I find it hard to believe that this film could not find a distributor and stayed in a holding cell for four years. Multiple personality films have always done well (The Three Faces of Eve, Sybil) and have garnered the lead actresses in both an academy award. Halle Berry (Frankie) was outstanding in channeling the other personalities trapped inside her head. As with all split personality films there is always some tragic event that occurs in the early years of life that fosters personalities to protect the host. This film was set in the 1970s and I have to say the wardrobe and locations were pretty accurate (from what I can remember). I even found myself singing along with some of the music. The fact that a straight-jacket and hypnosis was going to be involved was a no-brainer. The constant flashbacks also did not come as a surprise, but I think that the way that Halle managed those scenes is what made them memorable. Stellan Skarsgard (Oz) is the physician who takes a personal interest in Frankie's case and is responsible for getting to the heart of the issues. Phylicia Rashad (Edna) and Chandra Wilson (Maxine) are Frankie's mother and sister who are either in denial or assisting in a cover-up, or both. It was refreshing to see a film that wasn't tethered with CGI. It's kind of rare these days. Do I think that this film could have been shown on Lifetime
., sure, but I'm glad that it wasn't. The reason why is because anytime you can get a film on the big screen that contains a decent amount of diversity of actors (that isn't about slavery or servitude) then I'm all for it (I'll get off my soapbox now). The story held my attention and there were no areas of lag time. Of course I was trying to figure out what caused the personality split from the beginning. I have to say that this one kept me guessing until the end. I think that knowing that this is a true story adds to the appeal of the film and I was thrilled that the film explained what happened to the actual people at the end. I asked a few people after the movie, what they thought of the film and they all pretty much said the same thing; they liked the film, but it wasn't what they were expecting. I concur.
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cattjones8 April 2014
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asgbeat1 February 2011Serious films in which a lead actor portrays someone suffering with mental illness walk a precarious tightrope, navigating a delicate balance between authenticity and parody. In "Frankie and Alice," Halle Berry gracefully succeeds in this high wire act, making not 2 but 3 transformations before your very eyes - between a fiery stripper, a coldly calculating status climber and an innocent child. It is a performance that deserves attention and accolades above and beyond Berry's controversial yet ultimately inferior performance in "Monster's Ball" for which she made history by being the first African American to win the industry's highly coveted Best Actress Oscar.
"Frankie and Alice" opens setting the scene as 1973 with Frankie working as a "stripper" (more go-go dancer in a bird cage as she never gets naked). A botched after hours seduction with the club's DJ gives us our first hint of the madness to come. As the film proceeds, key emotional triggers spark seismic swings in Frankie's mood, hurtling her down memory lane to a series of traumas involving death, racism, young love, identity and soul-searing loss that have led her to dissociate from the pain by adopting alter personalities.
Berry's believability during these on-camera transformations is near-magical - the shifts in her face, her voice and her mannerisms all specific and unerring, and without the crutches of makeup, wardrobe or special effects. The result is riveting without being distractingly dazzling. It is a performance that pulls you in at every moment yet you never pull out of your required film world state of disbelief.
It is amusing to recall that this isn't the first time Berry has been called upon to play a character with multiple personalities. In the Hollywood howler "Catwoman," a movie roundly considered a campy cult-relegated turkey, she got a chance to practice in a vampier all-surface showcase. In the braver independent film "Frankie and Alice," Halle takes the lessons scratched out of "Catwoman" and chisels a performance of far greater subtlety, depth and compassion.
The supporting cast is excellent, particularly Stellan Skarsgard as the sympathetic "Dr. Oz" who with initial reluctance then heroic wholeheartedness helps Frankie heal and get to the bottom of her troubled mind. Phylicia Rashad is also praiseworthy as Frankie's mother "Edna" burdened with cryptic secrets and overcompensating by showering Frankie with exceeding affection - much to the distaste of her other daughter "Maxine" played equally well by Chandra Wilson.
The writing (credited to eight people) and editing are off-kilter in places, weakening the overall grade of the film. There was clearly much hand-wringing in regard to tone and length over the decade-plus it took to get it filmed then suitably distributed. However, there are enough victorious moments that snap the film back together toward a satisfying conclusion, though you wish the story stretched a bit longer into Frankie's recovery process. Evocative musical selections from Marvin Gaye, The Everly Brothers, Kool & The Gang and The Miles Davis Quintet also provide illuminating and memorable detours along Frankie's journey. Most winningly, despite the heavy subject matter, "Frankie and Alice" is a crowd-pleaser dotted with tasteful scenes of lightheartedness in the face of even some of its most delicate situations.
