‘When a Man’ Rings True

For the first time that I can recall, a movie is accurately and realistically reflecting the effects of alcoholism, which I see in my clinical practice. So I cannot agree with film critic Kenneth Turan’s dismissal of “When a Man Loves a Woman” as contrived and lacking in restraint (“ ‘Woman’: Days of Wine and Turmoil,” Calendar, April 29).

The mosaic of problems presented in the film are neither contrived nor excessive for families with an alcoholic parent. On the contrary, the dramatic momentum of raw nerve endings is an honest reflection of the disrupting effects of alcoholism on a family. The film is particularly effective in showing the truth of the psychologically shattering aftermath of detoxification rather than going for dramatic hyperbole or happy-ever-after, common missteps of most Hollywood substance-abuse films.

Moreover, there is little that is artificial about Alice and Michael Green (played by Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia, whose performances received well-deserved praise from Turan) or their children. And there is much that is totally real: The reality of prematurely adultified children and of job-threatening irresponsibility and life-threatening drunk driving.

More reality bubbles off the screen when Alice exposes her fear that she may not be as funny and interesting sober as when she is buzzed by alcohol. Even more reality glides along the arc of the insidious transformation of Alice’s feelings from inferiority to in-group superiority, a turnabout all too common with alcoholics in recovery. Her Betty Ford Clinic-AA cultish smugness stiff-arms everyone close and makes her spouse feel that if he is not sharing the problem, he can’t be part of the solution.

These are the commonplace yet horrendous problems that, as the movie accurately implies, often destroy families on the cusp of rising expectation. They are certainly not plot-wires of audience manipulation.

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The frustration of a loving husband who suddenly finds himself accused of being an enabler when, in other circumstances, with other spouses, he would be lauded as a take-charge, caring husband, is a plot-beat that is breathtaking and heartbreaking at the same time.

Alice makes Michael feel wrong for being everything that he thought was right about himself. He is wrong for being self-confident, wrong for not suffering alcoholism and wrong for not having to go through the painfully wrenching recovery process.

Must all movies about alcoholics be clones of “Ironweed” to be realistic portrayals? The alcoholic’s song is sung as plaintively on Knob Hill as it is on Western Avenue. Same notes, different octaves.

Co-writers Ron Bass and Al Franken have written that rare oxymoron--a “Hollywood” movie with biting psychological reality. They have accomplished an illuminating piece of filmmaking that can educate as well as entertain.