Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams is a 1973 American Technicolor drama film directed by Gilbert Cates and written by Stewart Stern, starring Joanne Woodward, Martin Balsam, and Sylvia Sidney. It tells the story of a New York City housewife who rethinks her relationships with her husband, her children, and her mother.

Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams garnered two nominations at the 46th Academy Awards, and three nominations at the 31st Golden Globe Awards.

Plot

Template:More plot Rita Walden is a depressed, middle-aged New Yorker. Always tired, Rita is prone to nightmares, and when she does dream more pleasant thoughts, they are of her childhood on the family farm. In her mind, she settled for second best when she married her ophthalmologist husband, Harry, as she still thinks about what life would have been like with the older farm boy on whom she had a crush at age 12½. She is constantly bickering with her mother, her sister Betty, and her grown-up daughter Anna, who has issues of her own.

Rita is estranged from her son Bobby; she is in denial about his homosexual orientation. After Rita's mother dies suddenly, Rita is on the verge of a nervous breakdown in dealing with her mother's estate, especially when the family talks about selling her beloved farm, which she still intends to pass on to Bobby.

Harry thinks that a European vacation would help Rita clear her mind, with the possibility of visiting Bobby, who is currently living in Amsterdam. Although Rita faces some crises on the trip, many of her conflicts do ease after she sees Harry revisit Bastogne for the first time since his days in World War II.

Cast

• Joanne Woodward as Rita Walden
• Martin Balsam as Harry Walden
• Sylvia Sidney as Mrs. Pritchett
• Tresa Hughes as Betty Goody
• Dori Brenner as Anna
• Ron Rickards as Bobby Walden
• Win Forman as Fred Goody
• Peter Marklin as Joel
• Nancy Andrews as Mrs. Hungerford
• Minerva Pious as woman in theatre
• Sol Frieder as man in theatre
• Helen Ludlam as grandmother
• Grant Code as grandfather
• Gaetano Lisi as student in theatre
• Lee Jackson as Carl

Reception and analysis

Analysis

In 1981, film historian Vito Russo wrote that "only twice has a serious American film dealt with homosexuality as a family issue or even suggested that homosexuals might be someone's children." He noted the films as being this one and Bloodbrothers as the other. He continued on saying that in this film, the "homosexuality of Rita's son is seen only in terms of how the revelation affects her present mid-life crisis, as one more token of her failure as a wife and mother." Russo also points out that Bobby moves to Amsterdam with his lover and cuts off contact with his parents "until they can deal with him as he is; he turns their inability to see him as a whole person into their problem, not his problem."<ref name="russo 1981"/>

Author Noah Tsika argues that "while its stridency would seem to make it an ideal candidate for camp status, the film is actually closer in tone to queer tragedy and contains thematic elements so profoundly recognizable that they cannot be recuperated as comedy; in particular, the film's motif of maternal rejection – so believably embodied by a brittle Joanne Woodward – makes this film an uncomfortably realistic account of American family life."<ref name="tsika 2010"/>

Critical reception

Ruth Gilbert wrote in New York Magazine that the film is "a lovely, intense and deeply affecting drama of emotional crisis, with a fine performance by Joanne Woodward in a searing portrait of a middle-aged woman, forced, on her mother's death, to face her own pattern of living. Martin Balsam and Sylvia Sidney are equally fine in a film that matters and will remain in your heart."<ref name="gilbert 1973"/>

Film critic Nora Sayre said "from time to time, there's a movie that makes you feel like a moderate heel; although you respect the talents and the themes, it's not possible to respond emotionally, even though you might want to." She goes on to note that the "alternate folksiness and banality of the script means this movie is a forlorn waste of two fine character actors."<ref name="sayre 1975"/>

Variety Magazine wrote that "performances by Woodward, Balsam and Sidney are first-rate, and they create genuinely tender moments; but only those past 40 and approaching 50 or more are likely to feel the depth."<ref name="variety 1972"/> Film historian Richard Schickel offered praise for Woodward's performance, writing "there is no more authentic, believably feminine spirit on the screen today; she is brittle, cold, hysterical, but above all a woman who knows that she is lost and is in desperate search of herself. It is a lovely performance, almost matched by Balsam."<ref name="schickel 1973"/>

Critic Steven Mears opined that "for much of the film's first half, Balsam stands in the background of his scenes, fecklessly trying to comfort his unresponsive wife or broker peace with her relatives; pudgy, his thinning hair combed over with characteristic optimism and his conversation rife with hackneyed pleasantries, Harry is hardly what Rita as a warm-blooded farm girl imagined her romantic future held."<ref name="mears 2017"/>

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Ref.
1973	National Board of Review	Best Supporting Actress	Sylvia Sidney	Template:Won	<ref name="natale 1999"/>
	New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Actress	Joanne Woodward	Template:Won	<ref name="newman 2023"/>
	Academy Awards	Best Actress	Joanne Woodward	Template:Nom	<ref name="variety 1972"/>
		Best Supporting Actress	Sylvia Sidney	Template:Nom	<ref name="burr 1999"/>
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress	Joanne Woodward	Template:Nom	<ref name="golden globes"/>
		Best Supporting Actor	Martin Balsam	Template:Nom
		Best Supporting Actress	Sylvia Sidney	Template:Nom
1974	National Society of Film Critics Awards	Best Actress	Joanne Woodward	Template:Nom	<ref name="filmaffinity"/>
		Best Supporting Actress	Sylvia Sidney	Template:Nom
	Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Actress	Joanne Woodward	Template:Won	<ref name="newman 2023"/>
		Best Supporting Actress	Sylvia Sidney	Template:Won	<ref name="kcfcc"/>
1975	British Academy Film Awards	Best Actress	Joanne Woodward	Template:Won	<ref name="newman 2023"/>
		Best Supporting Actress	Sylvia Sidney	Template:Nom	<ref name="filmaffinity"/>

See also

• Joanne Woodward filmography
• List of American films of 1973
• List of LGBTQ-related films of 1973

External links

• Template:IMDb title
• Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams at RottenTomatoes
• Template:TCMDb title
• Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams trailer at YouTube