Now that Halle has, unfortunately, been passed over for Oscar consideration for "Frankie and Alice," impartial audiences can settle in for a superb and sensitive cinematic portrayal, judging it squarely and with even-keel for themselves. -
thekyles9922 January 2011Well i had heard little and nothing about this flick and only finding out about it after i saw that Halle Berry was nominated for a golden globe and reading the review and synopsis to this hidden away little flick and found out it was a true life case of a woman with split personality disorder. Halle plays a stripper named Frankie whose little mood swings have all but frightened the crap out of her coworkers and boss. It turns out these mood swings are a lot more serious and turn out to be s.p.d. Frankie has two others sharing her tired little body, one a frightened but smart as a whip 9yr old girl who her psychiatrist Dr. Oz (Stellan Skarsgard) names genius and an racist white woman named Alice. As the movie rolls along we find out that their is a lot of history that inspired Frankie to take on these alter persona's and can be triggered by something as simple as a song on the radio. An overall good film that lot of reviewers and critics have been calling a Sybil rip off ( I don't call it that but the mental illness is the same thats for sure) Berry's nomination for the golden globe failed and wasn't won as it went to Natalie Portman's performance in Black Swan (another acting job that was well deserved of the win) however she once again pulled off a solid job along with a stellar performance in this film.
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I did not realize that Frankie and Alice was a 2010 film until I looked it up at IMDb. Although, I did notice while viewing the film that Halle looked incredible and youthful as the lead character in the title role of Frankie. This is the second time that Ms. Berry has been on screen as an exotic dancer, she was less memorable in that short lived role in The Last Boyscout. Frankie Murdock (Halle Berry) comes across as someone who knows what she has to do to survive her circumstances how to pick a mark to get paid and even hands out vocational advice to coworkers. We find out however, through her erratic behavior it is revealed that she is not as well put together as she first seems. I knew from the trailer that the film dealt with multiple personality disorder or whatever is the current clinical name for split personalities, so the film The Three Faces of Eve came to mind as I attentively watched the story unfold. Through a series of flashbacks we see Frankie as a child and a young woman and eventually learn and understand the root of her mental illness as she undergoes treatment with Dr. Oz (Stellan Skarsgard). I would love to see Mr. Skarsgard step outside of his character, he has this Zoolander approach to acting, no matter what persona he is portraying it's always the same look. Ms. Berry on the other hand was on point she was emotionally engaging, showing a range that was both compelling and evoked compassion for what her character had endured. Her personality was splintered; her experiences caused her coping mechanisms into overdrive. Halle Berry proves that the title of 'Oscar winner' is well deserved. She played the role very convincingly with Oz and against the other key characters in the film her mother Edna (Phylicia Rashad) and her sister Maxine (Miranda Bailey oops, I mean Chandra Wilson). I enjoyed this story because it was interesting and not a new construct, it was nice to see the bad guy in the usual places, but to find a completely unexpected bad guy in this film was bittersweet. The first half hour or so became a bit annoying with all the jumping around, but not enough to reduce the entertainment value.
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abmisier25 September 2011I never heard of this film until I saw it in the list of the movies 2010/2011, then i saw its trailer and after that, it got nominated for Golden Globe.
Berry plays a woman with Multiple personality disorder. I would say superb acting, especially how she did the different personages.
I would say this movie is above average. this movie received very bad reviews from critics, I don't understand why they rate it that bad.I would say excellent incredible acting, especially how she did the different personages.
I would say see the movie for your self, then draw your conclusions before putting a negative rating. -
Gordon-1123 January 2011This film is about a young black woman called Frankie, and her struggle to make sense of her multiple personality disorder while having treatment in a psychiatric facility.
I am impressed by Halle Berry's acting in this film, as she breezes through three vastly different personalities. The amazing finale on the psychiatrist's couch is quite breathtaking, both plot wise and acting wise.
