Desperate Characters

Sophie and Otto Bentwood are set in their ways. And unsettled in their hearts. They're Desperate Characters, trapped in a marriage that no longer works... yet unable to break free. In a performance widely cited as a career breakthrough, Shirley MacLaine portrays Sophie in this compelling grown-up drama that, in its own jolting way, is a love story. "Shirley MacLaine achieves one of the great performances of the year," wrote Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times. "She proves that we were right, when we saw her in films like The Apartment, to know that she really had it all, could go all the way with a serious role.