Mrs. Harris (2006)

An extraordinarily talented cast gathered for director Phylis Nagy's made for TV crime and punishment opus. The results aren't astounding (like, for example, "Reversal of Fortune"), but it's certainly interesting as a character study.The story begins abruptly; rather than introduce the characters and setting, we are thrust into the primary "crime scene". Jean Harris (Annette Bening) confronts Dr. Herman Tarnower in his home and he urges her to sleep it off. Telling him that she drove 4 hours just to spend a few minutes with him, she produces a revolver and attempts to kill herself. In the process of attempting to stop her, the doctor is severely injured by 3 gunshot wounds. Once the "crime" is out of the way, the film goes back in time to fill us in on the background events that led to these events.My feelings about the film are mixed. The performances are solid, and Kingsley is worth watching in just about anything. He's got a very interesting character here – a total narcissist whose main virtue seems to be the fact that he's so open and honest about it. His crowded room of hunting trophies symbolizes rather blatantly his attitudes about life in general, and women in particular.He's not a very sympathetic character, but no matter how hard the film seems to try I just can't find Jean to be in the "right" here. First of all, I find the depiction of the crime which is shown later in the film based on the prosecution's evidence to be far more likely than the first version we're shown. Even allowing some room for the film to be ambiguous about its goals and giving them credit for showing the prosecution version, I think a number of factors tilt this film strongly in Jean's favor. Basically the film shows Jean as a victim of the doctor, particularly in that it asks us to accept that her depression and violent outburst are the result of her addiction to medication that Dr. Tarnower prescribed for her, and repeatedly reminds us that she took anything and everything he gave her based on faith. The film seems to ask us to hold the doctor responsible for her drug habit, which I find just as unpalatable as her story about the doctor being "accidentally" shot 3 times is untenable. Bening is a fine actress but she can't create pathos where none really belongs. The film is too heavy-handed in asking us to see things from her perspective, even going so far as to basically lampoon the doctor's living relatives and friends who doubt Jean's story and blame her for his death by directing these actors (including Cloris Leachman) in a ridiculous over-the-top manner.This film will hold your attention to the end of its running time, after which point you may feel as I did that you actually wasted your time. That's not to say it's a horrible film, it's just that the story is finally not convincing on a human level because Bening's character is too improbable to generate anything beyond curiosity.

I saw this movie upon recommendation from a friend and I have to say, I am not disappointed with it. It's campy, yes, but the campiness works because of the talented cast. The mighty Ben Kingsley as Hy Tarnower and the always terrific Annette Bening as Jean Harris are electric together. The supporting cast was great too-Cloris Leachman, Mary McDonnell, and Francis Fisher all gave top-notch performances.My only complaint with this film is all the flashback scenes of the murder. I mean, it starts out with the murder, but then we see it for what seems like five times more. It was too much. Jean Harris was portrayed as alternately a cold blooded killer and a woman scorned who shot her lover accidentally because she was doped up on a pills. The truth must lie somewhere in the middle.I liked the way the characters gave testimonials (Brett Butler was hilarious), and the script was very well done. The dialogue was at times a bit silly, but not overly insulting. Overall, I would give Mrs. Harris an 8 out 10.

This one-sided retelling of the sensational murder trial was a total waste of talent. It is galling to see Sir Ben Kingsley wasting his time in this "Woman as victim" soap opera. Dr. Tarnower was portrayed as a cruel, sadistic womanizer wiping his feet on the poor schoolmistress. Jean Harris was portrayed as a tragic victim driven to desperation by her lover's cruelty. At least they did mention that she had walked out on her husband before meeting Dr. Tarnower.The film ignored the fact that Dr. Tarnower was a confirmed bachelor and did not want children, and had told Jean Harris right at the beginning. He apparently was quite happy to wine, dine, and take his lady friends to social occasions and on trips to exotic locations as long as they did not expect him to marry them. Unfortunately, Jean wanted the goodies AND marriage. Had they married, she would probably have been throughly miserable.As the diet book became a best seller and he became a celebrity doctor, Jean may have felt she was being left behind, especially as she was being passed over for promotion at the school. The similarity to the murder of successful playwright Joe Orton by his companion of many years, Kenneth Halliwell struck me. Orton was murdered in a fit of jealousy by Halliwell who's career was not taking off, while Orton was the celebrated darling of swinging London.The film briefly skipped over a 14 year relationship and a lengthy trial. I just wish that we could have seen more of Dr. Tarnower's side of the story, and a little of Jean Harris's sojourn in prison.

Surreal and awful. Disjointed and self-important. If you don't already know the story, forget learning anything from this movie. If you do, then you can't believe the license they take with the material. If you like good movies and interesting scripts, than this is not the movie for you. Dialog flatter than a pancake. You can't believe such talented actors can be so bad. And Ben Kingsley's pseudo-New York/Brooklyn/Jewish/English accent is so bad that Arnold Schwarzenegger himself would be wondering why he wasn't cast in the role. And, oh yes, the BS docu-stlye filming is all over the place. A true work of crap....