Review of Sybil

This movie isn't actually about the actual case or even the best selling novel. It is a metaphor for childhood and the plight of children (and other human beings). Stunning performance by Sally Fields, quite likely her best (though certainly not her only stunning performance. She is a vastly underrated actress.) Some very fine writing and many memorable lines. I saw this movie over twenty years ago and I will never get it out of my mind, "what that monster did to her in the green kitchen." Joanne Woodward is as fine as silk, as she always is. I could watch her just breathe in and out for the foreseeable future, and she does it wonderfully here, and makes great acting look just that easy. Like the Godfather, this movie completely transcends all the source material it is based on, a serious kind of "mockumentary" revealing rather than mocking the human condition.