Crimes of the Heart is a 1986 American black comedy drama film directed by Bruce Beresford from a screenplay written by Beth Henley adapted from her Pulitzer Prize-winning 1979 play.

It stars Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Tess Harper, and Hurd Hatfield.

Lenny is a wallflower who bemoans her shriveled ovary and has lived largely a life of solitude in the familial home caring for Grandddaddy, while Babe married and moved in with the wealthy Zackery.

The egocentric Meg is the only of the siblings to have left Hazlehurst, having ended her relationship with Doc Porter and relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a singer, though she has kept her lack of success and a subsequent nervous breakdown a secret from her sisters.

Lenny is awoken by Babe's vocal reaction, but her attention is diverted by a phone call from the hospital notifying her that Old Granddaddy has slipped into a coma.

Barnette arrives shortly after, having negotiated with Zackery to drop charges against Babe out of fear that the public will perceive the affair as a poor reflection of Zachery's manhood.

The underlying tone ... is a deep, abiding comic affection, a love for these characters who survive in the middle of a thicket of Southern Gothic clichés and archetypes.

"[4] Rita Kempley of The Washington Post described it as "Hannah and Her Sisters with a southern accent, a lilting gingerbread gothic with Diane Keaton, Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange ding-a-linging harmoniously as Dixieland belles" and added, "Playwright Beth Henley has no dire message for us, but her adaptation is nicely restructured, glib as all get-out and character-wise ...

The powerhouse performances are directed by Bruce Beresford, who maintains balance among the actresses and keeps a lovely tone and smooth pace.

Their strong, highly individualized presences simply cannot disappear into the texture of the play, which is as spare as a George Price cartoon, and as packed with eccentric details.

Under Mr. Beresford's direction, these details aren't seen out of the corner of the eye but in the same, larger-than-life close-ups that destroy any sense of an ensemble performance by the actresses.