If These Walls Could Talk 2

Director: Anne Heche, Martha Coolidge Anne Heche

Overview

"This DVD marks the home video release of a trio of short films that appeared originally on HBO. While the first If These Walls Could Talk dealt with the sensitive issue of abortion, the sequel tackles three stories concerning lesbianism. The transfer is a standard full-frame 1.33:1 image that faithfully reproduces the original aspect ratio. An English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Surround, while a Spanish soundtrack can be heard in Dolby Digital Stereo. Subtitles are accessible in English, Spanish, or French. This bare-bones release has only cast and crew bios to offer in the way of special features."

Product Details

Release Date:	10/10/2000
UPC:	0026359170720
Original Release:	2000
Rating:	R
Source:	Hbo Home Video
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:36:00
Sales rank:	18,731

Special Features

Interactive menus; Cast & crew bios; Language/subtitles; Chapter selections

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Vanessa Redgrave	Edith Tree
Ellen DeGeneres	Kal
Chloë Sevigny	Amy
Marian Seldes	Abby Hedley
Paul Giamatti	Ted Hedley
Elizabeth Perkins	Alice Hedley
Nia Long	Karen
Natasha Lyonne	Jeanne
Heather McComb	Diane
Rashida Jones	Feminist
Regina King	Allie
Kathy Najimy	Doctor
Jenny O'Hara	Marge Carpenter
Marley McClean	Maggie Hedley
Donald Elson	Sam
Amy Carlson	Michelle
Lee Garlington	Georgette
Mitchell Anderson	Arnold
George Newbern	Tom
Lucinda Jenney	Ella's Mommy
Kirk Trutner	Actor
Susan Mosher	Nurse June (segment "1961")
Jill Brennan	Nurse Betty (segment "1961")
Lisa Welti	Nurse Trish (segment "1961")
Basil Poledouris	Composer

Technical Credits

Anne Heche

Jane Anderson

Sylvia Sichel

Anne Heche	Director,Screenwriter
Martha Coolidge	Director
Mary Kane	Producer
Ellen DeGeneres	Executive Producer
Suzanne Todd	Executive Producer
Jane Anderson	Screenwriter
John Papsidera	Casting
Sylvia Sichel	Screenwriter,Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

HBO's popular franchise of woman-centric omnibus melodramas continues with this second installment, which boasts a gaggle of big-name talent and an similarly outsized earnestness that ultimately sinks the entire project. Audiences are best-advised to leave If These Walls Could Talk 2 after its first segment, writer-director Jane Anderson's touching "1961," since nothing that follows approaches the depth of feeling or complexity of character put forth by Anderson and lead Vanessa Redgrave. Though Redgrave's Edith has a limited amount of screentime opposite her longtime companion Abby (Marian Seldes), the actress manages to convey a profound sense of grief at her lover's loss, one that gives way to an even more heartbreaking and understated resignation. As Abby's family intervenes in dividing up her estate, Redgrave and Anderson handle what could have been clichéd, routine scenes of discrimination with delicacy and realism. The same can't be said of Martha Coolidge's hackneyed lesbian after-school special, "1972," which boasts haltingly awful, topic-sentence dialogue that isn't excused by the fact that the characters speaking it are part of a militant campus women's-lib group. The film culminates with a regrettable they're-having-a-baby vanity project directed by Anne Heche and starring her then-girlfriend Ellen DeGeneres; their ostensible stab at domestic comedy only underlines how low the film has stooped from its opening salvo.