Feel-Good Ending Betrays Field, Davis in ‘Climate’

Based on a novel by Zena Collier, Showtime’s “A Cooler Climate” is one of those movies that remains amiable even while following a predictable course.

The leads, Sally Field and Judy Davis, perform capably. Director Susan Seidelman’s leisurely pace suits the material that in earlier times would have been called a “women’s story.” And the woodsy Maine setting is surely pleasing to behold.

Unfortunately, “A Cooler Climate” is betrayed by an ending grafted on by award-winning playwright Marsha Norman that tightly knots Collier’s loose ends in unnatural ways that undermine the story’s credibility.

Divorced from her wealthy husband and estranged from her unfeeling daughter, Iris (Field) is hired as a housekeeper for a rich family that spends its summers in Maine, finding herself immediately at odds with her neurotic witch of an employer, Paula Tanner (Davis), whose self-absorbed husband, Leo (Jerry Wasserman), is preparing to leave her. Tension continues to build when the Tanners’ troubled snot of a daughter, Beth (Carley Pope), shows up.

Your first question is why someone as demanding and fastidious as Paula would hire Iris, who was fired from her last job and has no housekeeping experience. But that is acceptable, as is the telescoped plot that finds Iris getting the upper hand and becoming the caretaker in this relationship as Paula continues to self-destruct.

But unacceptable is that kiss-and-make-it-well capper, a feel-good finale that, from a viewer’s perspective, feels real bad.

* “A Cooler Climate” can be seen at 8 p.m. Sunday on Showtime. The network has rated it TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14).