There is something wonderfully unexpected about Dr. T & the Women (2000). At first glance, it might seem like a light romantic comedy built around Richard Gere’s irresistible charm. But when Robert Altman takes the wheel, nothing is quite as simple as it appears.
Altman’s film is an unusual, ironic and sometimes almost surreal portrait of a man who seems to have everything under control — until the women around him slowly turn his perfectly ordered life upside down.
Richard Gere plays Dr. Sullivan Travis, known simply as Dr. T, a wealthy and extremely successful Dallas gynecologist. He is the kind of doctor women adore: handsome, patient, discreet, reassuring and naturally elegant. His waiting room is perpetually overflowing with patients, and his devoted head nurse Carolyn, played by Shelley Long, is secretly in love with him.
But outside his busy practice, Dr. T’s apparently perfect life is beginning to collapse.
His beloved wife Kate, played by Farrah Fawcett, suffers a psychological breakdown and begins regressing into a childlike state, eventually requiring hospitalization. His family life is no less complicated. His daughter Dee Dee, played by a young Kate Hudson, is preparing for her wedding while secretly involved with her maid of honor, Marilyn, played by Liv Tyler. His younger daughter Connie, played by Tara Reid, is rebellious and obsessed with conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, his sister-in-law Peggy, portrayed by Laura Dern, arrives with her own problems and three daughters, adding even more chaos to the household.
And then there is Bree. Played by Helen Hunt, Bree is an attractive and enigmatic golf instructor and the one woman who gradually captures Dr. T’s attention. Their relationship develops almost quietly in the middle of the madness surrounding him. For a man who has spent his entire life surrounded by women, Dr. T suddenly discovers that there is one woman he wants to know for reasons that have nothing to do with his profession. And this is where the film becomes particularly interesting.
Richard Gere in a completely different role
What I enjoy most about Richard Gere in Dr. T & the Women is that he doesn’t play the traditional Gere romantic hero.
He is still extraordinarily handsome — perhaps at one of the most fascinating moments of his career — but his beauty is almost used against him. Dr. T is accustomed to being adored, admired and needed. Women fill his office, his home and virtually every corner of his existence.
Yet he is increasingly powerless. He cannot cure his wife. He cannot control his daughters. He cannot solve the problems of his extended family. He cannot even fully understand the women surrounding him.
Roger Ebert described Gere’s performance as gentle, tactful and slightly weary in the face of female complexity. That is exactly what makes it work: Dr. T is not a macho character trying to dominate the chaos. He is a decent man desperately trying to keep everything together.
And Gere plays that vulnerability beautifully.
Robert Altman’s whirlwind of women
One of the most distinctive elements of the film is its rhythm. Robert Altman doesn’t give us a conventional romantic comedy in which one scene neatly follows another. Instead, conversations overlap, characters interrupt one another, problems arrive simultaneously and the camera seems to be constantly chasing the next piece of chaos.
It is almost a cinematic frenzy. The waiting room at Dr. T’s office becomes a world of its own: women talking, complaining, waiting, laughing, arguing and demanding attention. Then we move to the family home, the golf course, the wedding preparations and countless other situations in which Dr. T seems to be surrounded from every direction.
This is classic Altman territory: an ensemble of characters whose stories collide rather than politely taking turns.
And the cast is extraordinary: Farrah Fawcett, Helen Hunt, Laura Dern, Shelley Long, Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler and Tara Reid create an impressive female ensemble, with each woman representing a completely different aspect of the world surrounding Dr. T.
It is also important that the film belongs as much to these women as it does to Richard Gere. Altman was fascinated by female characters and gives them enormous space to express their eccentricities, frustrations, desires and contradictions. Ebert particularly noted Altman’s unusual willingness to give female characters such prominence.
And then comes that ending…
Without giving away every detail, the final part of Dr. T & the Women takes an unexpected turn that completely changes the tone of the story.
A violent storm and a tornado carry the film into almost surreal territory, culminating in a bizarre and symbolic sequence in which Dr. T finds himself delivering a baby. The ending was deliberately kept secret around the film’s release, and contemporary critics highlighted just how surprising — and controversial — Altman’s final twist was.
It is certainly not the ending one expects from a Richard Gere romantic comedy. And perhaps that is precisely the point. Dr. T begins the film as a man surrounded by women who seem to need him. By the end, he has been stripped of his certainty and forced into an experience that feels almost like a rebirth.
Whether you love or dislike the ending, it is difficult to forget.
My view
I have always thought Dr. T & the Women deserved more attention than it received. It is one of those Richard Gere films that seems to have slipped somewhat into the background, despite having Robert Altman behind the camera and an exceptional cast of actresses surrounding him. The film was presented at the Venice Film Festival but ultimately passed relatively unnoticed by the wider public.
For me, the real pleasure is seeing Richard in a role that is so different from many of his better-known romantic characters. He is charming, funny, elegant, confused, vulnerable — and absolutely gorgeous.
And I have to admit something about the ending. After watching this incredibly handsome man spend the entire film trying to understand the complicated women in his life, I couldn’t help thinking:
How on earth could anyone leave a man as fascinating, charming and beautiful as Richard Gere? Maybe that is my very personal weakness as a Richard Gere fan. But Dr. T & the Women reminded me that his greatest charm has never been only his beauty. It is his ability to make even an imperfect, bewildered and completely overwhelmed man incredibly difficult to take your eyes off.
And in this particular film, that is exactly what he does.
