Alice Goodwin (Sigourney Weaver) is a school nurse and overwhelmed wife to Howard (David Strathairn) with two daughters on a Wisconsin dairy farm. Theresa Collins (Julianne Moore) leaves her daughters with Alice to babysit. Little Lizzy falls into the lake unattended and eventually dies. Everybody turns against Alice when the police arrests her for abusing student Robbie, the son of Carole Mackessy (Chloë Sevigny).
There are some terrific performances in this movie. Obviously Weaver is doing the majority of the heavy lifting. She's full of great little nuances. Moore does some powerful acting as a mother who lost her daughter. Strathairn does the most interesting pathetic husband. He does it without any malice. The movie does have a couple of awkward moments that are probably best left out or changed. They build up to a kiss between Howard and Theresa so much that it's annoying. The whole section detracts from the drama turning it into melodrama. The other section is Alice hitting herself. It's a little weird and work as a detour. The movie is better off to get on with the trial by that point. Overall, this is a good movie with three great performances.
There are some terrific performances in this movie. Obviously Weaver is doing the majority of the heavy lifting. She's full of great little nuances. Moore does some powerful acting as a mother who lost her daughter. Strathairn does the most interesting pathetic husband. He does it without any malice. The movie does have a couple of awkward moments that are probably best left out or changed. They build up to a kiss between Howard and Theresa so much that it's annoying. The whole section detracts from the drama turning it into melodrama. The other section is Alice hitting herself. It's a little weird and work as a detour. The movie is better off to get on with the trial by that point. Overall, this is a good movie with three great performances.