Clara's Heart

**Clara's Heart** is a 1988 American drama film directed by Robert Mulligan.

The film was released on October 7, 1988 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is based on Joseph Olshan's novel of the same name.

## Plot

While on a trip to Jamaica following the death of her infant daughter, Leona Hart (Kathleen Quinlan) meets housekeeper Clara Mayfield (Whoopi Goldberg) and brings her back to her family's home in Balitmore to help care for her son, David (Neil Patrick Harris).

## Cast

* Whoopi Goldberg as Clara Mayfield
* Michael Ontkean as Bill Hart
* Kathleen Quinlan as Leona Hart
* Neil Patrick Harris as David Hart
* Spalding Gray as Peter Epstein
* Beverly Todd as Dora
* Hattie Winston as Blanche Loudon
* Jason Downs as Alan Lipsky

## Production

Filming for "Clara's Heart" took place on October 12, 1987 in St. Michaels, Maryland; Baltimore, Maryland; Easton, Maryland; New York; and Port Antonio, Jamaica.

## Box Office

"Clara's Heart" grossed $588,869 during its opening weekend. Overall, it grossed $5,194,491.

## Critical Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, "Clara's Heart" has an approval rating of 50% based on 16 reviews with an average rating of 5.40\10.

On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews."

Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times gave "Clara's Heart" a rating of one-in-a-half stars. Although he praised Whoopi Goldberg's performance, he panned the film, stating: *"[Whoopi] Goldberg is magnificent. The character belongs in a different film, even a different universe, from the rest of the ludicrous plot."*

Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times wrote: *"All and all, it adds up to a delightful, unpretentious movie, hands down the richest work Whoopi Goldberg has done on the screen."*

Variety magazine said: *"Buoyed by a beautifully measured star turn by Whoopi Goldberg and a smashing screen debut for young Neil Patrick Harris, Clara's Dream is a powerful, unabashedly sentimental drama."*

The Associated Press wrote: *"Clara's Heart is a warm movie with many lessons to tell, if one is willing to listen. Its force is aided by Goldberg's performance and a noteworthy movie debut of Neil Patrick Harris as David."*

In her review of the film, Rita Kempley of The Washington Post stated: *"Clara's Heart has several pluses. There's the rapport between [Whoopi] Goldberg and [Neil Patrick] Harris, impressive in his screen debut. And it is a relief to see Goldberg working back into The Color Purple mode."*

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film succeeds in *"tugging the heartstrings only when Clara herself is on screen."*

The Miami Herald said: *"Whoopi Goldberg gives a first-rate performance in Clara's Heart, enough to atone for the sins of her Fatal Beauty period. But it's nifty work in a lost cause. The movie is sickly sweet, shot through with the kind of confectioner's sentiment that Hollywood used to crank out on assembly lines until the formula slid into disuse."*

Johanna Steinmetz of the Chicago Tribune wrote: *"The stately pace here feels sluggish and the music is no elegiac Pachelbel's "Canon" but a medley of dreadful cocktail lounge piano and swooning strings."*