Line #15 Film/PostcardsFromTheEdge


1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/postcards_from_the_edge.jpeg]]
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3	A 1990 American comedy-drama film directed by Creator/MikeNichols, adapted by Creator/CarrieFisher from her own semi-autobigraphical [[TheFilmofTheBook 1987 novel]] of the same name about a recovering addict actress (Creator/MerylStreep) who is forced to move in with her mother (Creator/ShirleyMacLaine).
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5	The movie also stars Creator/DennisQuaid, Creator/GeneHackman, Creator/RichardDreyfuss, Creator/RobReiner, Creator/MaryWickes, Creator/AnnetteBening, Creator/ConradBain, and Creator/SimonCallow.
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7	It was released on September 14, 1990.
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11	!Tropes for the film:
12	* CallingTheOldManOut: A GenderFlipped version - about two-thirds of the way through the movie, Suzanne rails against Doris for how she treated her growing up (as well as Doris' alcoholism), including what Doris did at Suzanne's birthday party (see GoingCommando below).
13	* CaptainErsatz: Suzanne is Creator/CarrieFisher (who wrote the script), Doris is Creator/DebbieReynolds, and Jack is Creator/HarrisonFord.
14	* CastingGag: Creator/DennisQuaid plays Jack, an unflattering CaptainErsatz of Creator/HarrisonFord. Quaid and Ford have been noted to share a strong resemblance.
15	* TheFilmOfTheBook: Based on Fisher's book of the same name.
16	* FreudianExcuse: We see Doris as a MyBelovedSmother as well with Suzanne's grandmother, which helps explain why Doris treated Suzanne the way she did.
17	* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Doris tells Suzanne that she "needs to get over what happened to her in her teen years." It's left ambiguous whether this is JerkassHasAPoint or self-serving memory.
18	* {{Gaslighting}}: Jack is a MasterOfTheMixedMessage who delivers an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove on Suzanne and [[spoiler:when she finds out that he also had sex with Evelyn Ames and is upset, tells her that she's getting too serious and needs to break it off.]]
19	* GoingCommando: Implied. Suzanne Vale rails on her mother, Doris Mann for lifting her skirt up at Suzanne's get-together. Doris states she twirled it up, and Suzanne points out Doris wasn't wearing underwear.
20	* HollywoodThin: Crossing over with IAmNotPretty, Suzanne is constantly told she's fat with [[InformedFlaw large thighs and cellulite.]] She is played by the slender actress Creator/MerylStreep and looks slim.
21	* ILied: During a bitter argument Suzanne is having with Jack, after Jack says she was a lot more fun the night they were first together (when she overdosed), she says, "I thought you said we didn't do anything that night," to which he responds, "I lied."
22	* IllKillYou: After Lowell realize Suzanne's drug use was what ruined the take he just shot (see TheOner below), he tells Suzanne, "[[PrecisionFStrike You fuck up my shot again]], I'll kill you."
23	* InadvertentEntranceCue: The counsellor asks Suzanne "This anger isn't about me. Who are you really angry with?" Then [[MyBelovedSmother Doris]] arrives.
24	* ItsAllAboutMe: Doris is extraordinarily vain and self-absorbed, even by aging Hollywood diva standards, to the extent of providing a reasonable FreudianExcuse for Suzanne and her problems. The main subtexts here are Suzanne trying to cope with how much her mother has messed up her life, and trying to get her mother to have a HeelRealization about her self-centered, manipulative behavior.
25	* TheOner: The movie starts with a scene {{lampshading}} this practice; a misspoken line threatens to ruin the entire shot.
26	* ProsceniumReveal: Suzanne flubbing a line during TheOner during the opening.
27	* RomanAClef: Creator/CarrieFisher fictionalizes things in an entertaining and poignant way, but it's unapologetically about her and her relationship with her mother Creator/DebbieReynolds.
28	* ShoutOut: Suzanne and Jack re-enact a scene from ''Film/ThePhiladelphiaStory'' (the one where Creator/JamesStewart explains why he didn't do anything to Creator/KatharineHepburn while she was drunk), which they promptly [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] when Suzanne remembers Stewart doing in a movie and Jack doing a Stewart impression.
29	* StepfordSnarker: Suzanne says to Jack that she always has to make a joke about everything. She clearly nurses a lot of unhappiness.
30	* VomitDiscretionShot: After a fight with her mother, Suzanne takes some pills, but on her way to work, she pulls over and vomits them out, though she's hiding behind her car door.
31	* WhiteDwarfStarlet: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] with Doris, and [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] with her performance of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkjQSpfW3iw I'm Still Here]]" from ''Theatre/{{Follies}}''.
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Context Film / PostcardsFromTheEdge