During the Great Depression, a Southern family hires the domestic services of Rose (Laura Dern), a damaged woman who hopes to avoid prostitution as a way of life. While in the employ of the household, Rose begins to develop feelings for the father of the family (Robert Duvall), who must continually rebuff her unwanted sexual advances. Meanwhile, Rose also develops a relationship with the 13-year-old son, Buddy (Lukas Haas). Eventually the father begins to reach the limits of his tolerance.
Willingham, who also scripted Paths of Glory, Little Big Man and The Graduate, wrote Rose in the early 1970s. Thanks to these sterling performances almost two decades later, his screenplay enjoys a fresh and tender blossoming.
Truly extraordinary performances, the familiar yet rarely predictable script and the fertile subtext that looks at sexuality and desire through feminist question marks, makes 'Rambling Rose' one of the year's most touching and absorbing movie experiences.
The movie is all character and situation, and contains some of the best performances of the year, especially in the ensemble acting of the four main characters.
Seen in a flashback through the eyes of an adolescent, this uncommon coming-of-age tale, which raises poignant questions about the mysteries of sex and love, flaunts a superb performance from Laura Dern as the promiscuous girl
