CHASING OSCAR - Road to Madness

JESSICA LANGE 

as Patsy Cline in SWEET DREAMS (1985)
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Patsy Cline is unhappily married and playing small-time gigs in the Tri-State when she meets Charlie Dick, whose charm and aggressive self-confidence catch her attention. In time, Patsy leaves her husband to marry Charlie, and she gives up music to focus on raising their children. But after Charlie goes into the United States Army, Patsy begins singing again, and after joining forces with manager Randy Hughes, Patsy becomes a rising star on the country music scene. She died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963 at the age of 30.

"See, I figure when you say you want to get to know me better - what you really mean is you want a ten minute screw in the back seat of your car."

                                         - Patsy Cline

Sweet Dreams is a lively biopic, in which Jessica Lange remarkably gives life to Patsy Cline, one of the first great female stars of the country music, who had not only broadened the audience for country but also brought a new sophistication to the Nashville sound.
The director chose to focus on the troubled relationship between Patsy Cline, and her second husband, Charlie Dick played by Ed Harris, and not only on her career, well, even If I think he made the right decision, maybe a balance between the two could have been better and more interesting. With this character, Jessica Lange embarks on a long journey and has to portray a lot of emotions, at the beginning, she’s a bit naïve, she has big dreams, then when the success comes, she becomes more confident of her talent, but also of her feminity. Through the film, she has to use her sexiness, her tender side, her anger. Her acting seems so easy that it’s a great privilege to see her on screen, everything seems so real, the only but important issue here, is the lack of opportunities left by the screenplay, few scenes are really powerful and strong. The film doesn't let Jessica Lange really shine. All the scenes where Ed Harris’ character is abusive or in love with Jessica Lange's character are impressive, the duo has a great alchemy, this love/hate relationship is beautifully created by the two actors, the scenes are intense and extreme, but there are not enough in the film. Another relationship is important in her life: the one with her mother who always was a great support for her daughter, those scenes are really great, sometimes funny and always sentimental. It’s a great balance to the hard scenes Jessica Lange had with Ed Harris. 

[I think Ed Harris is fantastic in the movie and should have been nominated for an academy award, it's a rare and intense performance and works perfectly with the performance of jessica Lange. It's a great duo.]

"Lange and Harris, dangerously well-matched, give us lovers whom only success could sunder."

                                                                                               - Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times

No surprisingly, Lange plays perfectly the legendary Patsy Cline, She’s convincing and everything seem so real but as Meryl Streep in Out of Africa, the screenplay doesn’t give her a lot of things to really dazzle even if it’s a showy, vivid  and sometimes quiet performance. 

★★★★★