POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (1990)

I don’t get your generation’s humor, OP.

I love when Streep dolls up Maclaine after the crash to face the press. She then hangs back and watches in admiration as Maclaine does so with aplomb. That old school star behavior by Doris/Debbie is totally a thing of the past.

Did anybody ever tell you that you smell like Catalina?

R1

Meryl’s first produced song on film!

Suzanne: Mom, I'm middle-aged.

Doris: No, I am middle-aged.

Suzanne: How many 120-year-old women do you know?

I’ll just go... weave a basket or something.

I'm not a box. I don't have sides. [italic]This is it.[/italic] One side fits all.

I don't want life to imitate art, I want life to [italic]be[/italic] art.

Endolphins.

Doris Mann: Are you less mad at me now?

Suzanne Vale: I am always less mad at you, mom.

It's not the fact that you fuck around a lot, it's that you lie about it. You could have just told me the truth and then fucked them [italic]all[/italic]; had the cigarette with me.

Thank god I got sober now so I can be hyper-conscious for this series of humiliations.

Suzanne Vale: You said you loved me.

Jack Faulkner: I meant it at the time.

Suzanne Vale: Well what was it, a viral love? Kind of a 24 hour thing?

Okay, okay, one more - my favorite scene - and that’s it. (For now.)

The scene towards the end, when she’s re-dubbing her lines, opposite Gene Hackman can still make me tear up. Hackman was excellent.

The scene:

Lowell : You know, you're not going to get a lot of sympathy. Do you know how many people would give their right arm to live your life?

Suzanne : But that's the problem. I can't feel my life. I look around me and I know so much of it is good. But it's like this stuff with my mother. I know that she does these things because she loves me... but I just can't believe it.

Lowell : Maybe she'll stop mothering you when you stop needing mothering.

Suzanne : You don't know my mother.

Lowell : I don't know your mother, but I'll tell you something. She did it to you and her mother did it to her and back and back and back all the way to Eve and at some point you just say, "Fuck it, I start with me."

Suzanne : Did you just make that up?

Lowell : Yeah, well, I was working on it when you came in. If you'd shown up a half hour later like you were supposed to, it would have been better. Suzanne : It's pretty good as it is.

Lowell : Yeah, you just like it because it sounds a little like movie dialogue.

Suzanne : That's right, I don't want life to imitate art, I want life to be art.

I think my parents were expecting someone black.

I love this movie-- the little moments and insights into that old star construct, the honesty about addiction and especially the throw-away one- liners.

But I hate Meryl's song at R5. She needs a Dub.

I wish Carrie Fischer had starred in it instead of Meryl.

R18 That would’ve been fascinating.

Instant gratification takes too long.

Doris Mann: I was such an awful mother... what if you had a mother like Joan Crawford or Lana Turner?

Suzanne Vale: These are the options? You, Joan or Lana?

Suzanne Vale: Can I ask you something personal?

Evelyn Ames: You mean asking me who I have sex with isn't personal anymore? What do you want to know, if I smoke?

Not quite as funny as the book, but more focused. Really well done.

And I do love the song at the end, even though it's not well suited for Meryl's voice.

R23 I remember how excited I got when I found the book in a thrift shop in Boston in the early naughts after another one of my “spirals.” I was sort of disappointed with it, though.

It twirled up!

Go on and cry. You'll pee less, as my grandma used to say.

I'll watch this every time it's aired on TV. The director complaining about Suzanne 's body in minute detail with the costume designer makes me giggle. What a bitch!

I love Meryl’s eye acting during that exchange, R28.

We can go see "Valley of the Dolls." We can say fate brought us together.

"Never let them see you ache." That's what Mr. Mayer used to say. Or was it "ass"? "Never let them see your ass."

Anyway, you know what my mother said to me yesterday? She said that I put on airs. That I use big words like "gesture" and "devastate." I don't think they're so big, do you? What am I supposed to do, sound like a hick just to make her happy?

I've always loved this movie as is, but I read once (maybe on Datalounge?) that Debra Winger was the 1st choice to play Suzanne, and damn that would have been amazing! I don't know if they ever asked her or if she turned them down because she wouldn't work with Shirl again, but that would have been impeccable casting.

R32 She would’ve been nowhere near as good as Meryl.

I disagree, OP. Debra had a nervous, hectic edge to her that Meryl lacked. Meryl seemed a little too well bred for the role (though I do think she's great, especially in comedy).

that's a comedy...rule?

I can't remember the exact words of the background press conference when someone asks Doris her future plans and she says something like "my plans are to go on drinking"

I’m so watching this today. I wish Criterion would have released this when Carrie and Debbie were still alive so they could’ve contributed to the special features. I would’ve loved an essay by Carrie included in the foldout.

[quote] I disagree, OP. Debra had a nervous, hectic edge to her that Meryl lacked. Meryl seemed a little too well bred for the role (though I do think she's great, especially in comedy).

