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:

So This Is Love?

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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

First Mike Nichols directed comic role of Meryl Streep with Postcards from the Edge (1990) for both of them to follow. Nichols had previously directed Streep in the dramatic picture Silkwood (1983).

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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: It's just that there's no door to the kitchen.
Contractor Laszlo: The back door.
Mark Forman: The back door. Yes. It's true. You can get into the kitchen... through the back door. This, we know is a kitchen. But you can't get inside the house from the kitchen! Now, how the fuck did this happen?
Rachel Samstat: Mark. For God's sake. Laszlo, we thought that you could put a door here.
Contractor Laszlo: She's a piece of cake. He's a piece of cake.
Rachel Samstat: It's a piece of cake.
Contractor Laszlo: You are Hungarian?
Rachel Samstat: No. You are Hungarian.
Contractor Laszlo: Yes.
Rachel Samstat: Yes. Hungarians have no pronouns.
[...]

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Connections

Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Meryl Streep (2004)

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Soundtracks

Baby, It's Cold Outside
Written by Frank Loesser
Performed by Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson

User Reviews

The movie's just okay--but the song is outstanding!

Let's face it, these aren't the two most likable people on the planet, but that's only because writer Nora Ephron may have been a little too hard on herself. (Actually, she's hard on most everyone in this.) We care about this relationship, and the performances ofthe excellent cast make it intriguing at first, but viewers are just as likely to grow impatient with these characters as they do with each other. It's worth seeing, but a hard film to love.

Now, some words about the Carly Simon song, "Coming Around Again." I heard the song before I saw the movie and it no doubt affected my viewing of it. So many movies seem to just tack on any old song at the end credits, but this song really captures the essence of love and marriage and brings out all the emotions of a great film scene in merely a few minutes. I cannot believe the overblown "Take My Breath Away" from "Top Gun" (also overblown) won the 1986 Oscar for Best Original Song, and "Coming Around Again" was not even nominated! Perhaps this is why Carly Simon won her Oscar for "Let the River Run" two years later, to make up for this gross omission. (She would also duet with Streep during the end credits of "Marvin's Room"--an even better film.) The song alone is reason enough to see "Heartburn".