Mapping misfortune

>> Sigourney Weaver cracks up in A Map of the World

By JOANNE LATIMER

It shouldn't be hard to like a film with fine performances by Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore and David Strathairn. Yet I found myself forcing an affection for A Map of the World--out of respect.

That respect is well earned. The film, director Scott Elliott's first, is based on a great novel by Jane Hamilton. The transition to the screen is smooth enough and the casting is outstanding. Weaver is the central character, Alice Goodwin, who is accused of unspeakable crimes (to say more would give away too much) while on the job as a school nurse in her rural community. The allegations come on the heels of a family tragedy shared by the Goodwins and their best friends, Theresa Collins (Moore) and Dan Collins (Ron Lea).

Alice takes the heat as the town witch and her long-suffering husband, Howard (Strathairn), has to run the farm and raise their two little girls. Alice goes to jail, while Howard tries to scrape together the bail and pay for a good lawyer. In jail, Alice goes through some sort of massive guilt trip and personal redemption therapy.

Watching Weaver crack up is a pleasure. Elliott undermines her regal bearing at the film's outset by surrounding her with unruly kids, a messy house and an oblivious husband. This isn't the Sigourney we know. She's frazzled, she can't control her kids and she takes a lot of lip from the sick kids at school. Most of the grief comes from Chloe Sevigny, as the trampy mom of a school kid.

Strathairn is carving a niche for himself as the long-suffering husband. We saw it in The River Wild and Passion Fish, to name just two. The women he plays opposite are always headstrong and toting luggage from years before they knew him. He's not a wimp, exactly, but a steady, boring guy who happens to be handsome. He makes small acts of independent thought seem like the feats of an action hero.

Alice's "fall from grace," (as the voice-over puts it), is a meditation on punishment. And Theresa Collins' parallel breakdown is a meditation on forgiveness. It's a beautiful film, when you think about it, and think about it you will. There's a final court scene, but the usual retribution of the innocent isn't staged with the justice-lust that most directors adore. Moms are usually beatified in films about their struggle to raise their kids, but Elliott resists all the cornball scenes and that makes A Map of the World a more serious film than expected. :

A Map of the World opens Friday, March 24