As much as I love Debra, I don’t think she had a nervous edge at all. She was always more of the earthy Yang type to me mixed with some fire. I also see Streep as a Yang type, but airy (those pivotal planets in Gemini) and she reminded me much more of Carrie. For contrast, I see Jessica Lange as a fiery Yin type with major Yang tendencies (all that Aries!).

Debra would’ve been interesting for sure.

"Any more people in here, we'll need a lubricant."

I want you to deal with your feelings, Suzanne, before they deal with you.

I don't mind getting old. I never thought I'd live this long. What I do mind is looking old.

You know, it's in my will...that they don't bury me without eyebrows. I [italic]do not[/italic] go in the ground without them.

One of the few instances where the film is better than the book.

I read the book when it came out, and it's a meandering, self-pitying mess.

Thank you, R25!

Still waters, dear!

I don't really enjoy this movie, but maybe that's because I don't really like the older Shirley MacLaine and she's in so much of it. She's a grumpy sourpuss.

Meryl Streep seems inherently too mellow, mature and composed to be a bipolar addict. The only part I LOVE is the colorful, surreal bit the heroine has when she's near death... walking down that weird hallway filled with dead celebrity portraits.

^^ I will say I like the book better. I always imagined Jamie Lee Curtis as Suzanne when I was reading it...more of a driven B Level actress who had a little desperation about proving herself.

I thought the idea of MacLaine and Streep as mother and daughter was ridiculous, as ridiculous as Sean Connery being the father of Dustin Hoffman. They don't look like they could be third cousins, much less close relatives.

R44 In fact, Jamie Lee Curtis seems too “mature and composed” to be an addict, too, and yet apparently, she was a pill-popping alcoholic.

Addicts come in all shapes and sizes, and there really is no mold.

[quote]r46 Jamie Lee Curtis seems too “mature and composed” to be an addict, too

Not to me. When she was younger she always seemed to have this underlying tense steeliness to her, and a sense of desperate exhibitionism as she focused more and more on being known as "the best body in Hollywood." Maybe the tension was because she was trying to prove she was something beyond her parents, beyond a scream queen, beyond someone who was (honestly) a little horsey looking... in fact, tension about being found out to be a hermaphrodite, if those stories are true.

[quote] in fact, tension about being found out to be a hermaphrodite, if those stories are true.

🤣

Addiction isn't the problem, it's the solution. And until you remove the solution, you can't see clearly what the problem is. This anger isn't about me. Who are you really angry with?

[quote] I know you don't believe in my dreams, even the one that predicted your kidney stone.

Doris Mann: What is wrong with your hair?

Suzanne Vale: I don't know; it's all the rage in the rehab.

Meryl was miscast

again

Doctor Frankenthal: We're going to have to pump your stomach.

Suzanne Vale: Do I have to be there?

R52 She was perfection incarnate.

Doris: So, how long have you known Suzanne?

Jack: Oh, about a month. Seems like longer, though.

Doris: I know what you mean. I'm her mother and it seems longer.

Doris: You know what they say. No pain, no gain.

Suzanne: Well, no wonder I'm so [italic]hefty.[/italic]

Suzanne Vale: I'm so relieved. That analogy has [italic]bathed[/italic] me in relief.

I always quote the “[italic]bathed[/italic] me in relief bit” - inflection and all - every chance I get.

I love this one little moment when she is complaining about how they are all directing her.

She exclaims this isn't relaxed it is very upset (or something like that.)

Anyway the part I love is how her potato chips go flying out or her bag as she yells and Meryl comically looks at them like "where did they come from?"

Suzanne: Do you remember my seventeenth birthday party when you lifted your skirt up in front of all those people?

Doris: I did not lift my skirt, it twirled up! You only remember the bad stuff, don't you? What about the big band I got to play at that party, do you remember that? No, you only remember that my skirt accidentally twirled up!

Suzanne: And you weren't wearing any underwear.

Doris: Well!

Doris: Sing one of your old numbers from my act.

Therapist: did you try to kill yourself? You drank.....that's pretty destructive behavior.

Suzanne: The behavior may be but I am not.

Suzanne: You don't want me to be a singer. You're the singer. I can't possibly compete with you. What if someone [italic]won[/italic]? You want me to do well... just not better than you.

God, the dialogue in this coupled with Streep and MacLaine’s inflections are just exquisite.

R61 Love it!!!!!

It goes: The behavior [italic]may[/italic] [bold]be[/bold] but I am [italic]not[/italic].

Okay. So, I’m about to put this bitch on. It’s Suzi and Dori time!

the trailer used that moment where she is dangling from the building so well. It got huge laughs. It really looked like she was dangling.

There isn’t enough mommy in the world that could further a cause like yours.

[italic]Fuck.[/italic] Shut up, Raul.

Pull yourself together and work with us these last couple of days or I’ll kill ya. I’ll kill you before you kill yourself, and I’ll do a better job because you’re so out of it, you’d probably even botch that up...

