Having been struck by viral meningitis when she was younger, flautist Susan Berlinger now must wear a brace on her leg. This inhibits her from really breaking out of herself and letting go to fully live her life. After all, not many men want a woman with a brace on her leg. At least, that is what she feels.
Everyone is Hiding Something
Susan knows that she is a fun woman, but as soon as people see her, men in particular, she also knows that what they first see is her brace. She considers marrying her gay friend (played by a very young Tim Daly). It seems like a good solution to both their problems. He is being transferred to Texas and feels he won’t be accepted if he is gay, and with a wife by his side, perhaps things will be ok in the state of cowboys and roughnecks. And she feels that no straight man will ever want her. So this is a perfect solution to both their dilemmas. That is until they realize that it just wouldn’t work.
Susan goes to Europe on a concert tour and while in France she has brilliant idea. If she replaced her brace with a cast, no one would know she is handicapped and for once in her life she would be treated like a regular person and not pitied. So she talks a doctor into putting a cast on her leg and excuses herself from the concert tour. She heads to the ski resort of Megeve where she is not the only person limping around.
Megeve is the place where she finally comes into her own. She is popular and makes friends immediately. She meets Peter Nichols (Michael Ontkean), a photographer, Nicole, a French woman who is waiting for her married lover to arrive, Francois Rossignol, the head of the famous ski company, and Steve (Patrick Cassidy) a promising American skier who has a good chance of winning the race.
Susan is having the time of her life. For once she is just one of the guys. Everything is perfect until she realizes she is falling in love with Peter, and he with her.
Learning to Overcome Adversities
Rossignol surprises her. He is missing a leg from a land mine. His zest for life doesn’t let this stop him. Susan learns from this man, that while he cannot change people’s attitudes about his handicap, that doesn’t matter. He is going on with his life and living every day the best he can. This man does not feel sorry for himself or let his disability stop him from being all that he can be.
Kristy McNichol is adorable in this role. It is her best part. She inhabits the character completely and brings the viewers along on her journey of self discovery.
This is a fun and endearing film. McNichol is charming and the cast is appealing.
This 1984 film is part of the new Warner Bros. Archive Collection.
- Studio: Warner Bros.
- Running Time: 95 minutes
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