Waiting to Exhale

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Waiting to Exhale
Directed by Forest Whitaker
Produced by Ronald Bass
Terry McMillan
Deborah Schindler
Ezra Swerdlow
Written by Terry McMillan (book)
Terry McMillan (teleplay)
Ronald Bass (teleplay)
Starring Whitney Houston
Angela Bassett
Loretta Devine
Lela Rochon
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) December 22, 1995 (USA)
Running time 127 min.
Language English
Budget $15,000,000
IMDb profile

Waiting to Exhale is a 1995 movie directed by Forest Whitaker. The movie was adapted from the novel of the same name by Terry McMillan and stars Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Lela Rochon and Loretta Devine. The story centers on four successful African-American women and their relationships with men and one another.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Waiting to Exhale centers on four African-American women and their relationships with men and one another. All of them are "holding their breath" until the day they can feel comfortable in a committed relationship with a man.

Robin (Lela Rochon) is the long-time mistress of Russell (Leon), who keeps reneging on his promise to leave his wife for her. She dumps him to find a man she can have to herself, but her dates with a reliable but unattractive business partner (Wendell Pierce) and a drug addict (Mykelti Williamson) send her back to Russell. Savannah (Whitney Houston) is a successful television producer who also believes that her married lover Kenneth (Dennis Haysbert) will leave his wife. Bernadine (Angela Bassett) is a wealthy woman who abandoned her own career to raise a family. Her husband is now leaving her to marry another woman. Gloria Peaches (Loretta Devine) is a beauty salon owner and single mother raising a teenage son. After years alone, she falls in love with a new neighbor, Marvin (Gregory Hines).

The women share their stories over lunches and conversations at Gloria's salon.

[edit] Soundtrack

Full article: Waiting to Exhale (soundtrack)

The soundtrack to the film featured many talented and experienced musicians. Houston is featured on three of the 16 songs on the soundtrack.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia

  • Director Forest Whitaker was the unanimous first choice of the film's producers and screenwriters.
  • Ironically, Houston's role in the film bore a strong resemblance to the first-person character in her hit "Saving All My Love For You" - to wit, a woman having an affair with a married man.
  • Although Whitaker had earlier directed an HBO drama called Strapped (1993) --for which he received Best New Director honors at the Toronto Film Festival-- this film was his first job directing a full-length feature film.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


In other languages