Searching For Debra Winger (2002)

At the height of her career, the actress Debra Winger walked away from Hollywood and stopped acting. This self imposed exile lasted about six years. It was during this period that fellow actress Rosanna Arquette (DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN) tracked down Winger to talk about her quitting movies. In this documentary, she not only interviews Winger but dozens of other actresses about how the film industry views women, about the eternal conflict between family and career and the process of aging in an ageist and sexist industry. The interviews are engrossing and enlightening and vary from superficial to biting and bluntly honest. Some of the actresses deal with the subject humorously (Whoopi Goldberg, Ally Sheedy, Martha Plimpton) but no less honestly while others (Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Laura Dern) discuss the often traumatic conflict a mother feels abandoning their children to work. Fonda expresses regret, Redgrave not so much and Dern sees it from both sides as both a working actress with children and the daughter of a working actress (Diane Ladd). The film is interesting enough that it zips buy. Other actresses interviewed: Frances McDormand, Holly Hunter, Patricia Arquette, Sharon Stone, Meg Ryan, Diane Lane, Melanie Griffith, Charlotte Rampling, Gwyneth Paltrow, Emmanuelle Beart, Salma Hayek, Robin Wright, Alfre Woodard, Daryl Hannah, Tracey Ullman, Teri Garr, Juliana Margulies and Theresa Russell