Though it is in Dr. Batiste's nature to encourage rivalries between women, he is blind to his effect upon his own daughters. Later in the drama, these unacknowledged and unformed desires will assume threatening reality. When a local seer predicts that a child will be badly hurt in a bus accident during the months to come, Roz locks her daughters in the house until the danger has passed. She encourages them to pass the weeks by reading Shakespeare's plays. Spells and omens assume a natural place in the order of things, along with bourbon and the Bible.
Life flows steadily along.
But it's clear that the currents are converging to flood tide. Lemmons' movie has its flaws. Some characters, such as Vondie Curtis Hall's dreamy Grayraven, ring false. The film's spiritualism is smooth but shallow, like Amy Vincent's cinematography. Yet Lemmons' most audacious gamble, the huge mystery vibrating in the air between Cisely and her father, leaves a lasting impression.