The film is engaging and gripping throughout, and it is hard not to be sympathetic towards Frankie as her painful past is revealed through a series of flashbacks. "Frankie and Alice" is a very good drama that creates much empathy and resonance. -
MovieHoliks21 August 2015I can't believe I had never heard of this movie that came out five years ago!??? What a find! I saw this on Netflix and added to my queue awhile back, but for some reason, had forgotten that this was one a friend had recommended to me. This is one of those little films that didn't get much attention when it came out, but surely will be used to educate about multiple personality disorder or D.I.D. (Dissociative Identity Disorder) in the future, if it's not already.
Oscar winner Halle Berry gives a really interesting complex performance as the titular character(s), a go-go dancer in 1973, who after a couple run-ins with the law, ends up in a mental institute being treated by a psychoanalyst (Stellan Skarsgard), who thinks he may know what her problem is. He discovers multiple layers within the one person, and very methodically begins to put together the pieces of the puzzle that may have caused the disorder in the first place.
I've seen a few other films about D.I.D. over the years, and this is one of the better ones. My only issue with this- *possible SPOILER* - is the ending. It just seemed like this movie didn't really end, it just sorta stops abruptly- and not the most satisfactory. Phylisha Rashad co-stars. -
fmwongmd15 April 2020Well dramatized and acted portrayal of a person afflicted by a conversion reaction with multiple personalities. Haile Berry does a. Good job of acting.
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netphemera31 January 2011Don't be swayed by the negative reviews. I knew nothing about this film before I watched it. Afterward I thought it had been nominated for a bunch of awards. I can't believe it didn't get any nominations, and even got negative reviews from some critics. I'm not sure if this one makes it into my top 10 for the year, but it's definitely in my top 20.
Sure, the subject matter has been covered before, but that shouldn't matter. So has divorce, bank robberies, and most recently, the death of a child. Just because a subject has been covered before in a film doesn't mean the film should be dismissed.
I thought this movie was way better than Rabbit Hole. While Rabbit Hole gets all the recognition, Frankie and Alice gets ignored. I'm not even any sort of huge Halle Berry fanatic. I just know a good movie when I see one and it makes me angry when good films are ignored. -
kosmasp23 July 2015Sometimes it's easy to dismiss things or take them for granted. Watching Halle Berry, the ageless one, performing here is a treat. And it's a big obstacle she has to overcome. Because she could have easily drifted into ridiculous with her portrayal. Unknowingly so, especially if the director wouldn't have noticed either.
But playing it the way she does, you believe her and all the sudden changes she goes through. It helps having Stellan at her side. It's also nice to see the wife of the Cosby show in this, even in a small role like this. The movie/story itself is based on a true story, but don't be put off by that. It was a story worth being told -
michellelayfield6 April 2014As one who lives with Dissociative Identity Disorder, I found the film engaging, honest and true to life. I did find it interesting that Dr. Oz refers to Frankie as having Dissociative Identity Disorder--since that name for the disorder was not around in the 1970s. Halle Berry portrays someone with a mental health issue in a convincing way--and portrays the issues of living with DID very well. The movie is well written and cast. My only complaint was that there was too little time spent showing genius...who is her helping alter. I know mine was out a lot more than I was before I became aware of the alters. It took Berry years to get this project out, sadly the release even now is very limited. It would go a long way toward helping others understand this disorder.
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tdhostewart30 November 2014We enjoyed the movie and acting of the beautiful and talented Ms Berry. The quality cast gave additional strong support.
After viewing the movie I tried to find more about the primary characters, Francine L. Murdoch (Frankie) and Psychiatrist Joseph Oswald (noted as now deceased in the movie). I found nothing. Just quotes from the original film source disseminated on various sites. No interviews with Frankie, no photos, no publications by Dr. Oswald, no autobiographies or biographies. Nothing.
In her interviews for the film Ms. Berry also appears to offer conflicting information about her actual interactions with Frankie...
1. NPR Interview (December 31, 2010): Ms. BERRY: "I did meet the real Frankie and Alice, but I didn't meet her until after the process was over. We talked to her, and our writers interviewed her, but the real Frankie didn't remember much as the movie will suggest. So my research was more reading books on the subject. And I actually met a doctor that was willing to answer all of my questions, and he actually allowed me to see hours and hours of real tape of real patients in the therapeutic process going through all of their multiples and struggling with bringing them all together..."
