My review was written in September 1988 after a screening on Manhattan's UES.
Buoyed by a beautifully measured star turn by Whoopi Goldberg and a smashing screen debut for young Neil Patrick Harris, "Clara's Heart" is a powerful, unabashedly sentimental drama that should win over class audiences everywhere.
Adaptation by Mark Medoff of Joseph Olshan's novel pays attention to the values of a well-wrought character study of a noble Jamaican servant (Goldberg) and the young rich kid (Harris) she guides through adolescent rites of passage. Pic marks a strong return to the screen (after the 1982 flop "Kiss Me Goodbye") of director Robert Mulligan, projecting the qualities of his best work, including "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Summer of '42".
Goldberg enters Harris' spoiled, uppercrust world in a family mansion outside Baltimore in a roundabout fashion: Harris' weepy mom (Kathleen Quinlan) is vacationing in Jamaica with hubby (Michael Ontkean), tormented by the death of her infant daughter, when the hotel maid Clara, played by Goldberg, brings her back to life with doses of folk wisdom. Young Harris has a conniption fit when his parents return home with the Jamaican nanny to lord over him and serve as Quinlan's live-in companion/housekeeper.
Second-act plot twists involve the breakup of Quinlan's marriage, occasioned by Ontkean's philandering and her taking up with a self-help guru, Dr. Epstein (Spalding Gray). Broken-home theatrics drive the boy into Goldberg's arms, providing irresistible, folksy good humor as the precocious young thesp mimics her Jamaican accent and begins to fit in with Blanche (Hattie Winston) and Goldberg's other Jamaican friends living in Baltimore.
Fly in the ointment comes with Goldberg's old-time foe from the Islands, Dora (Beverly Todd), who goads Harris to find out his nanny's deep, dark secret by rifling the red suitcase she keeps hidden under her bed.
Third-act verbal revelation scene tastefully addresses such strong topics as rape and incest with care; less effective is film's climax in which the disillusioned boy hurls a racial slur at Goldberg when he feels abandoned by her. Harris plays the scene well and there can be no questioning of the filmmakers' motives, but it still hurts the mood of an otherwise tightly honed production. Reunion coda is a bit distended, but ends pic on an upbeat note of closure and inspiration.
Captured in lush autumnal hues by ace British lenser Freddie Francis, "Clara's Heart" is a beauty to behold, buttressed by a moving, wistful Dave Grusin score. Goldberg's control and strength, including an unwavering Jamaican accent, build cumulatively to deep emotional impact, while co-star Harris is a real find, making the most of Medoff's bon mots and never striking a false note. Together they provide an honest '80s version of the 3-hankie picture of yore, with some of the surefire dramatic appeal of classics like Carol Reed's "The Fallen Idol".
In fact, though contemporary in setting and jargon, "Heart" plays like the films of 25 years ago and this return to traditional screen values could occasion sleeper success against the grain, a la "On Golden Pond". However, pic will need special handling to avoid the potential catcalls of those critics and audiences who currently view sentimentality with a jaded eye.
Support roles are ably filled including the required callousness of Quinlan's and Ontkean's characters. Sole sore thumb here is Spalding Gray, whose guru might just as well be a real estate salesman, given the false reading.
All tech credits are tops, with Francis and others likely to be singled out for recognition come awards time.
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