Rachel, Rachel

Director: Paul Newman
Year Released: 1968
Rating: 2.0

A repressed schoolteacher (Joanne Woodward), still living with Mom at age 35 and haunted by her childhood, finally loses her virginity to an old acquaintance and gathers up the strength to leave town. Aside from being a rather rudimentary view of 'maturing' and coming to terms with the past it also bows down too easily to pop psychology; the transitions from Woodward's current mental state to her imagination are clumsy, but director Newman keeps them to a relative minimum. Woodward's performance is nicely understated - she shows great compassion as an instructor and great temerity and insecurity as a bachelorette.