2. NAMI (National Allicance on Mental Illness): Ms BERRY:"Initially, it (preparing for the role) was through meeting the real woman that the story is modeled after, Frankie. She was my greatest source of information and inspiration; I wanted to protect her and her story. I wanted to understand and portray her stories of frustration and fear. I felt responsible for making sure that these stories were addressed in the movie. I also did basic reading on DID and mental illness—but most of my understanding and inspiration came from Frankie's life and her story; the personal story is the best source. And finally, Dr. Oz, her doctor, had transcripts as well that spoke to his feelings. I was able to secure some videotapes of health care providers who have worked with and helped people with DID in their recovery."
So, what is the real story? Hopefully someone with more resources will discover the real Frankie Murdock or Dr. Joseph Oswald. This would be the perfect follow up to a brave and inspiring film -
Cinnyaste20 January 2011This is a paint-by-numbers valiant struggle against mental illness narrative that's been done to death and to greater effect. The sole difference in this flaccid offering is (dramatic music cue) racism: a race card left wholly untapped - a flat, cowardly treatment eschewing the incendiary.
As the story is so familiar, the weight falls squarely on the lead. Sadly, Ms. Berry wallows in histrionics and shamelessly chews the scenery. Perhaps it was the schizophrenic writing staff who, at eight, add up to more personalities than Frankie/Alice et al plus everyone inhabiting "Sybil." Too many cooks. . .
The lightweight Ms. Berry's turns from one personality to other feel anchored in costume alone rather than effectively externalizing the divergent internal lives. But that takes acting chops seemingly beyond her grasp.
"Frankie and Alice" is not even a passable time-passer. Instead of holding her head high, Ms. Berry should bury it in shame. She has taken a compelling story (one whose message could have helped those afflicted with the ailment) and turned it into a mirror on the wall in which we are meant to gaze at the best actor in the land. Ms. Berry does not play someone afflicted with Dissociative Disorder, she dissociated from this juicy role. -
Chrysanthepop3 February 2011Geoffrey Sax's 'Frankie and Alice' initially an to an extent follows a similar narrative structure to Nunnally Johnson's 'The Three Faces of Eve'. While the theme of dissociative identity disorder has played a key part in many movies like 'Sybil' (to name a few), I've always found it a fascinating theme. 'Frankie and Alice' isn't that different from the aforementioned films. I liked how Sax presents the 70s setting and how he captures the culture of that time period without going over the top. I also liked that this film does not merely focus on the patient but also on the therapist who's working hard to get to the root of Frankie's disorder. The best scenes are the interactions between her and Dr. Oz. Halle Berry makes a memorable comeback to films after a three year break. She is spellbinding in all three avatars and that too without having to rely on mimicry and makeup. Stellan Skarsgård is equally good in a subtle role. While 'Frankie and Alice' doesn't present anything new regarding dissociative identity disorder, it's still an interesting character study (albeit a slightly dramatized one) and makes for a good watch.
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cosmo_tiger30 June 2014"Treatment is indefinite and integration is only beginning. The ultimate goal is acceptance." Frankie (Berry) is a go-go dancer with multiple personalities who is trying to straighten out her life. When things become dangerous for her she is taken to a hospital where she meets Oz (Skarsgård), a psychotherapist who tries to help her. He meets all of her personalities and talks with each of them in order to find out Frankie's past and what caused this problem. This is based on a true story. I'll start by saying I have not seen every single movie that Halle Berry has been in but of the ones I have seen I have never been impressed with her acting. Even when she won the Oscar for Monster's Ball I didn't think she deserved it, to me all she did was get naked and cry for a few hours, that doesn't impress me. That said, if I were to give her an award it would be for this one. She plays the different personalities so convincing and different that you believe she has this problem. As for the movie itself it is very good and worth watching even though it did seem to drag a little bit. The fact that this is a true story makes it that much more powerful and if the pacing was a little quicker this would be a fantastic movie. Overall, a movie that is very good and worth seeing especially for Berry's performance. I give this a B.
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Great acting by Halle Barry. The only thing keeping this from being a 10, for me, is that it misleads people as to the cause of Dissociative Identity Disorders. DID is caused by severe abuse at an extremely early age, generally before the age of 5. It becomes a coping mechanism that is used later in life when further trauma is experienced. Likely that is what happened and the early years of Frankie's life were simply left out of the story. An explanation should have been added.
