Film

Crimes of the Heart

Name: Crimes of the Heart
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 1986
Cast: Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Tess Harper

Family drama

Three Southern sisters reunite after one shoots her husband, forcing them to untangle family secrets, old wounds, and the suicide that haunts them all. It's funny and heartbreaking in the same breath—a play-to-film adaptation that trusts its characters' mess and contradictions. For anyone who loves ensemble stories about women talking their way through crisis.

TMDb rating

3.0

If you liked this

Steel Magnolias1989

Another Southern ensemble of women navigating grief, love, and survival with both laughter and devastation. It has the same emotional generosity and refusal to choose between comedy and tragedy.

But If you find the sentiment heavy-handed or the Southern Gothic trappings overdone, this will feel like more of the same.

Terms of Endearment1983

Three generations of women—mother, daughter, friend—in a tangle of love, resentment, and ultimately loss. It swings wildly between funny and wrenching with the same tonal confidence.

But The melodrama can feel manipulative if you're not ready for genuine grief sitting next to genuine comedy.

Fried Green Tomatoes1991

Another ensemble of women whose friendship and secrets carry the weight of past trauma. It has the same warmth and willingness to let women be complicated and funny and damaged all at once.

But The framing device feels dated, and the pacing occasionally drags between past and present storylines.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Crimes of the Heart

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean1982

Both are play-to-film adaptations that trust the power of women in a room talking, and both understand that comedy and tragedy are often the same event seen from different angles.

Robert Altman's adaptation of a Texas play about a group of women reuniting after decades. It has the same theatrical ensemble structure, the same patience with overlapping conversations and hidden resentments, and the same moment when old wounds open up in real time.

But The theatrical style can feel stagey and claustrophobic; the camera stays mostly static and some find it draggy.

Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean poster

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood2002

A multigenerational story about women unraveling family mythology and maternal betrayal. Same DNA: ensemble, Southern, mixing comedy with genuine hurt.

But It can feel overstuffed and the whimsy sometimes overwhelms the real emotional stakes.

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood poster

Postcards from the Edge1990

A mother-daughter story about addiction, resentment, and love that doesn't pretend those things resolve neatly. Funny, raw, and surprisingly unsentimental about family.

But The tonal shifts can be jarring, and it never fully commits to either comedy or drama.

Dolores Claiborne1995

A mother-daughter reckoning told with slow-burn revelation. It has the same interest in how women hurt each other and themselves, and how that damage persists.

But It's darker and more claustrophobic than Crimes of the Heart; there's less warmth and more dread.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

A frontier story about a woman living outside convention, shot with the same dry humor and refusal to sentimentalize. Quietly funny and deeply human.

But It's slower and more meditative, and the period setting might feel remote if you want something contemporary.

Tender Mercies1983

A character study about broken people trying to rebuild their lives with grace. Same register: unpretentious, warm, interested in how people actually talk to each other.

But It's quieter and more introspective, with less plot and ensemble energy; some find it slow.

The Good Girl2002

A smaller, meaner take on female restlessness and resentment. It has the same ear for how women talk and the same interest in disappointment and small rebellions.

But It's far more cynical and depressing, and the humor is darker and more uncomfortable.

Under the Tuscan Sun2003

Both follow women making choices about whether to stay trapped in family history or strike out toward something else. One says yes to that escape; the other says it's complicated.

A woman rebuilds her life after catastrophe by choosing radical reinvention instead of returning to family damage. It's lighter and sunnier than Crimes of the Heart, but it's asking the same question: who do you become when your old life explodes?

But It's more of a fantasy—wish-fulfillment romance—than a hard look at how family actually works, which might feel evasive if you want real stakes.

Minari2021

Both are deeply rooted in specific place and family legacy, and both understand that you don't get to choose your family, but you do get to choose whether to forgive.

An intimate family story about immigration, sacrifice, and how love doesn't always look like you expected. It has the same generational texture, the same quiet humor folded into real hardship, and the same refusal to explain or excuse what family members do to each other.

But It's in Korean, and it's set in rural Arkansas instead of the Mississippi Delta; the emotional register is different—less theatrical, more muted.