Synopsis: May-Alice Culhane was a successful soap opera star, but a car accident has left her bound to a wheelchair. She returns to her now-empty family home in the bayous of Louisiana which she had eagerly left years before. She drinks heavily and vents her bitterness on the succession of nurses who are hired to take care of her and immediately quit because she is so unbearable. Chantelle is the latest of these nurses, and May-Alice is told that Chantelle is the last nurse she'll get. Chantelle for reasons of her own, is also in a position where she badly needs the job to work out. Their mutual dislike gradually develops into an armed truce as the two women deal with their own problems and with each other.

Cast:
Mary McDonnell .... May-Alice Culhane
Alfre Woodard .... Chantelle
David Strathairn .... Rennie
Leo Burmester .... Reeves
Nora Dunn .... Ti-Marie
Mary Portser .... Precious
Angela Bassett .... Dawn/Rhonda
Sheila Kelley .... Kim
Nancy Mette .... Nina
Maggie Renzi .... Louise

Favorite Quotes:
• "I didn't ask for the anal probe." - Nina

• May-Alice: "Did they tell you I was a bitch?"
Chantelle: "On wheels."

• May-Alice: "I look like shit, don't I?"

Notes:
• Passion Fish reunited David with co-star Mary McDonnell. The two had previously worked together in Matewan (another Sayles film) and Sneakers. They had just completed Sneakers together before going straight to this project and would go on to appear in The American Clock and Evidence of Blood together as well.
• Of David's character's (Rennie) five children that appear in one scene, three were the children of the mayor of the small Louisiana town where the movie was shot, another was the mayor's niece, and the fifth was the daughter of one of the movie's makeup artists.
• Contrary to popular belief, the passion fish myth that Rennie tells in the film is completely fictional.
• During one scene, Rennie's bass suddenly turns into a catfish in the next shot when he opens it up for the passion fish.
• David received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role as Rennie in the film.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
• "Doused in a sonorous score inspired by Cajun idioms, and featuring superb turns from Mary McDonnell as May-Alice, Alfre Woodard as Chantelle and David Strathairn as the 'swamp racial' Rennie, Passion Fish remains one of the finest American films of recent years." -Richard Armstrong, Senses of Cinema

• "One of the film's most original details is the poignant, schoolgirlish crush May-Alice develops on a married handyman named Rennie (David Strathairn). He is beneath her socially, as he was when they were in high school together, but now she can see him for the attractive, sweet-natured man he is. When May-Alice tells Rennie he can drop by to visit sometime, even if he doesn't have a job to do, Ms. McDonnell's face reveals how hard it is to say those words. A complex fabric of influences come together in the scene--sexual need, the difficulty of communication, the fear of rejection, class barriers--yet none of them are expressed directly." -Caryn James, The New York Times

• "Also in Passion Fish, and well matched with Ms. McDonnell's touchingly stubborn May-Alice, is David Strathairn as a Louisiana native who looked good to her as a teen-ager, and looks even better now that he is a father of five. Mr. Strathairn appears in two of the film's more magical sequences, a dream that restores May-Alice to her earlier, sexually adventurous self and an all-day boat ride through the bayou that becomes a larger sort of journey. In these sequences, Mr. Strathairn's handsome, down-to-earth Rennie serves as both a reminder of everyday reality and a secret avenue of escape." -Janet Maslin, The New York Times

• "Likewise fine in supporting roles are Sayles regular David Strathairn as Rennie, a Cajun handyman who was May-Alice's childhood crush, now married with five children; and Vondie Curtis-Hall as Sugar LeDoux, the charming cowboy with whom Chantelle becomes involved." -Elaine Perron, Hollywood Movie Review

• "Only David Strathairn and Vondie Curtis-Hall cut through the monotony as the heroines' earthy admirers." -Michael Sragow, The New Yorker

(John Sayles On David:)
• "So whether it was the mud boat guy he played in Passion Fish or Eddie Cicotte, who had to throw a real curve ball, or the crazy street guy in City of Hope, physicality is an important part of his [David Strathairn] acting." -John Sayles, director