Heartburn (1986)

A food writer pregnant with her second baby finds out her husband is having an affair.

Director:

Mike Nichols

Writers:

Nora Ephron (novel), Nora Ephron (screenplay)

Stars:

Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Jeff Daniels

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Meryl Streep	...	Rachel
Jack Nicholson	...	Mark
Jeff Daniels	...	Richard
Maureen Stapleton	...	Vera
Stockard Channing	...	Julie
Richard Masur	...	Arthur
Catherine O'Hara	...	Betty
Steven Hill	...	Rachel's Father
Milos Forman	...	Dmitri
Mamie Gummer	...	Annie (as Natalie Stern)
Karen Akers	...	Thelma Rice
Aida Linares	...	Juanita
Anna Maria Horsford	...	Della
Ron McLarty	...	Detective O'Brien
Kenneth Welsh	...	Dr. Appel

Storyline

An autobiographical look at the breakup of Ephron's marriage to Carl "All the President's Men" Bernstein that was also a best-selling novel. The Ephron character, Rachel is a food writer at a New York magazine who meets Washington columnist Mark at a wedding and ends up falling in love with him despite her reservations about marriage. They buy a house, have a daughter, and Rachel thinks they are living happily ever after until she discovers that Mark is having an affair while she is waddling around with a second pregnancy.

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Plot Keywords:

marriage | wedding | columnist | renovation | writer | 

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Taglines:

They Thought It Was Love. It Was Really Heartburn.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 July 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

El difícil arte de amar

Filming Locations:

Alexandria, Virginia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$25,314,289

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie is based on Nora Ephron's real-life marriage to, and divorce from, Carl Bernstein, and the birth of their two sons. The woman with whom Bernstein had an affair was Margaret Jay, who was the wife of the British Ambassador to the United States, and daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan. Jay became a Baroness in 1992, and rose to become the first female Leader of the House of Lords between 1998 and 2001.

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Goofs

After saying she was making a key lime pie for dinner, Rachel is seen at a produce dept buying regular limes, rather than key limes.

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Quotes

Mark Forman: What the fuck was that?
Rachel Samstat: He has cancer.
Mark Forman: Bullshit.
Rachel Samstat: Mark.
Mark Forman: It's bullshit!
Rachel Samstat: People don't lie about things like that.
Mark Forman: Contractors lie about everything. What'd he say, "I have cancer"?
Rachel Samstat: Exactly.
Mark Forman: Well, he probable meant that "he" has cancer.
Rachel Samstat: Who?
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

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Soundtracks

(When We Are Dancing) I Get Ideas
Written by Dorcas Cochran and Julio C. Sanders (as Julio Sanders)

User Reviews

IS THERE SOMETHING THE MATTER WITH ME?

It is some years since I saw this film, but I definitely thought at the time it was vastly under-rated, and now that I have seen the voter's scores for this, I am surprised all over again. Obviously, I have to log off and go to the video store to refresh my memory, but: the story was great, the song Joni Mitchell contributed was one of her all-time bests, and how could Meryl Streep ever be in anything that wasn't worthwhile? By the way, the book was better, punctuated with recipes. It is an autobiographical tale, which bursts the balloon of the Watergate heroes and is definitely one of the most entertaining and realistic of the cinematic versions of life and love.