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ksf-218 June 2021Halle Berry is Frankie, a dancer in a club. It's a rough life, but she's got a secret. She starts to realize that to get through it, her mind has created muliple personalities. One is an old, religious woman, who is screwing up Frankie's life when she is present. Chandra Wilson is her sister, Maxine. In Sybil, Sally FIeld portrayed a woman with sixteen personalities, back in 1976. In Frankie, the doctor comes to realize that she may have been traumatized, causing this reaction. And then the wild ride begins... directed by brit Geoffrey Sax. It's pretty good. Berry had won for Monster Ball, at the 2002 oscars.
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leonblackwood25 April 2015Review: I quite enjoyed this interesting movie about a woman who has multiple personalities. One minute she's a stripper in a club who takes drugs and enjoys partying, then the next minute she is a intelligent Southern woman whose a white racist, even though she is black. She also has another personality called Genius whose a 7 year old girl, but she doesn't know how to control her alter egos so she seeks help from a psychotherapist who is interested in her case. As the movie is based around the 70's, they didn't have the different methods of dealing with this kind of illness so a lot of people just put it down to her being crazy. It didn't help that her main personality, Frankie, was a party animal and she smoked dope, but when she finally faces her problems, with the help of her doctor, they finally work out that her many personalities are down to an episode in her past. I honestly wasn't expecting that much from this movie because I hadn't heard of it before and Hall Berry hasn't really made anything that promising lately, but it's very well written and the fact that it's based on true events makes the concept interesting. The acting is top form from Hallen Berry and the chemistry between doctor and patient is brilliant. I did have a problem with the way that Berry switched into her different personalities because it seemed to happened out of the blue, but that's just me being picky. Anyway, I personally think that it deserved more money at the box office because of the effort that was put it from the actors and the emotional storyline. Watchable!
Round-Up: Halle Berry got hit with the Oscar bug, by coming out with a lot of dud movies after she had received her award. From the strange Cloud Atlas and the terrible Dark Tide and Catwoman, her career has been really gone downhill lately. Her saving grace has to be the role as Storm in the X-Men movies and she has now turned to TV with the series Extant which has got mixed reviews. At the age of 48, she still looks great but she really has to think before she picks her next roles. Stellan Skarsgard seems to be making the right choices as the professor in the Avengers and Thor franchise and he has also put in great performances in the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and the Nyphomaniac movies. Together they both worked well in this film but its another one of those movies that didn't get a big cash injection from the studio.
Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $700,000
I recommend this movie to people who are into their deep dramas about a woman who suffers with multiple personalities and seeks help from a psychotherapist. 6/10 -
watcher201919 January 2020A great film and great acting in both lead roles. Must say halle berry is simply great!!! give this a watch and be surprised!!! I have no idea why this never won any awards. Its nothing like the film Sybil, that everyone thinks about when it comes to MPD.
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Not tremendous not bad above average for certain. I recently watched Stellan S in Nymphomaniac vol 1&2 and I enjoy his performances more every time I see him and this movie is no exception as a doctor who reconnects with his professional passions while seeking to help the dual personality conflicted Frankie (Berry) a bit of mystery in this as well will keep you wanting to know what happens til credits also a good initial watch especially if you enjoy starring roles of Halle Berry where see gets to display her range as an actress in dramatic roles that do more than simply showcase her beauty exp Monsters Ball. I like the time period as well as the insight to Frankie's profession in that era as well and enjoyed the the how did it aspect of this movie.
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Hellmant14 February 2011'FRANKIE & ALICE': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Halle Berry gives it her all pleading for another Oscar but fails miserably in this film based on a true story about a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder. It co-stars Stellan Skarsgard and Phylicia Rashad (a grade school crush of mine). It's written by a group of 7 writers (which is almost never a good sign), most of which have little to no experience, and directed by Geoffrey Sax (who's most notable film credits are directing the mediocre horror film 'WHITE NOISE' and the failed kids film 'ALEX RIDER: OPERATION STORMBREAKER'). The film was marketed as a possible Oscar contender but received no recognition whatsoever and got horrible reviews. Given the experience involved you can kind of see why (although I hate to point blame at areas like that).
Berry stars as Frankie Murdoch, a woman making ends meat by stripping at a local go-go club in the 1970's. As the viewer early on finds out, but she is unaware of, she suffers from 'dissociative identity disorder'. She struggles with two alternate personalities: one is a seven year old African American (like herself) with a genius I.Q. and the other is an older Southern white woman who is racist. After a couple accidents involving the other personalities while blacked out she turns to a psychiatrist (Skarsgard) for help. He helps her delve into her other personalities and embrace them in order to learn the nature of the disease, which involves a past loved one.
