Independent Films, Film Profiles

Lianna
by John Sayles

Lianna (1983) is a drama film written and directed by John Sayles. The movie features Linda Griffiths, Jane Hallaren, Jon DeVries, among others.Lianna, played by Linda Griffiths, is the wife of a college professor teaching film and media at a University in a small to midsized town in New Jersey, and the mother of two children. In an attempt to give her husband more freedom - at his request - and cure her boredom in being a housewife, she takes a child psychology class with her friend Sandy.Becoming more involved in the class and interacting with the female professor, she realizes she has a crush on the instructor, Ruth. Ruth invites Lianna over to her home for dinner and they talk into the night, Lianna explaining that she was a graduate student at one time who married the professor. They eventually sleep together and begin an affair, complicated by Lianna's husband's affair with one of his students. Lianna expresses interest in leaving her husband for Ruth, but Ruth backs away, warning Lianna that living with another woman would jeopardize her career as a child psychologist - and she has a partner in another city.Lianna leaves her husband after a particularly ugly fight to live alone for the first time in years. Lianna visits a lesbian bar and attempts to connect with other lesbians through a string of affairs to explore her new identity. The film explores her loneliness, her changing relationships with her children, and her new relationship with Sandy, who shocked at Lianna's revelations at first, begins to slowly accept it and support Lianna.