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The Rice Thresher
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Garret Merriam Thresher staff Make no mistake about it, auteur extraordinaire Robert Altman's latest film Dr. T and the Women will confuse a good number of those who see it - not because it is terribly complex or intricate, but because of the sheer number of its gendered storylines. In one respect, it is the story of a man desperately trying to understand the women in his life. In another, it is the story of the lives of those women as seen through a man's eyes. The film, set in upper-class Dallas, consists of numerous interrelated subplots. Dr. T manages to tell many tales at once without the series of vignettes that has become so popular in the years since Pulp Fiction. Its scope sometimes makes the film seem to lack focus and creates some incoherence. While most aspects of the film are humorous and entertaining, none are especially funny. As has become Altman's signature, Dr. T boasts an ensemble cast. Richard Gere stars as the titular Dr. Sully Travis, a gynecologist surrounded by people of the feminine persuasion. The film begins with Gere's wife (played by original Charlie's Angel Farrah Fawcett) having a breakdown and being institutionalized after regressing into a childlike state. Connie, one of Dr. T's daughters (Tara Reid), adds stress to her father's life when she uses him to try to balance her impending wedding and her struggling career as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Dr. T must also cope with his other daughter, Dee Dee (Kate Hudson), and her jealousy over her sister's marriage. In his office, Dr. T is surrounded by waves of female patients demanding his attention and supervision. Frequent visits from his daughters and his sister-in-law (Laura Dern) make Dr. T's work life even more hectic. As if he weren't tense enough, his nurse Carolyn (Shelly Long) and her humorously awkward crush on Dr. T make matters even more strained. Liv Tyler, who starred in Altman's last film, Cookie's Fortune, plays a small but important role as Marilyn, Connie's bridesmaid for her wedding. Tyler's character adds a mild element of surprise to the non- linearly structured film. The most substantive of the film's many plotlines exists between Dr. T and Bree, an ex-golf pro played perfectly by Helen Hunt. While his life is increasingly engulfed by the burdens placed on him by women, Dr. T begins an affair with Bree, the only woman who seems to give more than she demands. Due to her independence and "low-maintenance" status, she becomes the object of Dr. T's affections. Cinematographically speaking, this film has several impeccably orchestrated scenes. Many exchanges (most notably those taking place in Dr. T's waiting room and office) consist of several of the women all talking at once in seas of incomprehensible babble. To add to the disorientation, the camera roams strategically around the room, coming to focus on the one person who is not speaking at the moment, only to pan away when she begins to talk. The effect is dizzying and succeeds in making viewers actually feel as though they were amidst the gaggle of chattering women. Perhaps the most tantalizing feature of the film, however, is its ending. In the last five minutes, the film shifts gears from comically cheerful to joyfully absurd. The final scene will leave most moviegoers stunned and nearly all viewers aghast. Altman has created a most peculiar ending in an otherwise straightlaced film, an ending comparable only to that of P.T. Anderson's recent Magnolia. I dare not say more for fear of spoiling the movie's surreal conclusion, but I will say that there is at least one thing in this movie you have never seen on the big screen before. Those who see it will know what I mean.
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