July 17, 1988
PRINCE OF TIDES
Screenplay by Pat Conroy & Becky Johnston
Synopsis by Brian Aldrich
TOM WINGO is a teacher and a football coach who loves to spend his summer vacations on the South Carolina beach with his three daughters and his wife SALLIE, a doctor. Tom and Sallie are having communication problems. Tom's mother, LILA, comes over with some bad news: Tom's sister, SAVANNAH, a writer who lives in New York City, has tried to kill herself again. Savannah's psychiatrist, DR. LOWENSTEIN, has asked that a member of the family go up there. Lila guilts Tom into going. Tom hates his mother and hasn't gotten over the death of his beloved brother, LUKE. Tom goes to NYC.
Tom meets with Lowenstein who turns out to be a beautiful woman in a troubled marriage to an adulterous musician. Tom moves into his sister's apartment next door to her gay friend, EDDIE. Tom calls Sallie. She confesses that she's having an affair and may want to break up Tom. Lowenstein takes Tom to see Savannah. She is in a catatonic state. Tom and Lowenstein become friends as she learns about Tom and Savannah's family. She learns how repressed Tom, Luke and Savannah were due to their parents. Tom runs into Lowenstein at Eddie's party. They leave together. Tom meets her son BERNARD, a dull, unhappy boy. Lowenstein offers to pay Tom to coach Bernard in football. Tom finds a pile of manuscripts in Savannah's apartment all written by a woman named RENATA HALPERN, but the stories are all about Tom and Savannah's family. Tom asks Lowenstein about this. She tells him that Savannah was afraid to write about her family under her own name in fear of Lila's wrath, so she wrote them under the name of a dead Jewish woman. Savannah was able to slip into another life. Tom slowly wins over Bernard. Tom talks with Lowenstein about his despair over his brother, nicknamed "The Prince of Tides." He cries. Tom returns home for one of his daughter's birthdays. He says goodbye to his dead brother. Tom and Lila make up. Tom sends Lowenstein rose for her birthday. Tom, Sallie and the girls spend tender moments together.
Tom returns to NYC. He is invited to a dinner party by HERBERT, Lowenstein's husband. Herbert begins to ridicule Tom in front of his guests, his mistress, and Lowenstein. Tom humiliates Herbert in return. Tom and Lowenstein make love. Savannah starts to get better. She and Tom start to talk. He comforts and encourages her. Sallie calls to make up with Tom. Tom tells Lowenstein that he's going home. She's sad. He returns to his southern life, but remembers his northern experience as transforming.
Summary Criticism: The script retains the poetry of a novel while telling a sincere, involving story of families and relationships. This is a pleasant story, yet a familiar one.
Prince of Tides - imdb
Prince of Tides - wiki
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