Mr. And Mrs. Bridge (1990)

Set in Missouri during the 1930s and 1940s, the film examines the marriage of an upper middle class couple. The husband (Paul Newman) is an uptight attorney with a rigid value system and his wife (Joanne Woodward) is a Pollyanna type who sees the world through rose colored glasses. Based on the novels MR. BRIDGE and MRS. BRIDGE (two separate books) by Evan S. Connell and directed by James Ivory (HOWARDS END). In an atypical role, Newman is surprisingly good playing against type but the film belongs to Joanne Woodward (in an Oscar nominated performance). As a housewife and mother in the pre-feminist era, Woodward doesn't condescend to her character. Rather she lets us see the eager to please wife and mother who has more to offer but is condescended to by her husband and children. Her attempts at improving herself are quashed by her husband, who loves her but insists on playing the head of the household rather than sharing. The film shows the frustration of women who resent being forced into certain roles and not allowed to express themselves, notably in the character of Woodward's best friend played by Blythe Danner (in a terrific performance), who literally goes crazy out of frustration. With Kyra Sedgwick, Robert Sean Leonard, Simon Callow, Austin Pendleton, Gale Garnett, Saundra McClain and Robert Westenberg.