Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

Sensitive study of an ordinary, well-off woman's fast-cracking facade, or just a superior piece of schmaltz about a selfish woman with two ungrateful grown-up kids, a difficult mother, and a boring husband? The best thing is Joanne Woodward in a not particularly sympathetic role, constantly finding fault in others while her own weaknesses are suppressed to the level of hallucinations and dreams. But she too often gets lost in the development of the plot, which pulls out quite a few stops on the way to its ray-of-hope ending, and unwisely strays from America to Tourist London and the Continent. For those who can get over that, plus that it tries too hard to be an 'art' movie with its references to Bergman, there should be enough to appreciate.