Heartache in Washington

Heartburn

Directed by Mike Nichols

At the Harvard Square Theater

You've just got to wonder how calculating some movie studies are. Take the movie Heartburn, with Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson, two of the most acclaimed actors today. Mike Nichols, one of the eighties' hottest directors, controlled the process; and the screenplay was taken from a best-selling roman a clef by Nora Ephron, the former wife of big-shot Washington journalist Carl Bernstein. Hmmmm. Yeah, you know the producers were dreaming of a blockbuster and nine Academy awards from the moment they started shooting. With all that build-up, you've got to be disappointed.

And you are. Heartburn is not a movie that will stick with you for the rest of your life; it is not a Casablanca of the eighties. But Heartburn is definitely one of the best dramatic movies of the year and to miss it would mean foregoing a chance to see Meryl Streep become Rachel, a woman based on Ephron herself.

The movie revolves around Rachel, a New York food writer, who meets, falls in love with and marries Mark Forman, a Washington columnist. These three events happen literally within ten minutes of each other. On their first date Rachel and Mark sleep together and she tells him, "I'm never getting married again." Lo and behold, the next scene is her wedding party.

Their marriage seems idyllic. Rachel is happy being a housewife and even more happy being a mother, and Mark remains in love with her. The two renovate a house together, perhaps the ultimate demonstration of yuppie love, and throw dinner parties for their friends. Of course such banal eighties-style romance could not last forever, especially with a man who (pre-maritally) would bring his girlfriends to his best friend's house for lunch...and leave them there. Rachel is about eight months pregnant with their second child when she discovers Mark is having an affair.

Given such a plot, Heartburn would just be another one of a myriad of movies on failed marriage without such stellar actors. But Streep, with minimal help from Nicholson, makes it much more. With her hair dyed an unbecoming mousy brown and her nose more pronounced than her cheekbones, Streep is far from beautiful, but she is wonderful. She barely looks at the camera, focusing on what is real in Rachel's life, her children, her husband, her friends. Every gesture she makes seems unconscious and unplanned. When she feeds her child, spooning food out with one hand and absentmindedly letting the infant suck the mush off the other, Streep ceases to act and begins to live on the screen.

The only times that Streep seems to be putting on an Academy Award performance, rather than taking you on a tour through the family album, are when she is with Nicholson. As Mark Forman, Nicholson gives a performance reminiscent of everything he has ever done. A little from Terms of Endearment, a little from Prizzi's Honor, even a bit from The Shining when Mark gets upset.

The basic problem is that you never quite understand why Rachel would marry Mark and stay in love with him. Nicholson has this sideways glance that is supposed to be sexy but makes him look devious. In addition, compared to yuppie Rachel, Nichsolson is old; in fact, he looks about the same age as Rachel's father. The one thing that Nicholson does do well in Heartburn is sing badly and often.

But Streep manages to overcome the burden of Nicholson and if anything, we like her Rachel more because she is able to deal with him. As well as Nicholson, another drawback to this movie is the fact that the audience misses out on some key scenes. For instance, you never see Rachel in Lamaze classes, although you do see her give birth twice. Perhaps these absences stand out even more clearly because Heartburn is so credible.

Forget about how much Paramount Pictures is congratulating itself on managing to get together all the ingredients for a blockbuster. Go see Heartburn not because it is one of the best movies you will ever see, but because it is one of the most realistic.