A MAP OF THE WORLD

Based on the novel by Jane Hamilton, A MAP OF THE WORLD is a well-acted literary adaptation that does not play as well as it reads. Part of the problem is that there are changes in the characters that seem too literary and too arbitrary.

Talented Sigourney Weaver plays Alice Goodwin, a tall, straightforward mother who’s on the edge. Taking care of her two young daughters on the new family farm is getting to be a little too much for her, especially taking care of her eldest, Emma, who fights Alice every chance she gets. Her mild husband, Howard, played by David Straithairn, seems a little oblivious to what’s happening with his wife. Meanwhile, Alice, who is a public school nurse, is also having problems handling the troubled, sickly son of a local waitress.

Alice edges closer to her nervous breakdown when one of her friend’s daughters decides one day to take a swim alone in the Goodwins’ pond and drowns. Alice had just gone upstairs to put on her own bathing suit and got lost for a moment looking at a favorite childhood painting of her own. Still, Alice feels terribly guilty about the accidental death. Her friend Theresa also feels guilty because she had just told her daughter what a good swimmer she was. The death still drives a wedge between Alice and Theresa, however.

Matters get worse when the sickly little boy at school makes an accusation of child abuse against Alice. This turns her family’s world upside down, of course. The police cart Alice off to jail. The rest of the movie tells what happens with Alice’s case, what this does to her family, how the community shuns the family, and how Theresa reacts to everything happening.

It is easy to sympathize with Alice in her struggles with Emma and her reaction to the accidental drowning death of her friend’s little girl. Alice, however, seems to welcome the lengthy stay in jail as a relief, because she now has time for herself. Such a reaction may be understandable, but Weaver plays it much too calmly, and viewers may lose their sympathy for her character. Also, the final scenes after Alice’s case is adjudicated seem anti-climactic. Alice and her whole family’s reaction to the final result ends with isolation for her family in the city, as if to say that Alice, Howard and her kids will never trust an outsider again but instead retreat into their own little world. The point to all this is a little lost. A MAP OF THE WORLD just seems too literary for its own good. It almost plays like a forgettable TV movie, albeit a well-acted one.

Finally, the filmmakers have elected to avoid any strong moral messages in their story, which includes some foul language, sexuality and nudity. Theirs is a humanistic worldview, where families really only can rely on each other for any hope, comfort or structure in their lives. Thus, families have their own little map to their own little world.

Despite these problems, it was still interesting to watch Sigourney Weaver go through her paces. Viewers will want to find out what happens to her character. Julianne Moore also does an excellent turn as Alice’s friend Theresa.