Pretty as a Moonbeam, and Warm As Sunshine

Continuing my look back at the films of 1991...

I saw Rambling Rose on a fall day on one of those double-feature days I used to do. Earlier in the day I saw Sean Penn's bleak The Indian Runner at the Loews in the East Village, and I then saw Rambling Rose in the very same theater (but I paid for admission both times). Perhaps because The Indian Runner was such a downer, the light-hearted Rambling Rose left a warm memory. Watching it again I wasn't as fond of it, but it still goes down easy. It's the story of a Georgia family who has their world rocked when a young woman comes to work for them as a domestic, and her promiscuity and gentle nature have a strong effect on all of them.

Laura Dern is in the title role, and her real-life mother, Diane Ladd, plays the mother of the house. Both were Oscar-nominated, and deservedly so. But it is Robert Duvall as the father who really steals the show. He plays a man who is clearly smitten with Rose (you can almost see in his eyes whenever he's aroused by her) but determined not to let her wanton behavior disrupt his household. These folks are still of the "moonlight and magnolia" south, and Duvall's character says such eloquent things as, "you're as graceful as the capital letter S."

The story is told from the point of view of Buddy, the eldest son, played by Lukas Haas. He is attracted to Rose as well, and there's a wonderful scene where he gets his first sexual experience by pawing her in his bed.

This is the kind of film for people who don't like too much stress in their lives. The conflicts are easily resolved, and nobody is ever in too much danger. The slice of life from the depression-era South is nicely rendered. This film is as refreshing as a tall glass of iced tea on a summer day, and about as substantial.