The Seduction of Joe Tynan. 1979. USA. Directed by Jerry Schatzberg. Screenplay by Alan Alda. With Alda, Barbara Harris, Meryl Streep, Rip Torn, Melvyn Douglas. 35mm. 106 min.
Written by and starring Alan Alda, The Seduction of Joe Tynan, like many of Jerry Schatzberg’s films, is concerned with what pulls people together or apart—the fleeting, loving fragility of human relationships and their tentative reconciliations. Alda plays a liberal senator with presidential aspirations who struggles to find a balance between his personal and professional life: pursuing selfish political ambitions, acting out the role of caring father and loving husband, engaging in a secret affair with an aide. Schatzberg’s keen eye for the expressive capacity of the human face enhances the story’s melancholic tone—especially the heartbreak and tenderness in Barbara Harris’s and Meryl Streep’s performances.