Taglines: If romance is a mystery, there’s only one way to figure it out.
Playing by Heart movie storyline. Eleven articulate people work through affairs of the heart in L.A. Paul produces Hannah’s TV cooking show, and they must move beyond gentle barbs when she wants to know about an affair of his years ago. Mark is dying of AIDS, and his mother comes to his bedside: they must talk truthfully. Men have scalded Meredith so she rebuffs Trent’s charm, but he persists.
The trendy, prolix Joan tries to pull the solitary Keenan into her orbit: why is he reluctant? An adulterous couple meet at hotels for evening sex, but she is unwilling for the relationship to grow. Hugh tells tall tales, usually tragic, to women in bars. By the week’s end, their parallel stories converge.
Playing by Heart is a 1998 American comedy-drama film, which tells the story of several seemingly unconnected characters. The film is directed by Willard Carroll and starring Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Connery, Anthony Edwards, Angelina Jolie, Jay Mohr, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Quaid, Gena Rowlands, Jon Stewart, Madeleine Stowe, Hilary Duff, Nastassja Kinski and Rainbow Underhill. It was entered into the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.
Sophomore writer/director Willard Carroll weaves together an all-star cast in interlocking stories about finding love in Los Angeles. The film’s theme is spoken by young club-hopper Joan (Angelina Jolie). Taken by the mysterious Keenan (Ryan Phillippe), she tells him that “talking about love” is like “dancing about architecture” (the original title until the studio thought it would be confused with Dancing at Lughnasa), meaning speech is not the medium to adequately express the details of love.
They all try, anyway. Others up for the dance include a TV cooking-show hostess (Gena Rowlands) and her husband (Sean Connery) who still fight over his one brief infidelity 25 years earlier; two lovers (Madeline Stowe, Anthony Edwards) who discuss their unhappy marriages; and a theater director (Gillian Anderson) and her architect, Mr. Right (Jon Stewart). Also searching are Dennis Quaid, Nastassja Kinski and Patricia Clarkson. For a familial sort of love, there’s Ellen Burstyn as the estranged mother to her son (Jay Mohr) dying of AIDS.
Cast and Characters
Gillian Anderson as Meredith
Ellen Burstyn as Mildred
Sean Connery as Paul
Anthony Edwards as Roger
Angelina Jolie as Joan
Jay Mohr as Mark
Ryan Phillippe as Keenan
Dennis Quaid as Hugh
Gena Rowlands as Hannah
Jon Stewart as Trent
Madeleine Stowe as Gracie
Playing by Heart movie trailer.
Playing by Heart (1998)
Directed by: Willard Carroll
Starring: Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Connery, Anthony Edwards, Angelina Jolie, Jay Mohr, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Quaid, Gena Rowlands, Jon Stewart, Madeleine Stowe, Hilary Duff, Nastassja Kinski, Rainbow Underhill
Screenplay by: Willard Carroll
Production Design by: Missy Stewart
Cinematography by: Vilmos Zsigmond
Film Editing by: Pietro Scalia
Costume Design by: April Ferry
Set Decoration by: Cindy Carr
Art Direction by: Charlie Daboub
Music by: John Barry
MPAA Rating: for language.
Distributed by: Miramax Films
Release Date: December 18, 1998
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