Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (1999)

Directed by: Rodrigo Garcia | 105 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Glenn Close, Cameron Diaz, Calista Flockhart, Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman, Valeria Golino, Holly Hunter, Matt Craven, Gregory Hines, Miguel Sandoval, Noah Fleiss, Danny Woodburn, Penny Allen, Roma Mafia, Elpidia Carrillo

dr. Elaine Keener is very confident, but not about her love life. On the day her elderly mother’s nurse is off and she takes care of her at home, she has the tarot cards read by someone recommended to her by her colleague Debbie (Roma Mafia). This Christine Taylor takes care of her bedridden friend Lilly who is terminally ill despite her young age. Rebecca Waynon is a bitchy bank branch manager. She has been in a relationship with married Robert (Gregory Hines) for three years when she becomes pregnant for the first time in her life at the age of thirty-nine. Her doctor Debbie tries to talk Rebecca out of the abortion, but she is determined. Her armor of coldness is broken only by bum Nancy (Penny Allen). On a whim, she goes to bed with her employee Walter (Matt Craven). Walter is immediately put aside by Rebecca and starts a relationship with the blind Carol Faber who teaches his also blind daughter. Her sister Kathy sees Carol plunge into a relationship that is doomed for the umpteenth time and watches her sister’s current love life powerlessly, but also yearning. Kathy is professionally involved with dwarf Albert (Danny Woodburn) who has moved to his late mother’s former home. His neighbor Rose, who writes children’s books, becomes completely obsessed with him.

The acting is truly phenomenal, like Glenn Close who hides a passionate woman behind her cool and composed appearance and needs the help of the otherworldly Calista Flockhart to break her self-imposed armor. And also from Holly Hunter who emotionally shuts everyone out and is totally shocked, but also fascinated by what an unknown bum aggressively tells her about who she really is, as if this stranger can see into the bottom of her soul.

The other roles are also played masterfully and the calm, slightly dreamy way in which the stories unfold for the viewer is penetrating. However, with all these pluses there is still something to gnaw at. The connections between the different episodes, in which one woman and now another woman plays the leading role, seem artificial and sought after. The director has cut a beautiful story into pieces and re-embroidered it to make it look more beautiful and more profound. But the opposite happens and that’s a shame. It distracts from the brilliant game play and the gripping events that hit you right in the heart, but still, a brilliant film.