SALLY FIELD as Edna Spalding in PLACES IN THE HEART

SALLY FIELD

SALLY FIELD as Edna Spalding in PLACES IN THE HEART

I know NORMA RAE has that signature moment that been pounded by the marketing teams and media – it’embedded in our brains holding the sign in protest in the factory. But like Sissy Spacek in CARRIE – Yes, by all means brilliant acting – worthy of Signature Role status but is it her signature piece of acting? Is it her personal best? That moment, holding the sign, is frozen in our brains because of the re-used image, it’s 20 years later joked about on ‘Will and Grace’, seen over and over again in ads and award season campaigning but for me her better work and most treasured role is Edna Spalding in Places in the Heart. Well, If I felt this way than why didn’t I chose MISSING for Sissy rather than COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER. My position is this. As a fan and teacher of the craft of acting I have to stand by the elements that I use to judge what it is to be a Signature Role. The level of commitment and ability to bring something to the role that no other actor in the world could do. Could somebody else play Edna Spalding. Yes most definitely make it better I doubt it – Make it different – yes. And when an actor has two great role – both signature ones like Hilary Swank – Sally Field and Jane Fonda I go with my gut. And for me my gut says this is a better use of self and deeper exploration than Norma Rea. They are doing everything right in both cases – but there’s one that just sticks out a little further than the others. I watched NORMA REA yesterday and I thought the accent was a tad generalized ‘Southern’. Not region specific. And the spine of her angry and rage was very one note. With other actors like Meryl or Geraldine – It would be criminal not to mention the other SIGNATURE ROLES – but with the other players – be happy with the what I give you.

Ok, back to the excellent work at hand, Sally Field - the time is 1935, and the setting is the small town of Waxahachie and the gentle Texas countryside surrounding it. When her husband is killed in an accident, Edna Spalding (Sally Field) finds herself, after 15 years of marriage, with two small children to support, a farm on which the bank is about to foreclose, less than $200 in the bank and no talent for anything except cooking and keeping house, which, for the self-employed, paid no more then than it does now.

PLACES IN THE HEART is the moving and often funny story of how Edna Spalding, through hard work, grit and a certain amount of luck, manages to see things through. Edna, as beautifully played by Miss Field, has a lot of the steadfastness that distinguished the actress's Oscar-winning performance in NORMA RAE. However, Edna is also a much less sophisticated personality, whose growth, in the course of the film, reflects an almost 19th-century faith in the possibilities of the American system, not as the system was, but as one wanted to believe it to be.

My favorite moment is in the cotton field as they near their deadline to come in first to win the prize money – to save the farm and keep the family together. Field goes from spent to humble to utterly terrified to exhaustion beyond this character could ever conceive of prior. She’s shaken to the core. It’s incredibly suspenseful and utterly wrenching to watch. The underlying fear of losing her kids and farm. Field’s hands go from dirty to cracked and then bloody, and her back can barely hold on, (as warned by the terrific Danny Glover – in another overlooked, understated performance that year) and we wince with her as what seems at first manageable work becomes harsh and abrasive. The camera holds on her face she tries to face the worse possible outcome. Not a word is spoken. She's shaken to the core. Every actor wants to be able to have that big moment – filled with words. Here Sally field gets to have her SOPHIE'S CHOICE moment, ‘I’m going to lose my children’ - all without words. It's astonishing desperation and pride in action. A great performance – essential also is her understanding of era and time. She could have could easily played up a stereotype of oppressed nobility. Field gives it a sweet understated dignity that makes this role stand way ahead of Norma Rea.

The moment in the office when she’s risks it all for a few pennies more a pound. Sizes up the winners of past farms that won the prize. We put it together along with Mrs. Spaulding. Desperate and yet proud, it’s a complex set of big emotions she swallows and owns perfectly step by step, moment to moment. Most actors would jump tot he finish line - not Sally Filed. Slow and steady. She figures it all out in that moment it's happening - fantastic!

And then she had to blow the whole picture with the whole “You like me, you like me” flub at the OSCARS and no one saw the movie – it’s a shame. It’s a great film with a knockout performance from Ms. Field.