| The Prince of Tides | | Cast : | Barbra Streisand, Nick Nolte | | Director : | Barbra Streisand | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | December 25, 1991 | | DVD Released Date : | November 06, 2001 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), Portuguese (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Thai (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 29, 2005 | | Summary | Lowenstinks. | Content
 | This film was dreadful. Streisand is absolutely unlikeable. To enjoy this film, you would need to buy into the romance between Streisand and Nolte and I just can't see how that is possible. I couldn't believe it when I found out how critically acclaimed this film was. Along with The English Patient, this is one of the worst 'critically acclaimed' films I have ever had the displeasure of viewing. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 10, 2005 | | Summary | Absoulutely Great | Content
| This movie starring Barbara Striesand and Nick Nolte is a fantastic movie. Although long, you never become bored. You are drawn in from the moment it starts. I think the story is beautiful and has beautiful scenery. Anyone from the south knows why they live here. It's a wonderful place. Great movie of redemption for Nick Nolte's character and Striesand as his savior. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 18, 2005 | | Summary | One of the Best !! | Content
| I saw this film for the first time three weeks ago, and it is my second favorite film, behind only Schindler's List. This film contains every element a person could want in a film: great acting, great music, excellent directing, and a fantastic and moving story.
The biggest thing i have against this movie is what people say about it, it is not a chick flick, nor a "Tear-Jerker" Yes it is very emotional, but the story is not about the love between the two main characters, it is about the redemption of Nick Nolte's character. This film is in my opinion the best film of Streisand's for any man to watch. It has managed to discuss something that most men have a hard time discussing; Their emotions!!
I played this for my father, who is forty-six, and it is his favorite film. Anyone who is beyond sterotypes and can respect the story, and the man's situation, and not afraid of a little love and emotion, should love this film.
This is Nick Nolte's best film, and he has not done anything after this that even comes close. That goes for Streisand, Krabb, and George Carlin. They are well casted, and their performances make this film a very memorable one.
This film is not for anyone who thinks women are the only ones who watch love stories, and guys are the only ones who enjoy the Terminator.
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| Rating | | | Date | March 17, 2005 | | Summary | Queen of Tides Masterfully Guides a Man's Catharsis | Content
| In only her second directorial effort (after "Yentl"), Barbra Streisand proves to be a masterful storyteller with an almost exaggerated romantic sensibility and an unfettered preoccupation with psychoanalysis. She obviously found the perfect vehicle in Pat Conroy's epic novel about Tom Wingo, a Southerner whose failing marriage and career reflect a deep suppression of an abusive childhood, the memories of which are triggered by his twin sister's suicide attempt. That the story revolves around a man's personal crisis versus a woman's may strike some as odd given Streisand's particularly female perspective, but she actually makes Tom's complex personal journey resonate with greater sensitivity as a result. In fact, the emotionalism Streisand invests in her musical performances is very much in evidence here, and her lush, almost Baroque style fits the contours of this soap opera very well.
The 1991 movie is helped immeasurably by a galvanizing performance from Nick Nolte, who captures all the layers of pride, regret, anger, sadness and humiliation in his character. He propels the storyline with the unbridled passion of an actor sinking his teeth into a juicy part as only a female director could define it. In fact, Streisand steps back to play the subordinate role of Dr. Susan Lowenstein, the pricey New York psychiatrist treating Tom's sister, Savannah. Granted, she does make herself rather beatific even in her high skirts and flimsy blouses, but such expectations come with Streisand as she basically plays Tom's savior. At the same time, it is probably her most subtle work onscreen even with the touches of excess that often detract from her performances. She also hands out plum parts to both the wonderful Kate Nelligan, who gets to age convincingly as Tom's upwardly driven mother with a dark secret, and Blythe Danner, dependably effective as Tom's conflicted wife. Both especially excel in their revelatory conversations with Tom, the dialogue insightful without delving too much into psychobabble. Credit should be given to Conroy and Betsy Johnston, who wrote the superb screenplay. Melinda Dillon has little to do as Savannah except look traumatized, which she does well. And in a not too subtle display of nepotism, Streisand's son, Jason Gould, sullenly plays the doctor's son, a musician-in-training who is coached on the finer points of football by Tom.
The movie is not without flaws. First, there is a critical scene where Tom confesses to Lowenstein (as Tom calls her) what exactly happened in his childhood that none of the Wingos have been willing or able to share with anyone else. Because of Streisand's effective juxtaposition of the long-ago violent crime with the present-day therapy session and Nolte's superb work, this is an especially powerful sequence. It feels climactic in nature given the depth of the catharsis we have been presented at that point, but the problem is that it comes about 45 minutes before the end of the movie. It is around this point that the story shifts to an inevitable affair between Tom and Lowenstein following a tense, pretentious dinner party with Jeroen Krabbe holding court as her psychologically abusive husband, a world renowned violinist out to humiliate Tom. Consequently, we are given a flagrant detour into Lowenstein's own catharsis, which brings up valid questions about her character's professionalism in even having an intimate relationship with a patient. This part of the story is Streisand at her most self-indulgent as both director and actor, as we follow these two smitten people on gauzy romantic walks and sweaty lovemaking by candlelight. Luckily the film recovers toward the end before any serious damage is done. Special mention should be made of the beautiful cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt, who perfectly captures the burnished aura of the lowlands of South Carolina, and the symphonic, often swooning score by James Newton-Howard. It's an impressive accomplishment to translate Conroy's lengthy, often florid narrative into a cohesive movie that retains the major themes of its source material, and Streisand has done a splendid job in pulling it all together. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 09, 2005 | | Summary | Great Acting, Great Movie | Content
| Great acting and development in the multi-linear plot movie. Very heavy movie however, that may be out of some people's "reach" as to understanding and appreciation. Strisand and Nolte were both brilliant. |
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