If These Walls Could Talk

1996 "Changing times, intimate decisions, and the four walls that hold their secrets."
6.9| 1h37m| R| en| More Info
Released: 11 September 1996 Released
Producted By: HBO Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: https://www.hbo.com/movies/if-these-walls-could-talk
Info

A powerful, intimate portrait of three women living in the same house during different eras who all face unplanned pregnancies. The vignettes follow a recently widowed nurse struggling to take control of her life in the early 50s, a mother of four balancing raising a family and maintaining a career in the 70s, and a student making a difficult decision with the help of one woman that will change the course of both their lives in the 90s.

Genre

Drama, TV Movie

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If These Walls Could Talk (1996) is now streaming with subscription on Max

Director

Cher, Nancy Savoca

Production Companies

HBO Films

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If These Walls Could Talk Audience Reviews

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie
Cleveronix A different way of telling a story
Motompa Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.
Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Davis P If these walls could talk (1996) is a TV movie made in an episodic way. This movie examines the issue of abortion throughout very different time periods. The first time period that this movie takes on is 1952, before Roe v Wade, when abortion was illegal. The star of this first of three episodes is Demi Moore, one of my favorite actresses. Moore does a really good job with this role. You can really feel her raw emotion and her pain. It portrayed back alley abortion that women were unfortunately forced to undergo if they wanted to terminate a pregnancy. The next episode is set in 1974, just about a year or so after abortion was legalized in the Supreme Court. Sissy Spacek stars in this segment, I love her and her movies, and she does a great job here, very realistic portrayal of a woman already with 4 kids, mulling over the tough decision of whether or not to have an abortion. The third segment is set in what was modern day when this was released, 1996. This portion of the movie stars Anne Heche, Cher, and Jada Pinkett. I really loved this portion especially because of its realisticness and it's very raw portrayal. Heche was just perfect in the role, loved her. Pinkett was hard to love because of how her character is, but nevertheless she did a good job. Cher, who is both a fantastic singer and actress, does a great job at playing one of the most caring characters I've seen. I loved how they showed the realities women have had to go through simply to have an abortion. In each section, they continually painted such a raw portrayal of this issue and I applaud the filmmakers for doing so. 9/10!
Eva Ruah Pure propaganda, and this is another one of those films that really lay it on thick as a Kansas City steak.Imagine having sex and then becoming pregnant. What a notion eh?What an original idea.The problem with this is why should an innocent die because a woman does not have the decency to have the baby one way or another.Most of the time a woman has sex and thinks that the answer to everything is the taking of a life of a child.The child has no say in the matter.The child has no rights.I do not care who tries to make the act of murdering a baby in a womb cool or chic,it is NOT.Cher with her misguided pathetic life.Cher pretending to be a doctor who is telling the woman I care about you and I know how hard this is for you.Bull!Demi Moore with her messed up life.Demi Moore is a great example for American womanhood.Sissy Spacek who is not as screwed up acting as most Hollywood women,but she is wrong.Her character decided to keep her baby and not to destroy the baby.Thank you writers for advocating that it is a wonderful thing to have the child.I believe they wrote the baby being saved in the end in that story because a lot of people would not want to watch a movie to its end unless there was a ray of light in the dark forest of murder.If you believe that God made each and every living creature then don't watch this movie.It is painful.
CherryDarling180 This movie made me look at everything. And I find that it was neither for Abortion or against it. I think it was just trying to educate us. Show us what it would have been like in different times; to show us the difference. This is not a topic I ever really felt to strongly about. I think it's your choice. But this movie presented it from every angle.I'll start with the 1952 segment. Now, some scenes in this one I found hard to watch. That goes without saying. The end I found very gruesome. It's so hard to believe the lengths some women would go to. But I guess I kind of understand why she do something like that. And Demi Moore. Her performance blew me away! I'm really not a big Demi Moore fan, but she was just so amazing in this.Now the 1974 segment didn't really show too much. It