It is sometimes said that the best way to win an Oscar is to play someone with a disability, whether physical or mental, and this certainly seemed to be true in the late eighties and early nineties. Several "Best Actor" and "Best Actress" awards during this period went to those playing such parts- Marlee Matlin in "Children of a Lesser God", Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man", Daniel Day-Lewis in "My Left Foot" and Tom Hanks in "Forrest Gump". "A Dangerous Woman" was perhaps Debra Winger's attempt at Oscar glory, as her character, Martha, is retarded, possibly mentally handicapped.
The exact nature of Martha's disability is never made clear in the film, indeed, it is pointed out that the doctors are unable to diagnose her, let alone cure her. She is simple-minded, but her condition does not require her to be hospitalised (she lives with her aunt Frances) and she is even able to hold down a job with a dry-cleaning company. In the event, Winger was not nominated for an Oscar, although she did receive a nomination for a Golden Globe, but her performance is nevertheless a very good one. In some of her earlier films she played attractive, lively, vivacious characters, but Martha is plain, slow and shuffling, dowdily dressed, peering at the world through thick pebble glasses. Although Frances is supposed to be a generation older than Martha (and Barbara Hershey, who plays her, is seven years older than Winger), it is Frances who seems considerably younger.
Despite her mental disability, however, Martha does not lack a sense of right and wrong. Indeed, her sense of right and wrong is very highly developed. She is incapable of being deceitful or dishonest, even when it would be in her own interests to be so. (There is a suggestion, not completely followed through, that in a dishonest society an inability to dissemble or tell lies is in itself a form of mental handicap). Martha loses her job at the dry-cleaners; the ostensible reason is that she is suspected of stealing money from the till (a theft actually carried out by one of her colleagues), but the real reason is that she embarrassed her boss by telling a customer that his suit had not been properly cleaned.
Apart from the scenes where Martha loses her job, the main focus is on the growing romance between Martha and Mackey, the Irish handyman carrying out repairs to Frances's house. There is also a rather unnecessary subplot about Frances's own affair with a local politician and the attempts to reclaim him made by the man's estranged wife. Although Mackey has a serious drink problem and little positive about him, Martha becomes very attached to him, and allows him to take advantage of her when he is drunk. (Drunkenness is a common theme in the film; Frances and the politician's wife also have alcohol problems).
The crisis of the film comes when Martha is molested by Getso, the employee whose dishonesty was the ostensible reason for her sacking, and she stabs him in self-defence, with fatal results. Martha is urged to claim that Getso was attempting to rape her, but refuses on the grounds that this would be a lie. Martha's devastating honesty makes her a "dangerous woman" to herself; her inability to lie puts her in danger of a conviction for murder. It is, in fact, never clear exactly what Getso was attempting to do; the film certainly leaves open the possibility that he was indeed trying to sexually assault Martha but that she was too innocent to realise this.
For most of the film, the action is fairly slow-moving. The film is not only slow but also sombre; many scenes are dark, with dull browns and greys the predominant tones. The crisis comes near the end, which means that the film can seem rather unbalanced- a long, unhurried build-up followed by a hurried ending. Nevertheless, Winger's affecting performance makes this a film worth seeing as an insight into the problems of the mentally handicapped. 6/10
The exact nature of Martha's disability is never made clear in the film, indeed, it is pointed out that the doctors are unable to diagnose her, let alone cure her. She is simple-minded, but her condition does not require her to be hospitalised (she lives with her aunt Frances) and she is even able to hold down a job with a dry-cleaning company. In the event, Winger was not nominated for an Oscar, although she did receive a nomination for a Golden Globe, but her performance is nevertheless a very good one. In some of her earlier films she played attractive, lively, vivacious characters, but Martha is plain, slow and shuffling, dowdily dressed, peering at the world through thick pebble glasses. Although Frances is supposed to be a generation older than Martha (and Barbara Hershey, who plays her, is seven years older than Winger), it is Frances who seems considerably younger.
Despite her mental disability, however, Martha does not lack a sense of right and wrong. Indeed, her sense of right and wrong is very highly developed. She is incapable of being deceitful or dishonest, even when it would be in her own interests to be so. (There is a suggestion, not completely followed through, that in a dishonest society an inability to dissemble or tell lies is in itself a form of mental handicap). Martha loses her job at the dry-cleaners; the ostensible reason is that she is suspected of stealing money from the till (a theft actually carried out by one of her colleagues), but the real reason is that she embarrassed her boss by telling a customer that his suit had not been properly cleaned.
Apart from the scenes where Martha loses her job, the main focus is on the growing romance between Martha and Mackey, the Irish handyman carrying out repairs to Frances's house. There is also a rather unnecessary subplot about Frances's own affair with a local politician and the attempts to reclaim him made by the man's estranged wife. Although Mackey has a serious drink problem and little positive about him, Martha becomes very attached to him, and allows him to take advantage of her when he is drunk. (Drunkenness is a common theme in the film; Frances and the politician's wife also have alcohol problems).
The crisis of the film comes when Martha is molested by Getso, the employee whose dishonesty was the ostensible reason for her sacking, and she stabs him in self-defence, with fatal results. Martha is urged to claim that Getso was attempting to rape her, but refuses on the grounds that this would be a lie. Martha's devastating honesty makes her a "dangerous woman" to herself; her inability to lie puts her in danger of a conviction for murder. It is, in fact, never clear exactly what Getso was attempting to do; the film certainly leaves open the possibility that he was indeed trying to sexually assault Martha but that she was too innocent to realise this.
For most of the film, the action is fairly slow-moving. The film is not only slow but also sombre; many scenes are dark, with dull browns and greys the predominant tones. The crisis comes near the end, which means that the film can seem rather unbalanced- a long, unhurried build-up followed by a hurried ending. Nevertheless, Winger's affecting performance makes this a film worth seeing as an insight into the problems of the mentally handicapped. 6/10