Mirimax - 1999

In a small but devastating role, Jean Smart plays Deborah Sloane, wealthy San Francisco mother of 20-year-old Harper (Sarah Polley), a young woman who falls for the charms -- sexual, artistic and intellectual -- of a 50-something photographer named Connie (Stephen Rea).

Writer/director Audrey Wells was thrilled with Smart's understanding and execution of her character--a lonely, bitter woman trapped in a loveless marriage, whose only form of communication with her daughters is to be condescending and overbearing. "Jean did a breathtaking job with the role of Deborah," comments Wells. "It would have been so easy to play the character as the archetypal bitch. But Jean walked a knive's edge between aggression, sexuality and loneliness. Her performance is crystalline." Deborah is in fact the main factor that pushes Harper toward Connie. Desperately seeking love and affirmation, her daughter is essentially 're-parented' by this older man.

Smart's role was quite attractive to the actress, along with the opportunity to act alongside Stephen Rea. The earth-shattering scene where she challenges Connie is one of the most poignant and pivotal moments in the film. "The confrontation was deliciously fun to play," explains Smart. "Deborah sort of verbally dissects Connie as charmingly as she can."

The performance earned Smart an Independent Spirit Award.

"Not since Beatrice Straight told off William Holden in Network have we seen an actress flay a man as Ms. Smart does Stephen Rea in the romantic drama. It's an acid-dripping turn that should nab a supporting nomination at Oscar time." -- The Dallas Morning News

"Deborah turns up unexpectedly at Connie's loft and sizes up this Svengali figure with a mix of honesty and venom that stops the film cold." -- South Coast Today

"Smart steals every scene she's in, including two family dinner sequences and a particularly nasty confrontation between Rea and Polley that she gets involved in." -- L.A. Times

"Smart delivers one of the best performances of the year and one I beg Oscar voters not to forget come ballot season." -- CheckOut.com

"Yet, then there's Jean Smart who delivers a truly bitchy performance as Harper's mother, with the highlight of the film being her subdued, but venomous encounter with her daughter and Connie as she delivers her thoughts about why he doesn't date women his own age." -- Screen It Film Reviews

"The other great scene involves Harper's shrew of a mother (Jean Smart, in one of the year's most blistering supporting turns), who does her best to verbally destroy Connie in front of her daughter." -- USA Today

"The enormous age gap -- Connie is in his 50s -- invariably ignored in Hollywood movies where young hotties are cast opposite sexy dinosaurs is integral to the story here and it leads to the movie's most provocative scene in which Harper's mother -- played with pursed lips and embittered, resentful scorn by an astounding, Oscar-worthy Jean Smart -- confronts Connie about his addictions to booze and barely legal lovers. It's a scene that could easily have been one big cliche, but its flawlessly written and acted as she nails him with a single word and topples his carefully maintained self-delusions. It's a shocking moment." -- Spliced Online

"Smart's speech is bad enough to be Oscar material." -- The Metropolitan

"In a pivotal scene, played convincingly by Jean Smart of TV's Designing Women, the mother dissects Connie's lechery and says he seduces young women simply because they're the only ones who could possibly give him what middle-aged men so desperately need - a woman's awe. It's a cruel moment, but also one of the most truthful to hit the screen in a long time." -- The Dallas Morning News

"Harper's mother (Jean Smart, in an unexpectedly impressive supporting performance) suddenly confronts the man who's seduced her 20-year-old daughter, is the most unflinching passage in a commercial film this year. Smart coolly stares down Rea, seeing right through his role's bohemian veneer, and the tension shoots into the stratosphere." -- CNN

"But more than anyone else the standout is Jean Smart, who plays Harper's mother Deborah. She comes in and delivers the best "Excuse me while I hijack this film for the next ten minutes" scene I've witnessed since Alec Baldwin tore up a blackboard in Glengarry Glen Ross. It's a devastating little speech of such razor-sharp character dissection that it simply made the movie for me." -- Need Coffee.com

"Smart is frighteningly sharp as the controlling mother; her tell-off scene is a stunner." -- SanAntonio360.com

"Jean Smart, as Harper's steamroller of a mother, shows us the profound disappointment beneath the character's sniping exterior. She also makes the most of a speech about why she thinks Connie has sought out her daughter that many viewers may want to memorize for future quotation." -- iF Magazine Reviews

"When Mom (Jean Smart) discovers the relationship, she reacts with a cold fury and a savage verbal deconstruction as to Connie's motives. This scene alone is worth the price of a ticket and earns Smart a place on my end of year "best" list." -- The Cranky Critic

"The best scene in the movie belongs to Jean Smart, who plays Harper’s mother. In the scene, she confronts Connie, who is now living with Harper, and sharply dissects his need for a protégé who will hold him in awe." -- About Film.com

"Along for the ride is Jean Smart who plays the snobby bitch of a mother. Smart turns in a surprisingly effective performance with an extremely memorable scene where she confronts her daughter’s lover." -- Movie Navigator Reviews

"The mother's role is narrowly written, but Jean Smart takes it and runs, scoring her own touchdown. When Deborah (Smart) comes to Connie's studio to confront him about his relationship with her daughter, she knows exactly how find his vulnerability, verbally cut him into little pieces, chew him up, and leave him emotionally bleeding." -- Culture Vulture.net