Had this been made in the old days it would have been firmly labelled a 'woman's picture' and possibly rated as a one, two, three or even four handkerchief weepie. Although someone old-fashioned in content it does benefit from excellent performances from the thee leads and whilst it's true that Sigourney Weaver gets the lion's share both emotion and emoting-wise both David Staithairn and Julianne Moore both support and match her. The story has married couple Stathairn and Weaver opting out of urban life for the joys of the country, which tend to sour a little when Weaver, working as a nurse in a local school, ruffles a few feathers and winds up in the slammer on a morals charge. This would be bad enough at any time but it comes right on top of Moore's daughter drowning whilst in the care of Weaver. You can take it from there yourselves so suffice it to say it's a fine example of the genre.
Review of A Map of the World