[italic]Cindy.[/italic] That’s perfect. Cindy, you get your ass off this set and don’t come back. If I catch back on this set again, supplying her with drugs, I’ll drop a dime on you. I’ll call the cops. Shoo. Get.

Is that about everything? Anybody else want to be arrested or killed before we wrap this fucker?

Let’s do the shot.

I’m in a reha[bold]b[/bold].

I don’t have a generation.

I just dreamed it would end like this: alone in a tiny room with an AM radio.

You sang for me; I’ll sing for you. “I’m Still Here” in D-flat.

Good times & bum times. I've seen 'em all &, my dear, I`m still here. Plush velvet sometimes, Sometimes just pretzels and beer, But i`m here.

10 years of braces, voice & tap Touring in places off the map Giving auditions on zanick's lap. Never fear. My mother drew up the contract, So i'm here.

I've done commercials & club dates & talk shows. Gee, that was fun and a half. When you've done commercials & club dates & talk shows Anything else is a laugh!

Black sable one day, Next day it goes into hock, But i`m here. Top billing monday, Tuesday you`re touring in stock, But i`m here.

First you`re another true blue tramp, Then someone`s mother, Then you`re camp. Then you career from career to career. I`m feeling transcendental Am i here?

I`ve gotten through "hey, lady, aren`t you whoo-zis? Gee! what a looker you were," Or, better yet, "sorry, i thought you were whoo-zis. What ever happened to her?"

Good times and bum times, I`ve seen `em all And, my dear, I`m still here.

Smooth sailin' sometimes, Sometimes a kick in the rear! But i`m here. I`ve run the gamut a to z. Three cheers & dammit, C`est la vie! I got through all of last year And i`m here.

Lord knows At least i was there And i`m here

Look who`s here! I`m still here!

I've been in a coma for 8 months but this same thread was going on when I was last able to use Datalounge. Streep is terrible in this movie. Her singing of Blue Rodeo is atrocious. Streep can't sing, but she's always fucking singing! This movie is to blame for that. She can't sing AT ALL - but she really thinks she can sing. Shirley MacLaine is the whole damn show and the only reason to watch Postcards. She's an actress who sings. A triple threat. A wild characterization and inventive spirit. Shirley's a fucking comic tour de force as the "mother." Meryl looks 15 years too old and the furthest thing from a hip L.A. addict. It's probably the least honest and most dull movie about addiction ever. One of her Streep's overpraised and very worst performances. The list is long. That song - I'm Checking Out. OUCH. Thank god for comas.

R72 Sid speaks!

Gene Hackman did so much with so LITTLE screen time.

To be able to play a character who has such an impact on a character, who is both intimidating and tender, a director and father-figure, he is so memorable and he probably doesn't have more than ten minutes of screen time in a film that is clearly a star vehicle for both Streep and MacLaine.

And that's why I consider Hackman the finest American actor.

I wonder if Fisher ever had a real life experience with a director like Hackman scolding her on the set.

I read she was kind of a mess on Hannah and Her Sisters but Allen just cut lots of her scenes. Not sure if he threatened her like Hackman did. Sort of doubt it. Not the type.

He really was sublimely profound and impactful.

R76 for R74.

I fucked the pianist in the film.

R78 Get out of town! How was he?

F-U-N!

In the scene where they're discussing how difficult Suzanne would be to insure for the movie and suggest that she go live with Doris -

"Stay with my mother? What am I, a [italic] teenager?[/italic]"

[quote]I've been in a coma for 8 months

R72 I'm linking the other thread in your honor. You were insufferable but when you didn't show up here we began to worry. Apparently, it's dragged you out of your coma just to tell us Streep can't sing. What the hell happened?

R82 Thanks for this! Did a search but didn’t find such a receipt thread.

I wonder what happened 8 months ago that put the Streep Can't Sing troll in a coma. Was it COVID or did Streep sing again?

Streep singing causes violent migraines, hysterical laughter and sometimes fatal aneurysms. Her "acting" induces comas.

[quote] I love when Streep dolls up Maclaine after the crash to face the press. She then hangs back and watches in admiration as Maclaine does so with aplomb. That old school star behavior by Doris/Debbie is totally a thing of the past.

Carrie used to say she and Debbie were two of the last known speakers of the "MGM Dialect",

her mother having been a product of the MGM studio system finishing school

Just reached my old copy with commentary for the first time.

Carrie Fisher sounds bored and sleepy throughout and goes for long periods saying nothing and then says while yawning 'oh, there's so and so' - referring to a non famous producer friend of hers in a crowd scene.

The worst.

*watched

R88 😂 You know Carrie was high during that recording.

Mary Wickes never made a bad movie.

Mary Wickes practically stole Now, Voyager out from under us.

Both M and Mary Wickes have played Aunt March in “Little Women” .

[quote]Mary Wickes practically stole Now, Voyager out from under us.

Tell me about it. That bitch was good.

Watched it again. I feel known.

I hate the song at the end, tune out that bit. But the songs sung in the party scene perfectly describe the relationship between Mom and daughter. Doris is gonna upstage Suzanne. Period.