''Heartaches'' is a 1981 Canadian

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written by

Terence Heffernan Terence Heffernan (October 10, 1941 – January 13, 1998) was a Canadian screenwriter and playwright."Lives Lived: Terence Heffernan". ''The Globe and Mail'', February 18, 1998. He was most noted for writing the film '' Heartaches'', for which he w ...

and directed by

Donald Shebib Donald Everett "Don" Shebib (born 27 January 1938) is a Canadian film director. Shebib is a central figure in the development of English Canadian cinema who made several short documentaries for the National Film Board of Canada and CBC Televisi ...

. It stars

Margot Kidder Margaret Ruth Kidder (October 17, 1948 – May 13, 2018), known professionally as Margot Kidder, was a Canadian-American actress whose career spanned five decades. Her accolades include three Canadian Screen Awards and one Daytime Emmy Awa ...

Annie Potts Anne Hampton Potts (born October 28, 1952) is an American actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for ''Corvette Summer'' (1978) and won a Genie Award for '' Heartaches'' (1981), before appearing in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), ''Pretty i ...

Winston Rekert Winston Houghton Rekert (June 10, 1949 – September 14, 2012) was a Canadian actor. He was best known for starring in the television series ''Adderly'' and ''Neon Rider''. Career A Vancouver native, Rekert started acting at age 12, appearing i ...

and

Robert Carradine Robert Reed Carradine ( ; born March 24, 1954) is an American actor. A member of the Carradine family, he made his first appearances on television Western series such as ''Bonanza'' and his brother David's TV series, ''Kung Fu''. Carradine's fir ...

. The movie is about two young women who form an unlikely friendship on a bus ride to Toronto. The plot bears similarities to Shebib's best known film, ''

Goin' Down the Road ''Goin' Down the Road'' is a 1970 Canadian film directed by Donald Shebib, co-written by William Fruet and Donald Shebib. It tells the story of two young men who decide to leave the Maritimes, where jobs and fulfilling lives are hard to find, for ...

'', in which two male partners-in-crime deal with poverty, factory jobs, pregnancy, and moving to a big city.

Plot

Young housewife Bonnie (

) is on a bus to Toronto. She is pregnant, which her husband Stanley (

), an auto mechanic and aspiring race car driver, is delighted about. However, Stanley is unaware he is not the real father of the baby and Bonnie is seeking an abortion. On the bus, Bonnie meets Rita (

), a free-spirited itinerant between jobs. The two women become friends and decide to get an apartment together in Toronto, eventually finding jobs at a mattress factory. Dealing with romance and poverty, they learn that they have more in common than they thought. Rita sets her romantic sights on Marcello (

), the factory owner’s nephew. As Bonnie contemplates getting an abortion, Stanley tracks her down and she is forced to admit the truth. Rita’s affair with Marcello ends in betrayal when his fiancée from Italy arrives. Stanley and Bonnie eventually reunite after he comes to terms with Bonnie’s infidelity and agrees to help raise the baby as his own.

Cast

Production

had been planning to make ''Heartaches'' since 1976. According to Shebib, “the script was originally based upon a book called 'The Bottle Factory Outing' y Beryl Bainbridge">Beryl_Bainbridge.html" ;"title="y Beryl Bainbridge">y Beryl Bainbridge..I changed it from a bottle factory to a mattress factory. Eventually the script was so different from the book that we paid [Bainbridge] the rights for the book back. When she did see the film, she loved it.” The start of filming was delayed several weeks because of an unpaid bond that was required by ACTRA, the Canadian actors' trade union. Filming resumed when movie financing and management company Seven Arts Studios was able to raise the needed funds. ''Heartaches'' was shot mostly in Toronto, with one week in Atlanta, Georgia.

Reception

The film was very well-received. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "Nothing happens in Heartaches''' that isn't telegraphed 15 minutes ahead of time, but Miss Kidder and Miss Potts are good fun to watch, not because they convince you of the reality of their characters but because they handle their assignments with such unbridled, comic, actressy enthusiasm.” ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said, the "cast is outstanding with Kidder giving full performance. However, it is basically Potts’ film as the runaway wife who’s tired of her husband’s immature attitude.”

Accolades

''Heartaches'' was nominated for eleven

Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...

, winning for Lead Actress for

, Foreign Actress for

, and Original Screenplay for

References

External links

* * * {{Donald Shebib 1981 films 1980s female buddy films 1980s buddy comedy films Canadian romantic comedy films 1981 romantic comedy films English-language Canadian films Films directed by Donald Shebib Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state) Films shot in Toronto Films set in Toronto 1980s road movies Films about abortion 1980s English-language films 1980s Canadian films