Handed the role of a lifetime, the underrated Mary McDonnell deservedly notched up an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a sour soap star who, paralysed in a car crash, returns to her childhood home in Louisiana. Various nurses desert her because of her bitchiness, until Chantelle (Alfre Woodard) appears, with problems of her own, but more than able to stand up to her new employer. Writer-director John Sayles has come up with a touching and gently funny story of the unlikely friendship that springs up between two people who feel they deserve better out of life. The supporting cast gleams with class and, if the piece drifts on just too long in the final reckoning, its visual qualities and emotional appeal more than make up for that.

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