Dr T & the Women

Sullivan Travis (Gere) is Dallas's most successful gynaecologist. Maybe it's his medical skill, maybe it's because he listens well, maybe it's because he not only loves women, but regards each individual as so special as to be worthy of worship. But if that's so, why is his wife Kate (Fawcett) cracking up? Is it due merely to the imminent wedding of their youngest, Dee Dee (Hudson), or to the visit of her sister Peggy (Dern)? And how will Dr T cope with all this? No wonder he spends more and more time on the fairway, often in the company of the new assistant pro - yet another female, Bree (Hunt). Though Altman's film, another large ensemble piece, has been knocked as shrill and misogynistic, it's considerably more complex than that. It's certainly not woman-hating: unlike the good doctor, whose adulation of all females is deluded, perhaps even deleterious, Altman and writer Anne Rapp prefer their women warts and all. It's the absurd (man's?) world they live in that's at fault. If the babble in some group scenes gets a bit much, it's countered by moments of genuine tenderness, neat observation and astute insights into love.