Taglines: Innocence has never been so seductive.
Rambling Rose movie storyline. In 1971, a grown Buddy returns to his former family home and reflects back on his youth during The Great Depression when Rose (Laura Dern) came to live with his family in order to escape her miserable life in Birmingham where she was being forced into prostitution.
The Hillyers are an eccentric family who take Rose in as a domestic servant. Rose quickly begins to admire Mrs. Hillyer (Diane Ladd) who is working on her doctoral dissertation and who she learns was orphaned at a young age, just as Rose had been. Rose also develops a crush on the paternal and warm Mr. Hillyer that the three Hillyer children and Mr. Hillyer become aware of while Mrs. Hillyer remains oblivious.
Eventually Rose kisses Mr. Hillyer who at first responds to her advances and then becomes angered at her and rebuffs her. Buddy witnesses Rose and Mr. Hillyer kissing and later, when Rose comes to talk to him at night, he repeatedly tries to grab and massage her breast just as his father had done while he was kissing Rose. Eventually to satisfy his curiosity Rose allows 13 year old Buddy to masturbate her. Afterwards she is apologetic and upset and begs him not to tell anyone.
The Hillyers begin to disagree about Rose’s presence in their lives. Mr. Hillyer worries that Rose is too promiscuous and will begin to make their lives miserable but Mrs. Hillyer sees her promiscuity as her way of trying to obtain love and attention.
Strange men begin lurking around the house. Mr. Hillyer attributes this to Rose but she repeatedly denies knowing them. However, Rose is eventually arrested when some of her men begin brawling in a bar and she bites the finger of a policeman. Though the police and Mrs. Hillyer are willing to forgive Rose, Mr. Hillyer insists on firing her, but before he can Rose is hospitalized with pneumonia.
The attending doctor reveals that Rose is likely not the poor country girl she portrayed herself as. After she recovers, Rose seems to be on her best behaviour but Mr. Hillyer eventually catches her with a man in her room. He fires her and obtains a position on a dairy farm in Tennessee for her. When he informs Rose she begins crying as she does not want her future child being born on a farm.
Rambling Rose is a 1991 American drama film set in Georgia during the Great Depression starring Laura Dern and Robert Duvall in leading roles with Lukas Haas, John Heard and Diane Ladd in supporting roles. Rambling Rose was directed by Martha Coolidge and written by Calder Willingham (adapted from his own 1972 novel of the same name).
Laura Dern and Diane Ladd, daughter and mother in real life, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, making them the first ever mother-daughter duo to be nominated for Academy Awards for the same film or even in the same year. Laura Dern, 24 at the time, was among the youngest actresses to be nominated in the leading actress category.
Rambling Rose (1991)
Directed by: Martha Coolidge
Starring: Laura Dern, Robert Duvall, Diane Ladd, Lukas Haas, John Heard, Kevin Conway, Lisa Jakub, Evan Lockwood, Matthew Sutherland, David E. Scarborough, Richard K. Olsen
Screenplay by: Calder Willingham
Production Design by: John Vallone
Cinematography by: Johnny E. Jensen
Film Editing by: Steven Cohen
Costume Design by: Jane Robinson
Set Decoration by: Robert Gould
Art Direction by: Christiaan Wagener
Music by: Elmer Bernstein
MPAA Rating: R for sensuality.
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Release Date: September 20, 1991
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