Synopsis

Sadie Flood, a volatile singer battling drug and alcohol addiction, struggles to establish an identity beyond the shadow of her older sister Georgia, a respected country musician with a stable family life. As Sadie's self-destructive behavior repeatedly disrupts their relationship, Georgia must decide how much responsibility she can accept for her sister's desperate need for recognition and love.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film was written by Barbara Turner, Jennifer Jason Leigh's mother. Leigh also co-produced the project, making it an unusually personal family collaboration.

• Jennifer Jason Leigh and Mare Winningham performed their songs live during filming rather than miming to prerecorded vocals. The soundtrack includes covers associated with artists such as Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, and Gladys Knight & the Pips.

• The film's most notorious musical sequence is Sadie's extended, drunken performance of Van Morrison's "Take Me Back." Its deliberately ragged quality was central to the character and became one of the film's defining moments.

• Georgia premiered in 1995 and won the Grand Prix of the Americas at the Montreal World Film Festival. Leigh won the festival's Best Actress award and was also named Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle.

• Mare Winningham received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and won the Independent Spirit Award in the same category.

• The original soundtrack album was released in 1996.