just didn't really make me think about her situation and pity her. I know people that had been in a worse position and ended up having 7 kids. I just couldn't sympathize for her. I know she ended up keeping the baby and that was a good decision, but I really didn't feel for Sissy Spacek's character much at all.SPOILERS!!! Now the 1996 segment was just brilliant! Cher did an amazing job! Anne Heche did and amazing job! Matthew Lillard did and amazing job! Everything was just so amazing! A lot of you may not know it, but the guy who shoots Cher at the end was actually Matthew Lillard. He did a great job. Sure all he had to do was go in shoot her and leave, but he was great. And Cher, wow. She was really believable. And when Anne Heche is holding her in her arms... Just blew me away. This movie really made me think. And something everyone needs. But I do have to say that it is not for the faint of heart.
fellicity I have just seen 'If These Walls Could Talk' for the first time, and I am completely in awe. This film should be mandatory viewing material for any person who thinks that abortion is an easy choice or that women faced with an unplanned pregnancy should have their right to choose taken away from them.Sissy Spacek did a wonderful job portraying the most overlooked unplanned pregnancy demographic: the aging career mother who must choose whether or not to make the sacrifice of raising another child. In this story I truly appreciated the message that choosing to have a child is also pro-choice. Anne Heche's role in the final story was the most 'typical' of the three: the single college student who must struggle with her own moral and personal issues when making a choice about her pregnancy. While she portrayed the most common demographic of women who face an unplanned pregnancy, her role was beautifully and honestly acted. But the most riveting and heartbreaking of the three stories featured Demi Moore as a young widow who must make the hardest decision in her life-- to risk not only her career and reputation but the relationship of her in-laws who have taken her in as one of their own by carrying to term the baby of her dead husband's brother, or to risk her life by choosing what was once a barbaric and incredibly dangerous procedure due to the illegality of abortion. Her struggle is disturbing, and any woman who remembers the dark days before Roe v. Wade will feel her character's pain, fear, and especially her desperation. This story in particular showcases why keeping abortion safe and legal is so very necessary.What struck me most about this film was not only the realism in all three situations, but how each one of the stories showed that "Pro-Choice" is not always "Pro-Abortion"; a fact that those of us who support a woman's right to chose will be all too glad to point out while those of the stauncher anti-choice fold may be a little slow to admit. The struggle that each woman faces in this film is unique, and while another reviewer mistakenly commented that each instance was merely 'cliché', I will argue that each instance was REAL. Rape and incest are not the causes for most unplanned pregnancies, and a great number of women who choose abortion are of legal age to do so. This film would have been 'cliché' if every actor had portrayed a low-income person of color, which is clearly unrealistic. And while violence against abortion providers isn't an every day occurrence, there are people in our society who wish that were the case-- and including this scene in the film shows us, in graphic detail, the hypocrisy of that opinion.I was surprised that this film, especially the final story, didn't tackle other reproductive choice-related issues such as birth control. However, I was extremely pleased with how the final story educated viewers on the realities of the abortion procedure (mandatory counseling and all)-- a reality which couldn't be further from the horrific depictions offered up by many in the anti-choice camp. Speaking of which: I was grateful for this film showing that not all people who oppose abortion are stereotypical, out of control lunatics, but that the most radical in this faction tend to be, ironically, male. And one comment made by a character regarding adoption truly hit home for me as I once worked in a residential facility for abandoned and abused children that was, like so many others in this country, bursting at the seams: "The last time I checked, there wasn't a shortage of little black babies".This film needs to be aired during prime time and piped into the Bush White House, if for no other reason than to show that abortion is not a black and white issue, that the argument surrounding it cannot be settled through protest, violence or prohibition, and that restricting a woman's legal right to reproductive choice will only complicate matters further but will not be an end to abortion. Anyone who has ever been faced with an unplanned pregnancy will agree, and anyone who hasn't will learn that their opinion can be subject to change depending on their circumstances.