Birthday to You
Written by Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill
Publisher Summy-Birchard Music Division of Birch Tree Group Ltd.
Featured review
Simple, easy and enjoyable.
Honestly, there's not a lot to say about this film. Sissy Spacek, Diane Keaton and Jessica Lange star as three Southern sisters who reunite when one (Spacek) shoots her husband. The sisters are, of course, incredibly different and their personalities collide over the course of a few days, dealing with what Spacek's character has done while old feuds come to the surface. Clearly based on a play, most of the action takes place in the same house and the film puts everything on the shoulders of the three central women.
Keaton plays Lenny, the matriarch of the trio (both of their parents are deceased and their grandfather who raised them is in the hospital) who is socially inept and often gets stepped on by her siblings. Lange is Meg, the popular and outgoing wild girl, man-eater and failed actress. Spacek rounds it out as the potentially insane and murderous Babe. Tess Harper steals her few scenes as Chick Boyle, who lives next door to the house, but the whole thing is centered around the three sisters and that's what makes it work. The film never takes itself too seriously, despite it's morbid themes and narrative, and the women all do a marvelous job of bringing the laughs mostly without overdoing it.
Crimes of the Heart is a film that on paper doesn't appeal to my tastes at all, but I often found myself cracking up at the ridiculousness of these characters. The women play the characters as straight as possible, approaching them as characters rather than jokes, and this helps make it an enjoyable experience as opposed to a grating one, although Keaton does overdo it at times. The characters are erratic and very large, which opens itself up to potential disaster, but in selecting the proper actresses for each role they were able to make it an entertaining little movie. It's a simple, light and enjoyable film; certainly nothing memorable and I'm sure I won't be thinking about it at all in a few days, but a nice experience while it lasts.
Keaton plays Lenny, the matriarch of the trio (both of their parents are deceased and their grandfather who raised them is in the hospital) who is socially inept and often gets stepped on by her siblings. Lange is Meg, the popular and outgoing wild girl, man-eater and failed actress. Spacek rounds it out as the potentially insane and murderous Babe. Tess Harper steals her few scenes as Chick Boyle, who lives next door to the house, but the whole thing is centered around the three sisters and that's what makes it work. The film never takes itself too seriously, despite it's morbid themes and narrative, and the women all do a marvelous job of bringing the laughs mostly without overdoing it.
Crimes of the Heart is a film that on paper doesn't appeal to my tastes at all, but I often found myself cracking up at the ridiculousness of these characters. The women play the characters as straight as possible, approaching them as characters rather than jokes, and this helps make it an enjoyable experience as opposed to a grating one, although Keaton does overdo it at times. The characters are erratic and very large, which opens itself up to potential disaster, but in selecting the proper actresses for each role they were able to make it an entertaining little movie. It's a simple, light and enjoyable film; certainly nothing memorable and I'm sure I won't be thinking about it at all in a few days, but a nice experience while it lasts.
Helpful•31
- Rockwell_Cronenberg
- Mar 27, 2012
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $20,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $22,905,522
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $1,402,921
- Dec 14, 1986
- Gross worldwide
- $22,905,522
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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![Diane Keaton, Sissy Spacek, and Jessica Lange in Crimes of the Heart (1986)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYWI5NTAyYjctYjM5Mi00MTJhLThiMGItN2I1NmY3NDJkYzJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MjU0Ng@@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)