Playing by Heart (1998)

Eleven articulate people work through affairs of the heart in L.A.

Director:

Willard Carroll

Writer:

Willard Carroll

Stars:

Sean Connery, Gillian Anderson, Anthony Edwards

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Angelina Jolie	...	Joan
Sean Connery	...	Paul
Gena Rowlands	...	Hannah
Gillian Anderson	...	Meredith
Madeleine Stowe	...	Gracie
Ryan Phillippe	...	Keenan
Dennis Quaid	...	Hugh
Christian Mills	...	Phillip
Kellie Waymire	...	Jane
April Grace	...	Valery
Anthony Edwards	...	Roger
Ellen Burstyn	...	Mildred
Jay Mohr	...	Mark
Tim Halligan	...	Cook Show Director
Michael Emerson	...	Bosco

Storyline

Eleven articulate people work through affairs of the heart in L.A. Paul produces Hannah's TV cooking show, and they must move beyond gentle barbs when she wants to know about an affair of his years ago. Mark is dying of AIDS, and his mother comes to his bedside: they must talk truthfully. Men have scalded Meredith so she rebuffs Trent's charm, but he persists. The trendy, prolix Joan tries to pull the solitary Keenan into her orbit: why is he reluctant? An adulterous couple meet at hotels for evening sex, but she is unwilling for the relationship to grow. Hugh tells tall tales, usually tragic, to women in bars. By the week's end, their parallel stories converge.

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Plot Keywords:

dying | aids | bar | sex | tv cooking show | 

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Taglines:

If romance is a mystery, there's only one way to figure it out.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

6 August 1999 (UK)

Also Known As:

Dancing About Architecture

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£30,310 (UK) (6 August 1999)

Gross:

£122,758 (UK) (13 August 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hyperion Pictures, Intermedia Films, Miramax Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most of John Barry's score was replaced with a new score by composer Christopher Young. Barry's credit on the film was retained, however, and a CD was released with Barry's largely unused score.

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Goofs

Although Joan's cat is called Blanche and is consistently referred to as "she", the actual animal is a male (tomcat).

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Quotes

Joan: Talking about love is like dancing about architecture.

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Crazy Credits

The opening scenes introducing the major characters list their character names with subtitles, but not the actors/actresses who are portraying them.

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Connections

References Swingers (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Dirty Little Mouth"
(1998)
Written by Fluke
Performed by Fluke
Courtesy of Virgin Records America, Inc./Virgin Records Ltd.

User Reviews

very pleasing

Sean Connery leads an all star cast in an extraordinary yet odd film. I didn't really understand this film until I reached the end and then all the pieces fell into place. I had to see it twice to really grasp what the plot was all about.

The story followed four different couples; married, engaged, dating and cheating. Gillian Anderson and Jon Stewart literally bumped into each other and are about to venture out on a first date.

Angelina Jolie is crazy for a guy she met at the club (Ryan Phillipe), Anthony Edwards and Madeline Stowe are cheating on their respective spouses. This makes for an interesting viewing and ending, which was a complete twist, and a pleasant shock. "Playing By Heart" has a lot of complex story lines that really works.

This was a film of epic proportions and showed what it had to take to maintain relationships and what love really is and what it will do if people truly love their spouses. I was impressed with everyone's performance; however, I must point out the most outstanding one, which was by Angelina Jolie. Jolie has finally come out from her father's shadow and created one heck of a resume of films that includes "Gia" and "The Bone Collector" among others.

I highly recommend this film to everyone.