If These Walls Could Talk
| If These Walls Could Talk | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Drama Thriller |
| Written by | Susan Nanus I. Marlene King Nancy Savoca Earl W. Wallace Pamela Wallace |
| Directed by |
Nancy Savoca Cher |
| Starring |
Demi Moore Sissy Spacek Cher Xander Berkeley Hedy Burress Anne Heche Jada Pinkett |
| Theme music composer | Cliff Eidelman |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Demi Moore Suzanne Todd |
| Producer(s) | Martin Ganz Doris Kirch Laura Greenlee |
| Cinematography |
Ellen Kuras Bobby Bukowski John Stanier |
| Editor(s) |
Peter Honess Elena Maganini |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
HBO NYC Productions Moving Pictures |
| Distributor | Home Box Office |
| Release | |
| Original release | October 13, 1996 |
If These Walls Could Talk is a 1996 made-for-cable film, broadcast on HBO. It follows the plights of three different women and their experiences with abortion. Each of the three stories takes place in the same house, 22 years apart: 1952, 1974, and 1996. All three segments were co-written by Nancy Savoca. Savoca directed the first and second segment while Cher directed the third. The women's experiences in each vignette are designed to demonstrate the popular views of society on the issue in each of the given decades.
Debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival, If These Walls Could Talk became a surprise success and was the highest-rated movie in HBO history. It was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards, including Best Miniseries or Television Film.
The 1952 segment deals with Claire Donnelly (Demi Moore), a widowed nurse living in suburban Chicago, who becomes pregnant by her brother-in-law (Jason London) and decides to undergo abortion in order not to hurt her late husband's family. However, abortion at the time is strictly illegal. Claire eventually finds another nurse (C. C. H. Pounder) who provides her the phone number of a woman who can find her someone to perform the abortion. The woman on the phone tells Claire that the only trustworthy abortionist she knows is located in Puerto Rico, and Claire cannot afford the travel costs. After a failed attempt to end her pregnancy with a knitting needle, Claire eventually contacts a man who comes to her home and performs a clandestine procedure on her while she lies on top of a kitchen table. Claire finally manages to abort, but dies shortly afterwards due to hemorrhage.
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