The Prince of Tides

    The Prince of Tides
    1991

    Synopsis

    A troubled man talks to his suicidal sister's psychiatrist about their family history and falls in love with her in the process.

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    Cast

    • Nick NolteTom Wingo
    • Barbra StreisandSusan Lowenstein
    • Blythe DannerSally Wingo
    • Kate NelliganLila Wingo Newbury
    • Jeroen KrabbéHerbert Woodruff
    • Melinda DillonSavannah Wingo
    • George CarlinEddie Detreville
    • Jason GouldBernard Woodruff
    • Brad SullivanHenry Wingo
    • Maggie CollierLucy Wingo

    Recommendations

    • 100

      The New York Times

      The Prince of Tides marks Ms. Streisand's triumphantly good job of locating that story's salient elements and making them come alive on the screen.
    • 88

      Chicago Sun-Times

      An assured and very serious love story that allows neither humor nor romance to get in the way of its deeper and darker subject.
    • 80

      Variety

      Bringing her usual strengths of character to her role as Nolte’s psychiatrist/lover, Barbra Streisand marks every frame with the intensity and care of a filmmaker committed to heartfelt, unashamed emotional involvement with her characters.
    • 80

      Washington Post

      Barbra Streisand's lovely adaptation of Pat Conroy's bestseller echoes the novel's seductive cadences, the cries of summer gulls, the slapping of the Atlantic on the South Carolina shores. An emotionally satisfying film, The Prince of Tides loses some of the stuff readers hold dear, but the pull of the sea, its saltiness too, lingers. As a story of rebirth through self-exploration, it seems ideally suited to this season of illumination.
    • 70

      Chicago Reader

      The results may seem overripe and dated in spots, but she coaxes a fine performance out of Nolte, and the other actors (herself included) acquit themselves honorably.
    • 60

      Empire

      Graced with fine performances and commendably biting off more than it can ever hope to chew, The Prince Of Tides is a rare slice of romantic moviemaking for all those grown-ups feeling ignored since Kramer Vs. Kramer last rattled their value systems. Best to take along your mother, a large box of hankies, and a hefty dose of salt.
    • 50

      Entertainment Weekly

      The difference between The Prince of Tides and a movie like Ordinary People is that Streisand isn’t content with exploring human pain. She had to make it glamorous, too.
    • 50

      TV Guide Magazine

      As star, director and co-producer, Streisand shifts the book's focus from the Wingo past to the Tom-Susan love affair. This could have worked had Streisand directed herself better--if, indeed, she had directed herself at all. Instead of a performance, we get smirks, poses, campy shots that linger on her outrageously long manicured fingernails, and radiant, cloying smiles. Streisand's inadequacies, though, are more than compensated for by Nolte's compelling Tom. He brings conviction and depth to the role, treading a fine line between self-pity and self-respect and exposing his frailties with a rare sensitivity.

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