Warning: spoilers
Written and directed by John Sayles, Lianna (1983) is a refreshing and realistic view of a woman’s coming-out process.

In the beginning of the film, the title character Lianna (played by actress Linda Griffiths) is stuck in a borderline-abusive marriage with her husband Dick (John DeVries). Years ago he was her college professor, and she dropped out of school to marry him. They now have two children and live in suburban New Jersey, where Dick teaches film courses and occasionally sleeps with students. Lianna is unfulfilled in her role as a faculty wife, and when Dick is out of town, Lianna begins an affair with her psychology night class professor, Ruth Brennan (Jane Hallaren).

Although Ruth, like Dick, is older than Lianna and they have an unequal power dynamic, Ruth is opposite to Dick in many ways. Lianna is attracted to her maturity, sympathy, and kindness, whereas Dick is controlling and condescending. This is Lianna’s first time with a woman, but she isn’t particularly surprised or afraid of her feelings. She acts around Ruth much the same way a teenager would act with her first love; full of desire, elation, and endless enthusiasm. It is completely different from her restrained, cold, and unhappy relationship with Dick. Lianna’s relationship with Ruth completely changes her life, in both difficult and wonderful ways.

One of the biggest challenges stemming from her affair is that Lianna must now learn to adapt to a new, independent lifestyle. When Lianna tells her husband about the affair, he orders her to leave their house and kids, even though she has always been the primary caregiver, and even though he has been unfaithful to Lianna many times. Lianna is shocked and enraged.

Because Dick argues with cruel intensity and the laws are on his side, Lianna agrees to leave her family. Faced with her children’s pain and the brutal uncertainty of the future, Lianna says goodbye to her children. It is a heart-wrenching scene that is delivered with raw sadness; that Lianna must leave her children is perhaps the most painful aspect of the film. We know the suffering that results from this action will probably take a lifetime for Lianna, and also her children, to overcome.

Living apart from her family, Lianna must now find her own means of survival. She has never been completely independent, and when she leaves her husband and kids, her first instinct is to get help from Ruth. But Ruth is upset that Lianna has left her family for her, and when she later confesses to having another woman in her life, their relationship becomes strained.

Lianna faces lonely days and nights in her small apartment with no one to turn to but herself. Her best friend Sandy (Jo Henderson) reacts with shock and fear at Lianna’s lesbian relationship, and the close friends distance themselves from each other as Sandy tries to make sense of her friend’s new identity. Lianna, in turn, focuses on Ruth and her unexpectedly difficult and solitary existence.

Lianna feels sorry for herself, but only for so long. The challenges she is faced with ultimately make her a stronger person. She becomes active in making her new place her own, making new friends, and mending old relationships. She fixes up her shabby apartment, makes friends with her neighbors, and with mixed success, she reaches out to her two children and to Sandy. She starts spending time at the local gay bar as she becomes more comfortable identifying as a gay woman. Her initial uneasiness identifying with lesbian culture thus transforms into pride and a positive sense of identity and self-worth.

Lianna’s transformation from an unfulfilled, self-sacrificing wife to an independent, self-aware woman is the heart of this film. Lianna’s affair not only gives her a passionate love for someone else; in the end, it also brings forth a deeper sense of self-respect.

Linda Griffiths is powerful in her quiet portrayal of a woman undergoing life transformation. Her understanding and delivery of the character are what make the film work. The supporting actors are also well cast and add human strength, pain, and tension to the film. Director Sayles brings comic relief to the story as Jerry, Dick’s sleazy co-worker who hits on Lianna but turns out to be a supportive friend.

Lianna was restored to DVD in the Fall of 2003. It is impressive because it’s an early 1980’s film that treats lesbianism positively and realistically. The more sympathetic and likeable characters in this film come to treat lesbianism as something normal, and the film portrays lesbianism as something necessary for Lianna, and those around her, to embrace and support if they are ever going to move forward and be happy.

An honest film that doesn’t pretend to offer easy answers to complex issues, Lianna's heroine is a woman whose strength shines through the entire film. From this character we learn the most important lesson of all: staying true to the self.

Get Lianna on DVD