Taglines: Having a wonderful time, wish I were here.
Postcards from the Edge movie storyline. Substance-addicted Hollywood actress Suzanne Vale is on the skids. After a spell at a detox centre her film company insists as a condition of continuing to employ her that she live with her mother Doris Mann, herself once a star and now a champion drinker.
Such a set-up is bad news for Suzanne who has struggled for years to get out of her mother’s shadow, and who finds her mother still treats her like a child. Despite these problems – and further ones to do with the men in in her life – Suzanne can begin to see the funny side of her situation, and it also starts to occur to her that not only do daughters have mothers, mothers do too.
Postcards from the Edge is a 1990 American comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Carrie Fisher is based on her 1987 semi-autobiographical novel of the same title. The film stars Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, and Dennis Quaid.
About the Story
Actress Suzanne Vale (Meryl Streep) is a recovering drug addict trying to pick up the pieces of her acting career and get on with her life after being discharged from a rehab center to kick a cocaine-Percodan habit; after overdosing while on a date, her mother admitted her to the rehab center from the emergency room.
When she is ready to return to work her agent advises her the studio’s insurance policy will cover her only if she lives with a “responsible” individual such as her mother Doris Mann (Shirley MacLaine). Suzanne is very reluctant to return to the woman she struggled to escape from for years after growing up in her shadow. The situation is not helped by the fact that Doris is very loud, competitive, manipulative, self-absorbed and given to offering her daughter unsolicited advice with insinuating value judgments while treating her like a child.
Producer Jack Faulkner (Dennis Quaid) runs into Suzanne on the set and reveals that he is the one who drove her to the hospital during her last overdose, and the two kiss. Suzanne then agrees to go out with him. During the course of a passionate first date, he professes intense and eternal love for her and she believes every word is true.
Suzanne’s euphoria is short-lived, however; she subsequently learns from Evelyn Ames (Annette Bening), a bit player in her latest film, that Jack is sleeping with Evelyn as well. Still dressed in the costume she wears as a uniformed cop in the schlock movie, Suzanne drives to Jack’s house and confronts him. As their argument escalates, Jack implies that Suzanne was much more interesting when she was trying to function while under the influence.
Postcards from the Edge movie trailer.
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
Directed by: Mike Nichols
Starring: Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Richard Dreyfuss, Rob Reiner, Mary Wickes, Conrad Bain, Annette Bening, Barbara Garrick
Screenplay by: Carrie Fisher
Production Design by: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Cinematography by: Michael Ballhaus
Film Editing by: Sam O’Steen
Costume Design by: Ann Roth
Set Decoration by: Chris Butler
Art Direction by: Kandy Stern
Music by: Carly Simon
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: September 14, 1990
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