The film like I said wanted to be a major awards contender but the only nominations it received were at the African-American Film Critics Association and the NAACP Image Awards for picture and actress, which Berry won at the former (she was also nominated for best dramatic lead actress at the Golden Globes, but many of the nominees this year were so laughable it's hardly worth noting). The film received a 15 percent approval rating from critics (the average rating being 4.3 out of 10) on Rottentomatoes and a 5.6 (out of 10) user rating on IMDb by fans. I think the ingredients were there to make a good film but the director wasn't the right choice for this type of material and having so many writers almost never turns out too good. Skarsgard and Rashad are more than adequate in their roles but Berry tries so hard to deliver an impressive performance that she overacts a little and makes the film almost laughable at times. She's definitely good in the right role (as well as her Oscar winning role) but here she was either wrongfully cast or wrongfully motivated. The film as a whole has good production values and is nice to look at but the story is clichéd and uneventful. The characters aren't really involving either, which I think is probably a lot to do with the over blown screenplay. Still it's not a bad film and I enjoyed watching it to a certain extent, it's just nothing special either.
Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68YJe1yftWY -
First of all, let me assure you that I have absolutely no financial ties to this movie. That being said, let me tell you that I do now have a PSYCHOLOGICAL tie to this movie. By now, you know that this is a split- personality movie. Joanne Woodward won an Oscar for "Three Faces of Eve"; Sally Field won an Emmy for "Sybil". HALLE BERRY IS BETTER!!! Watch her performance, and, without CGI or special effects, you'll see her change from an "exotic dancer (ie: stripper)", to a racist, to a little girl. You'll be sucked in to the story. Then you'll be on the edge of your seat with tears in your eyes when, at the end, the terrible crisis from her youth is starkly revealed. And yet, the written epilogue just before the closing credits is uplifting and hopeful. If EVER there was a "must-see" movie, THIS IS IT!!
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jimbo-53-18651124 October 2017Frankie (Halle Berry) is a go-go dancer who is struggling with multiple personality disorder (and does her best to try and hide it from her friends and employers). However, one such outburst lands Frankie in jail and in order to avoid jail-time she voluntarily checks herself into a psychiatric hospital. Once there she decides to work with psychotherapist Oz (Stellan Skarsgard)in order to try to gain an understanding of the inner ghosts that haunt her.
As well as being the leading actress in this film Halle Berry is also one of the producers so this project clearly meant quite a lot to her - this is perhaps reflected in her performance here and I could see that she really gave this her all. The story is reasonably interesting and the film is well-paced, if not particularly well-structured. So on the one hand, you get a strong lead performance with few, if any, dull moments but there were a few things that kept gnawing away at me whilst I was watching Frankie & Alice...
The film is structured with a non-linear narrative and normal films of this nature can be difficult to follow, but when you have a non-linear narrative in a film dealing with multiple personalities it does become a bit too much from time to time - this wasn't helped by the fact that in the early stages of the film that I was struggling to get to grips with which personality was which and how each personality slotted into the story. In the latter stages of the film I was starting to get my head round it all, but it was a struggle at times. Halle Berry's performance is good and certainly memorable, but sadly I didn't always find the screenplay complimented her performance all that well - I didn't think that her other personalities were developed as well as they could have been meaning that I found that I couldn't quite connect with/or get into Frankie's mind-set as much as I should have been able to.
Despite my objections above, the film has enough of interest about it to make it worth watching and as already mentioned Halle Berry gives a stellar performance (albeit at times it's a slightly overwhelming one/two woman type performance). -
SnoopyStyle8 August 2016Frankie (Halle Berry) is a stripper with multiple personality disorder in 1970s. After an incident, she seeks help from Dr. Oz (Stellan Skarsgård). She lives with her mother Edna Murdoch (Phylicia Rashad) and sister Maxine (Chandra Wilson). She is haunted by memories and forgotten traumas. She disrupts Paige Prescott's wedding and gets thrown in jail. She gets Dr. Oz to evaluate her. She starts to remember her work as the Prescotts' maid and an illicit affair with Paige's brother.
This is built for Halle Berry to do some acting work but it isn't much more than that. The secret memories aren't that compelling. It becomes one acting scene from Halle to another. There is an intriguing white racist personality which digs a little deeper and is something different. The story has no drive and no tension.