University of Virginia Library

"Escape"

The word "escape" might
be the one word which
adequately describes the
atmosphere throughout the
film. Jeannie's running away is
an obvious example, but
alcohol and marijuana are
also methods of escape, as
Forman later shows. Jeannie
has actually gone to an
audition for a rock musical,
and throughout it and during
the songs the girls sing, there is
the feeling of getting away,
taking off into another world.
We feel that every person at
the audition is running from
something.

When Jeannie is gone for a
length of time, Tyne's wife
goes into hysterics and enlists
her neighbors to help search
for the daughter and comfort
her. Lynn Carlin's portrayal of
Mrs. Tyne is a small
masterpiece in acting. She
easily shifts from being a
concerned mother to a prying
voyeur, enjoying the details of
her neighbor's sex life. ("You
did it in the kitchen?"). In
fact, Miss Carlin's best scenes
are those in which she is
motivated by sex, whether
listening to her neighbor, or
drunkenly stripping while
trying to excite her husband
with a stirring rendition of
"Camptown Races."