Dr. T and the Women

Colour, 35mm
USA, 2000, 118 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Charming, Dallas-based gynaecologist Sullivan Travis not only examines his many patients but also listens to their often trivial complaints and tries to soothe their tension. He’s surrounded by women at home, too: his beloved wife, Kate, and two adolescent daughters, Connie and the soon-to-be-married Dee Dee. On top of that he’s got an alcoholic ex-sister-in-law who visits with her three girls. When Kate finds herself in a psychiatric clinic after an unexpected breakdown, the harmony of the doctor’s well-established life is thrown out of kilter. The gynaecologist looks for the equilibrium he’s lost in his golf trainer’s new assistant, a woman who seems so different from all the rest. But events both as home and the office take a turn for the worse, finally culminating in a fiasco at the wedding ceremony. Robert Altman has returned to his favourite pastime: ironising the American way of life. This time he has chosen the world of women. But as an exceptionally talented observer, Altman doesn’t overly criticise; he merely presents reality as it appears to him.

About the director

Robert Altman (b. 1925, Kansas City, Missouri, USA) has been around Hollywood since 1957, the year he began working as a screenwriter, director and producer of television shows. He has produced his own films and those of other filmmakers. He is generally placed at the very pinnacle of US writer-directors and is considered the father of independent film. His movies, made in wide variety of genres, engage in critically interpreting the American style of life. He made a name for himself with the war comedy MASH (1969) and followed it up by, among others, McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), The Long Goodbye (1973), Nashville (1975), 3 Women (1977), A Wedding (1978), Quintet (1979), Popeye (1980), Streamers (1983), Vincent & Theo (1990), The Player (1992), Short Cuts (1993), Ready to Wear (1994), Kansas City (1996), The Gingerbread Man (1997) and Dr. T and Women (2000).