Rambling Rose is a 1991 American film set in Georgia

Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

 during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

 starring Laura Dern

Laura Dern

Laura Elizabeth Dern is an American actress, film director and producer. Dern has acted in such films as Smooth Talk , Blue Velvet , Fat Man and Little Boy , Wild at Heart , Jurassic Park and October Sky...

, Diane Ladd

Diane Ladd

Diane Ladd is an American actress, film director, producer and published author. She has appeared in over 120 roles, on television, and in miniseries and feature films, including Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore , Wild at Heart , Rambling Rose , Ghosts of Mississippi, Primary Colors, 28 Days , and...

 and Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall

Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

, directed by Martha Coolidge

Martha Coolidge

Martha Coolidge is an American film director and former President of the Directors Guild of America. -Career:Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Ms. Coolidge first made her reputation by directing many award winning documentaries in New York before moving out to Hollywood in 1976. She spent several...

.

Ladd and Dern in real life are mother and daughter, and both earned Academy Award nominations for their performances in this film. Edgar J. Scherick

Edgar J. Scherick

Edgar J. Scherick was one of the most prolific producers of television miniseries, made-for-television films, and theatrical motion pictures.-Life and career:...

 served as executive producer. Calder Willingham

Calder Willingham

Calder Baynard Willingham, Jr. was an American novelist and screenwriter. He cowrote several notable screenplays, including Paths of Glory and One-Eyed Jacks ....

 wrote the original novel in 1972 and later wrote the screenplay for the film.

Plot

The film depicts the struggles of Rose (Dern) to stay employed with the Hillyer family and thus avoid the pitfalls of prostitution. As Rose enters the Hillyer family dwelling as a domestic servant, chaos ensues. Rose has a long history of being sexually abused

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...

 and confuses overt and promiscuous sex with love. She develops a crush on Mr. Hillyer (Duvall) that he resists by citing the example of the Spartans' "thou shalt not pass."

Battle of Thermopylae

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August...

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hillyer, who is working on her doctoral dissertation, and is a pronounced feminist, becomes Rose's greatest protector. When Rose turns up sick, it is Mrs. Hillyer who protects her interests as Mr. Hillyer and an unscrupulous physician plot to "fix" Rose's problems for good.