Strapless

Time Out says

Romance is explored here with logical exactitude; an uneasy, not altogether satisfying combination of impulses. Lillian (Brown) is an overworked American doctor, single and approaching 40. Against the life-and-death extremities of her work, she has established a controlled routine. But she is disturbed by two influences: the attentions of mysterious millionaire Raymond (Ganz), and the freewheeling lifestyle of her pregnant, husbandless sister Amy (Fonda). Will Lillian scurry back into her corner, or mellow and adopt a more spontaneous approach to her professional and private lives? 'They shouldn't stay up but they do', murmurs Fonda in reference to her strapless gowns, by implication a testament to female independence. A forced comparison, it's a mite condescending. Ganz's catalytic character embodies an ideal, but is so exaggerated in depiction that the relationship with Lillian fails to ring true. An interesting conception has suffered in execution.

Author: CM