Clara's Heart (1988) on Netflix
After their infant daughter dies, Leona and Bill Hart hire Clara Mayfield, a Jamaican hotel maid, as housekeeper for their Baltimore estate. Their son David is uneasy as his parents separate.
- Netflix2.7/5
- IMDb6.1/102,761 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes47%
Trailer
Plot summary
The Harts, Leona and Bill, have lost their infant daughter, Edith. On a vacation in Jamaica, Leona hires Clara Mayfield, a maid at their hotel, to come to Baltimore as the family's housekeeper, and Clara takes up the job at their lakefront estate. Bill and Leona then separate: Bill dates an interior designer, while Leona moves to California to live with Dr. Peter Epstein, a self-help author. David, their son, stays behind in Baltimore and resents his parents for placing their happiness above his. Clara, to whom he was hostile at first, becomes the person he turns to, and the two grow close.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Clara's Heart (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Robert Mulligan grew angry when film editor Sid Levin raised concerns about scenes involving actor Spalding Gray, and only after shooting wrapped was he willing to discuss alternative ideas in the editing room. When Mulligan decided Whoopi Goldberg had improvised the scene where Clara confesses the truth about her son too negatively, Levin edited it to feel less dark.
- Clara's Heart was the third and final theatrical production made by MTM Enterprises, and the company's last theatrical release.
