How to Make an American Quilt
| How to Make an American Quilt | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Jocelyn Moorhouse |
| Produced by | Sarah Pillsbury Midge Sanford |
| Screenplay by | Jane Anderson |
| Based on |
How to Make an American Quilt by Whitney Otto |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Thomas Newman |
| Edited by | Jill Bilcock |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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October 6, 1995 (USA) |
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Running time
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117 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10 million |
| Box office | $41,600,020 |
How to Make an American Quilt is a 1995 drama film, and an adaptation of the 1991 novel of the same name by Whitney Otto. Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, the film stars Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Nelligan and Alfre Woodard. The film received a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Main character. Following a proposal of marriage from her boyfriend Sam (Dermot Mulroney), Finn decides to visit her great aunt and grandmother to finish her thesis and think over the proposal. At her grandmother's house, a quilting group congregates, and she's shocked and surprised to discover that the current quilt that they're working on is a wedding gift for when she gets married. The theme of the quilt is "where love resides". As Finn is unsure whether she's ready for marriage or whether he's "The One", the stories of the women in the quilting group open her eyes to the different kinds of love that exist. During her time at her grandmother's house, she meets Leon (Johnathon Schaech) at the local pool and embarks on a brief affair with him. Eventually, wrapped in her quilt and following a crow (reminiscent of Anna's tale about her aunt), she comes across Sam and chooses to stay with him.
When she was in her early twenties, Sophia (Samantha Mathis/Lois Smith) was a talented diver with dreams of escaping her small town and overbearing mother. One day she meets Preston Richards (Loren Dean) while diving at the local pool and romance ensues. He's attracted by her fearlessness and she believes he can take her away from her current, oppressive way of life. However, motherhood turns out to be just as, if not more, oppressive, and married life soon grinds her down. With three children and little help from her husband who is frequently away because of his job, she no longer has time to dive and eventually forgets the feeling of freedom and escape it gives her. One day she snaps at her husband for digging a pond in the back garden. In an attempt to remind her of the girl he fell in love with, he tells her the pond is for her to wade in. After she rejects his efforts, he realizes that her free spirit is gone. One morning he leaves for work, never to return. Abandoned, bitter, and trapped in a life she didn't want, Sophia ironically ends up like her overbearing mother, particularly in her relationship with Finn.
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