The Man Who Loved Women 1983

David Fowler, a celebrated sculptor, lies at the center of a funeral that gathers a cross-section of his life’s social circle. The film uses this wake as a starting point to unwind a complex personal history threaded through romance, obsession, and creative paralysis. Among the mourners is Marianna Solari, his psychiatrist, whose sessions peel back the layers of a man who always seemed to chase connection even as his relationships left him spiritually unfulfilled. Early on, a single glance through a window—legs moving down a street—sets in motion a sequence of decisions that push David toward impulsive pursuits and morally slippery choices. He fakes a hit-and-run, which leads him to a chance encounter with Agnes Chapman later in the story, a meeting that foreshadows how his appetites pull him toward people who will shape his fate.

The history of his first romantic forays comes into view as David recalls a teenage encounter with Darla, a prostitute he encountered at 15, and the way his mother’s own pattern of absence—sleeping with various men—left an imprint on his sense of attachment. In a rain-drenched memory, he also recalls meeting another prostitute, Nancy; he brings Nancy back to his home, pays her for the night, and the encounter becomes a marker in his continuing struggle with decision-making. The therapy sessions, intersected with memories of early sexual experiences, reveal a man who often treats intimacy as a performance rather than a genuine meeting of minds.

David’s life takes a dramatic turn in Houston when he unveils a new sculpture and meets Louise Carr(/actor/kim-basinger), the wife of Texas millionaire Roy Carr(/actor/barry-corbin). Louise draws him into an affair that spills into public spaces and private penthouses alike. The affair intensifies after a horse race, and Louise—believing her husband to be away—confesses love for David, a confession that culminates in a tense, almost surreal escape: with her husband returning unexpectedly, David hides in a closet, only to flee in a Rolls-Royce, his hand glued to a dog and his boots stuck to the carpet. The episode makes clear how David’s creative energy is increasingly bound up with his sexual entanglements, a pattern that leaves him creatively impotent after he leaves Houston.

As public consequences unfold, Louise faces serious consequences at home when Roy discovers the affair, and she is later charged with attempted murder. David’s ongoing therapy—punctuated by an earthquake during a session—deepens his fixation on Marianna Solari as a romantic possibility, even as he flits between other liaisons, including a brunette named Courtney Wade(/actor/cynthia-sikes) and a younger woman seeking work as a babysitter, Sue (a figure whose actor is not specified in the cast list). Marianna, meanwhile, sees her own physician, Dr. Simon Abrams(/actor/joseph-bernard), who urges her to end the relationship, a tug-of-war that mirrors David’s wavering promises and shifting loyalties.

Despite the pull of new attractions, David’s heart keeps returning to Marianna, and he even proposes marriage, only to have her decline. When she leaves to see her stepson, she suggests another therapist for him, and David finds himself alone again with the memory of what he almost had. In the intervals, he encounters Agnes Chapman(/actor/marilu-henner) again, only to discover she is now engaged and moving on with her life. Months pass, and a new encounter with Janet Wainwright(/actor/sela-ward)—while she is Christmas shopping—reignites a spark of pursuit in David as he fixates on another woman’s legs, a motif that threads through his wandering gaze.

The film escalates toward tragedy as a car accident interrupts David’s introspection, and he is hospitalized. In that vulnerable state, he chooses to leap from a window, ending his life. The final scenes bring the story full circle: in the waiting room and at his graveside, the many women who crossed his path mourn him, their memories intertwining with his artistic legacy and the personal costs of his restless, searching heart. The mourners—led by those who cared for him during his life—reflect on the ways his brilliance as a sculptor was inseparable from his tendency to chase intimacy, often at the expense of lasting connection. The film closes on a note of quiet consequence, underscoring how a life of intense passion can both inspire art and precipitate a solitary end.