LOVE FIELD

US, 1992, 105 minutes, Colour.
Michelle Pfeiffer, Denis Haysbert, Brian Kerwin, Louise Latham.
Directed by Jonathan Kaplan.

Love Field is a quiet drama which did not receive the release that it deserved. Michelle Pfeiffer gives a fine performance as a Texas housewife, the 1960s, her obsession with the Kennedys, especially Jackie Kennedy. The film opens on the day of the assassination and we see the impact on the housewife as typical of American society. The film is her journey to Washington to be at the funeral. However, the film takes up other themes of 1963, especially the south, civil rights and race relationships and prejudice.

Denis Haysbert portrays a soldier who has come to get his daughter from an institution and take her back home to Philadelphia. He encounters the housewife on the bus, she suspects his motives, calls the FBI. However, she has misunderstood and the film shows their journey to try to evade authorities. They stay with the mother with a friend of the housewife, a sympathetic performance by Louise Latham.

The film is a tour-de-force for Michelle Pfeiffer, embodying the rather naïve, even innocent, attitudes of white American women at the beginning of the 60s. The film demonstrates the way that situations changed during the 60s.

The film was written by Don Roos who went on to make such films as The Opposite of Sex. It is directed by Jonathan Kaplan who made a number of action films in the 70s, directed Jodie Foster in her award-winning performance in The Accused.

1. The film as a piece of Americana, the perspective of the 90s on the 1960s? Life in the 60s, the reasons for change, the history of change?

2. The Texas settings, the city of Dallas, the homes and the streets, ordinary life? The 22nd of November, 1963, the roads, the airport, the Kennedys' arrival, the buses, the motels? The film as a road film, with Mrs Enright, the Washington DC sequences - with the glimpse of Jackie Kennedy? An authentic atmosphere?

3. The musical score, the songs of the time - and their corresponding to the characters and moods in the film?

4. Patriotism at the time, the support for J.F. Kennedy, Jackie and her fashion trends, the women identifying with her, thinking about her, wondering what she was doing? Lurene and her going to the airport, wanting to see her, taking the old lady, having to get the old lady's bag, missing shaking hands with Jackie? The drive back, the television and the sense that there was something wrong, the news footage of the assassination of Kennedy? The other footage, especially of the coffin in Washington? And the chance for Lurene actually to see Jacqueline Kennedy?

5. Michelle Pfeiffer's performance as Lurene, Oscar nomination? Her screen presence, the style, hair, clothes, thinking about Jackie, the clashes with Ray, his dominating her, the death of their child and its effect on both of them? Getting ready to go to the airport, taking her neighbour, pushing through the crowds, the neighbour dropping her back, Lurene missing out?

6. The aftermath and the decision to go to Washington, her watching the news, trying to find out about the Kennedy funeral? Her clashing with Ray, his forbidding her to go? His violence? His expectations for his wife obeying him? Her leaving the note, his reaction, the phone call, coming to get her, in the motel, the fight with Denis, his prejudice? Leaving? The later divorce?

7. Lurene on the bus, the trip by night, near Denis and his daughter, Jonelle? Her talking, incessant talk, his impatience but not shown? Giving her the magazine? Her suspicions, with Jonelle, seeing the bruises, finding out about her father? Ringing the FBI - and the consequences? The FBI, the reaction, tracing the call? The information about Denis and the child? Their pursuit?

8. Denis and the child, his behaviour, the dangers? Racism in the south? His story, Jonelle's mother, his going into the army, Jonelle in the orphanage, her being treated violently, the bruises, the death of the mother, his coming to get his child? Keeping his identity quiet? His having to flee, stealing the car? The confrontation with Lurene, her going with him?

9. A black man, the south, with the little girl, 1963 and prejudice? The behaviour of the authorities?

10. The drive, the talk, his telling her a few home truths about herself? The hostility? His explaining the situation? The motel, the meals, the car breaking down, Lurene getting a lift, the thugs passing by and bashing Denis? Lurene returning with the car?

11. Each of them revealing their true personality, the limitations, the past, hopes?

12. Mrs Enright, her friendship with Lurene, receiving them in the house, prejudice - and not? Giving Jonelle toys to play with? Her husband and his incapacity? Her daughter Ruby and the other women in Dallas and the scenes of the friendship with Lurene? Her caring for Denis's injuries? Her attitude towards them both?

13. Their staying the night, the bonds between them, the sexual relationship, the aftermath, Mrs Enright's attitude, their having to leave, Mrs Enright giving her the car?

14. Going to Washington, the roadblocks, the FBI, their passing through - and the eventual arrest?

15. Jonelle, her age, dignity, quiet, speaking, dolls and her behaviour as a little girl, yet her wisdom? With Lurene and getting used to her, with her father, with Mrs Enright?

16. The twelve-month gap, Lurene and her being a divorced woman, looking after Jonelle, meeting Denis as he came out of prison?

17. A portrait of ordinary people, the 1960s, the south, attitudes towards race from both black and white, the roles of women and men, politics, the changes to the 90s?