SEARCHING FOR DEBRA WINGER Rating: (out of 5 stars) Director: Rosanna Arquette Producers: Happy Walters, Rosanna Arquette, Matt Weaver, David Codikow Directors of Photography: Jean-Marc Barr, Olivier Boucreux, Cort Fey, Joey Forsyte, Nathan Hope, Michael G. Wojciechowski Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew

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Review by: Laurel Williams
8/11/03

Rosanna Arquette felt compelled to make a documentary about how hard it is to be an actress in Hollywood, and to answer the question, as she puts it, "Can you have both (your art and a life)?" She then takes a camera around with her as she interviews a dizzying amount of very famous, very successful actresses including Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Salma Hayek, Meg Ryan, Sharon Stone, Laura Dern, Alfre Woodard, Holly Hunter, and Vanessa Redgrave, among many others. She provides a rare inside look at these celebrities, that at times is quite fascinating. Some of them open up and are quite candid about their lives. In a very real way, you begin to understand that they are just women, struggling with the same things that women everywhere struggle with. Well, kind of.

Arquette's "search" eventually leads her to the backyard of Debra Winger, where the retired (she was still retired when this was made) actress sits with Arquette and basically says she's decided that she needed to leave the business, and hasn't at all been sorry. I think Arquette may have been a bit disappointed at Winger's contentment, but Winger seems to say that she didn't really enjoy acting all that much anyway. Jane Fonda provides perhaps a bit more insight into why retirement was negotiable for her. She says, "I knew that I wasn't going to regret not having done another 5-10 movies. I was going to regret never having had any intimacy in my life."

But most of Arquette's interviews are with actresses who are still working in the industry. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few moments that are kind of touching, not many of these conversations are especially interesting. They all center around the very familiar complaints regarding how women are treated in the industry. "It's so hard to have relationships when there is so much scrutiny." "It's so hard to be a mother and to also want to practice your art." "It's not fair that there aren't very many juicy or varied roles for women." "It's so hard when everyone expects you not to age." "It's not fair that women over forty seem to be forgotten and can't get work." "It's not fair the emphasis put on beauty, or on sexuality." "It's so hard to keep everything balanced in life." Blah, blah, blah. I'm not saying that these aren't legitimate complaints, and I'm sure if I was a famous actress I would be consumed with these considerations as well. But, it just began to feel a bit… self-indulgent. I was literally watching Rosanna Arquette go through therapy as she talked through her struggles with her friends who are going through the same thing. Every now and then a brief nod is given to the rest of the female population that has to balance a career, a family, and gym time, but in general the topic is treated as if they are the only one's dealing with sacrifice, and aging, and "staying passionate" for their art.

In the end, Arquette's search for answers doesn't really lead to any great insight -- maybe because the questions she's asking aren't really that new or unusual.

(Premieres on Showtime on August 18, 2003 at 8:00 P.M. ET/PT)