A 1978 TV movie where a woman loses her husband to his midlife crisis — and finds herself.
JoAnn Hammil faces a harrowing fight to rediscover her personal identity when her husband of 15 years announces that he is leaving her and their children to search for the indefinable joy he feels he is missing from his life.
Acting
Lee Remick's controlled unraveling — she says everything without screaming.
Direction
Delbert Mann lets scenes breathe; no easy catharsis, just messy truth.
Writing
The husband's 'indefinable joy' speech — peak 70s male nonsense, perfectly written.
Director
Delbert Mann
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during the no-fault divorce revolution, this captures the moment when women started asking 'who am I without this marriage?' — and TV actually let them answer messily.
Lee Remick fought to keep the ending ambiguous; studio wanted JoAnn remarried or triumphant. She won. The uncertainty is the point.
US
