¶ … Man Loves a Woman is a romantic movie written by Al Franken and Ronald Bass. It was produced in the year 1994. It starred Andy Garcia who acted as Michael green, Meg Ryan who acted as Alice green, Tina Majorino who acted as Jessica Green and Mae Whitman who acted as Casey green among others. Meg Ryan was nominated for screen actors' guild award for the best female in a leading role. The movie was well received by the audience and was rated among the best movies at the time.
Film Aspects
Story telling
The movie is a story of a woman Alice Green who is an alcohol addict and the challenges she faces in her quest to recover from the addiction. Alice, ironically, is a high school counselor but an alcoholic. She is good at counseling the students, hence does not lose her job. Her husband Michael Green is a pilot and often is away from home leaving Alice to take care of the children. Apparently, she is a good mother and her children love her. While sober, she takes good care of the children and plays with them and the children reciprocate by showing her love. However, the children are puzzled by their mother's behavioral characteristics. They just know that their mother loves sleeping a lot, but with different characteristics.
As the story unfolds, Alice's children are witnesses of the bad things alcohol can do. She often drives them when drunk and at times slaps them. In one of the scenes, Jesse was trying to do her homework and ended up witnessing her mother take aspirin with vodka. She becomes tipsy and trips on her way to the bathroom.
Unlike the drunk Alice, Michael enjoys taking care of his family. When sober Alice is in control of herself and takes good care to the family, when drunk she behaves like a third child to Michael. Michael likes being the strong man who takes care of the whole family. His strong character makes Alice feel guilty for her drinking problem. When Alice begins her journey to stop drinking they have problems with Michael who is no longer sure of his role in the marriage.
Alice finally admits that she has a problem and decides to quit drinking she joins the AA and receives treatment for her alcoholism. Her withdrawal symptoms become evident such as vomiting, sweating and irritability. Alice gets better and better with time. She matures and behaves like a grown up. Her husband, however, is uncomfortable with this change. He is not used to his wife behaving like a grown up. They can no longer go having fun together as alcohol was a catalyst to that. As Alice quits drinking she also is distressed and blames Michael for her problems and settle for a separation. Michael, however, does not want a divorce with Alice as it would affect their children who were too young to cope with a divorce. He has issues as he is no longer the sole bread winner of the family. At last they learn to solve their conflicts. Alice successfully overcomes her alcoholism and becomes a sober, good wife and mother to her kids. The movie ends with Michael giving a speech at Alice' six months on being sober. He says that everyone deserves a second chance he then kisses Alice as he declares his love for her.
Acting
The main actor in the movie is Meg Ryan who acts as Alice Green, an alcoholic woman with two personalities. When drunk, she is the careless woman who cares about nothing. When sober, she is a loving and caring mother to her kids. The whole movie revolves around her, and she is, therefore, seen in most parts of the movie. Andy Garcia acts as Michael Green is Alice's husband. He is the understanding man who takes good care of his kids and alcoholic wife. However, when Alice begins sobering up, he is vague about his paternal role in the
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