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By
NICK ZEGARAC
A disturbing portrait of
corrupted family life and the ties that bind more
like chains than love, "The Prince of Tides" stars
Barbra Streisand as Dr. Susan Lowenstein -- a
psychiatrist trapped in a loveless marriage to
world famous violinist Herbert Woodruff (Jeroeme
Krabbe). One of Lowenstein's patients is the famed
poet, Savannah Wingo (Melinda Dillon). When
Savannah tries to take her own life, Susan employs
the aid of Savannah's brother, Tom (Nick Nolte) in
order to learn more about their past.
What Lowenstein discovers is a shocking portrait
of maternal betrayal, rape and murder that sets
both Tom and Savannah on a path toward mental
healing but engages the good doctor in a romantic
relationship with Tom. Blythe Danner costars as
Tom's loyal wife, Sallie, with whom Tom eventually
reconciles. This is a love story with plenty of
treacle but with more than an ounce of vinegar
too.
In her on going quest to explore the separation
between physical beauty and the beauty within,
Streisand's direction on "The Prince of Tides" is
flawless, engaging and masterfully fleshed out.
That she failed to garner even an Oscar nomination
as Best Director or Best Actress for this film
speaks more to the remnant spank of boy's club
mentality in Hollywood than to her prowess both in
front of and behind the camera.
Columbia Tristar has given us a truly awful
looking print of this film. Colors are muddy and
undistinguished. Though it is true that Streisand
employed a subdued color palette bathed in oranges
to evoke the warmth of summer, everything on this
DVD takes on an overly orange characteristic that
is unbecoming. There seems to be some sort of
filtered haze present on all daytime scenes while
night scenes suffer from low contrast levels.
Aliasing, shimmering and edge enhancement are all
present. Fine film grain and regular wear and tear
have not been cleaned up and sometimes intrude on
the visual quality of the transfer. Flesh tones
are either too orange or too pink. There's a
considerable loss of fine detail presumably due to
noise reduction equipment used in mastering the
print. The soundtrack is dated, strident,
unnatural sounding and very tinny. It's 2.0
surround but is almost mono sounding in spots.
There are no extras. |
