Lianna
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Lianna is a 1983 drama film written and directed by John Sayles and starring Linda Griffiths, Jane Hallaren, and Jon DeVries.
Plot
Lianna is married to a college professor in film and media at a university in a midsized New Jersey town and has two children. In order to give her husband the greater freedom he wants and address her boredom, she takes a child psychology class with her friend, Sandy.
Becoming more involved in the class, she realizes she has a crush on the instructor, Ruth. Ruth invites Lianna home for dinner and they talk into the night, Lianna explaining that she was a graduate student and married her professor. They eventually begin an affair, complicated by Lianna's husband's affair with a student. Lianna expresses interest in leaving her husband for Ruth, but Ruth backs away, warning Lianna that living with another woman would jeopardize her career and that she has a partner in another city.
Lianna leaves her husband after a fight to live alone for the first time in years. She visits a lesbian bar and attempts to connect with other lesbians through affairs to explore her new identity. The film explores her loneliness, her changing relationships with her children, and her new relationship with Sandy, who is shocked at Lianna's revelations at first, but slowly begins to accept it and support Lianna. Lianna also gets a job as a supermarket cashier.
Ruth leaves town and Lianna's life to California for another teaching job. Despite now being alone, Lianna and Sandy reconcile in the final scene which mirrors the opening scene of Lianna and Sandy talking at a park playground.
Cast
- Linda Griffiths as Lianna
- Jane Hallaren as Ruth
- Jon DeVries as Dick
- Jo Henderson as Sandy
- Jessica MacDonald as Theda
- Jesse Solomon as Spencer
- John Sayles as Jerry
- Stephen Mendillo as Bob
- Betsy Julia Robinson as Cindy
- Nancy Mette as Kim
- Maggie Renzi as Sheila
- Madelyn Coleman as Mrs. Hennessy
- Robyn Reeves as Job Applicant
- Chris Elliott as Lighting Assistant
- Marta Renzi as Dancer
- Rochelle Oliver as Betty
