Dignified ‘Sarah’ Handled With Care

Television has so exploited family and social issues that the programs sometimes seem to blur into one long jumble: Devastating disease strikes adulterous, substance-abusing, battering, baby-jeopardizing household.

How refreshing, then, to encounter CBS’ Sunday night movie, “About Sarah,” which thoughtfully sorts through a dilemma rather than sensationalizing it, which poses provocative questions instead of reducing everything to the lowest common denominator.

With abundant grace and dignity, Susan Rohrer directs a script that she wrote with Nancey Silvers. Mary Steenburgen delivers a brave, beautifully nuanced performance, with Kellie Martin, Diane Baker and Marion Ross turning in complex, heartfelt characterizations as well.

To reveal too much of the plot would be to spoil too many surprises. So here’s just a broad outline: Ross, Steenburgen and Martin portray the resilient, tightly knit women of a family somewhere on the California coast. Baker is less tightly knit, though her life weaves through the others in intricate ways. One member of the family is mentally disabled; tragedy prompts a custody battle.

For better or for worse, this family “raises” one another, the children nurturing the adults as well as the other way around.

Dreams collide with obligations. Love binds too tightly. Shame begets secrets, which beget painful revelations.

Ultimately, though, this is a story about trust--in our families and in all those strangers in the scary world beyond. Some people seem too good to be true--and are. Others reveal unexpected depths of compassion. How to tell one from the other? That’s a toughie, and “About Sarah” won’t insult you by trying to palm off an easy answer.

What it will do is illuminate the challenge--and the sheer joy--of living. If there’s a scene that typifies this movie, it’s a water fight on the lawn, shown in slow motion with sunlight sparkling off the jets of water and love glittering in the combatants’ eyes. It’s one of those rare, perfect moments that helps make the rest of life bearable.

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“About Sarah” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS (Channel 2). The network has rated it TV-G (suitable for all ages).