The Ballad of the Sad Café is a 1991 Southern Gothic drama film directed by Simon Callow in his directorial debut,[4] and starring Vanessa Redgrave, Keith Carradine, and Rod Steiger.

Its plot follows Amelia, a moonshiner in rural 1930s Georgia whose lonely life is interrupted by the arrival of two men: First, her long-lost cousin, and later, her former husband recently released from prison.

A co-production between the United States and Canada, the film's screenplay was written by Michael Hirst, adapted from the Edward Albee play, which in turn was based on a novella in a collection of short stories of the same title by American writer Carson McCullers.

Later, Amelia is unnerved by the news that her ex-husband Marvin Macy has been released from the state penitentiary and is returning to town, but she does not elucidate the details of his wrongdoings to Lymon.

Actress Vanessa Redgrave championed screenwriter Michael Hirst's adaptation of the Edward Albee play (which itself was based on the novella by Carson McCullers), and her involvement in the project was integral to it receiving funding.

[2] Director Simon Callow found Albee's original play "too talkative" for the medium of film, and as a result, Hirst's screen adaptation features less dialogue.

[2] In preparing for the part, Redgrave made certain alterations to the character's appearance and manner: I thought I should make very simple, clear choices about how to play Miss Amelia.

Given the fact that I am blonde and basically fair, with blue eyes, I decided to go for looking like a real straw-headed Southerner...I thought that Miss Amelia should be presented like a cartoon image, looking the same way until something very significant happens in the story.

[6] Roger Ebert praised the film, awarding it three out of four stars and writing: "All of this is about as believable as those breathless Dateline America reports you read in the British trash press about snake-worshipping cults in Louisiana Sunday schools.

"[7] Vincent Canby of The New York Times was less enthusiastic about the film, writing: "Miss Redgrave was, is and will always remain one of the greatest actresses in what's generally referred to as the English-speaking theater.

"[8] Clifford Terry of the Chicago Tribune made similar criticisms, noting that, "On the page, Ballad flows as leisurely as a Georgia stream in August, but onscreen the end effect is that of sheer somnolence.

"[4] The Washington Post's Hal Hinson also criticized the film's adaptation to the screen, noting that, "On some dark, subterranean level, McCullers was thrashing out her bloody vision of emotional dysfunction and the impossibility of love, but Callow can't approximate the author's gift for sadomasochistic spelunking; he leads us into her dank caves, but once he gets there his flashlight goes dead.