Man, Woman and Child (1983) User Reviews

OK tearjerker

[ODDBear · 6/10 · 14 May 2009]

Very well acted but only sporadically moving tearjerker from the same guy that brought us "Love Story".

Husband and father of two lovely daughters Sheen discovers that a short affair in France ten years ago resulted in a son. After the death of the boy's mother, the son comes to America for a visit and that puts a strain on his wife, and ultimately, his whole family.

This never really takes off. Blythe Danner gives a terrific performance as Sheen's wife who's suddenly faced with a grim reality. Her actions are the most believable in the film, you'd understand why she insisted on the boy coming rather than her husband going to France. Other than that, scenes involving Sheen and 10 year old Sebastian Duncan (in a good performance) are cute but rather superficial and overly sentimental, with pretty bad dialog as well. Plus, the film shamelessly goes for sobs in the end with a needlessly sad conclusion.

Still, "Man, Woman and Child" works as an OK tearjerker and the universal message of people being far from perfect is always welcomed. Performances are very good and it's great fun to see future "Coach" star Craig T. Nelson in a supportive role (his character could easily have been called Hayden Fox) and the criminally underrated David Hemmings.

A deep, moving picture of a modern tragedy of an affair and effects on family.

[greyhelm_tea · 16 August 2004]

This movie was a quiet picture of the great American tragedy where the affair of the man is played out in the lives of his family. Martin Sheen's family is torn when his son, from a visit to France is brought into the house. The family naturally turns against the father as he struggles to bring his 'son' into the house. The boy, who speaks only the basic English, faces both language and family difficulties. The daughters have the biggest, initially committing to running their new 'brother' off. It is a decidedly touching scene where the existing family turns off their defensiveness and embraces the love of the newly acquired son/brother.

Not Very Good

[Patrick-53 · 2/10 · 8 May 2004]

This Martin Sheen film went almost completely unnoticed on its release, probably because the film company knew it wouldn't be worth promoting it. The film is a bit pretentious; it's characters speak lines in a manner that no one would really say in our real world. The actors do the best they can with the script they were given (including Blythe Danner, Craig T. Nelson, and Sebastian Dungan as Martin Sheen's 10-year old French son). It's not their fault, but the fault of the screenwriter Erich Segal (who also wrote the novel). Towards the end the movie goes to extremes to jerk the tears out of the two or three people sitting in the theatre. Really, not very good.

A Great Drama and Very Moving Film.

[RJN47LMN48 · 8/10 · 13 December 2006]

This film was found to be very emotional upon its release in the U.K. All fine actors both Martin Sheen, Blythe Danner and the late David Hemmings all gave excellent performances, yet alone all the child actors especially the young french son Jean Claude who most people would have thought had the beginning of an excellent film career ahead of him. The location scenes in France were beautiful as was the music accompanying this.Yes a sad film but one that holds you especially with the traumatic scenes throughout. This film was in comparison very much on the lines of Love Story, and definitely better than the sequel to Love Story, entitled Feelings, which was of poor quality. I like many other people cannot understand why when there is so much rubbish being released on DVD when this excellent little sleeper of a film is begging for re-release.

Masoom

[debu-bhowmik · 4/10 · 17 February 2007]

There's an Indian 1983 movie called Masoom directed by Shekhar Kapoor (who went on to direct Elizabeth) based on the same story.I would have rated that movie 7 stars, because of the way the screenplay has been modified to suit the Indian audiences.There is more melodrama and pathos in that movie than the original novel itself.A brilliant almost poetic Hindi adaptation by Gulzar. It stars Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, two of the premier Indian character actors.And of course not to forget beautiful poignant music by R.D. Burman.Its an Indian classic...this movie, in the sense that, it bridged the art and commercial divide at a time when Indian cinema were very formulaic or only for festival audiences.

Forgotten Little Gem

[cbarneey · 8/10 · 20 November 2021]

I loved this film. Never mind that it is shamelessly a manipulative tear jerker but it works for me.

With Martin Sheen and Blythe Danner in the lead roles they hold the film and have great chemistry. I admire how the story handles the news of a son from a ten year old affair that the wife never knew about. Does not go a traditional way a movie would go with the wife and kids leaving and going the way of divorce but gets into a deep connection that threatens to almost go that way. That part was well done--how soon the wife and his other kids seemingly forgive and accept is all too 'pat' for a script that was well on its way to a departure from the norm.

You know that as soon as you meet the son you will fall in love with him as he is perfectly polite and polished for a 10 year old and can kick ass in soccer which he does to some boys who are bullying him. Manipulative.....as well as the closing scene where the boy calls him 'Papa' and says je vous aime and I lose it.

But I need a feel good film to escape and forget the real world for an hour or so.

Not very well made in places, but had some nice moments !

[dj-parr · 1 September 2004]

This film was quite a touching story of a college professor who discovers that he has a son living in France as a result of hearing through an old French friend that the boy's mother who the professor had an affair with had recently died in an accident.The professor of course has a burning desire to meet his son.The children's acting did leave a little to be desired but had a few touching moments by young actor Sebastien Dungan playing Jean-Claude. At one point during a scene in the professor's home a microphone is actually seen at the top of the picture which for me spoiled the film a little.There were however some lovely scenes set in France towards the beginning of the film, and on the beach prior to the end of the film.

The music score was lovely and was by French composer Georges Delarue.Quite a tear-jerker in places and worth seeing if you can get a copy.