Shattered Dreams (film)

Charlotte O'Donnell and John Fedders meet at Catholic University where John is in law school, and Charlotte attends nursing school. John invites Charlotte and her friends to a party. They hit it off, and begin dating. They both want many children, with each having come from large families. John comes from a blue-collar family, and is intimidated after meeting Charlotte's parents, Helen and Charles (a doctor). John begins avoiding her, skipping her graduation, and treats her badly when they run into each other at a party; John flirts with other women in front of her, and Charlotte leaves the party in tears. After he continues to ignore her for eight weeks, he talks her into resuming their relationship as if nothing had happened.

They get married that August, and by 1968, they've moved to New York City, where John has gotten a job at a prominent Wall Street law firm, and Charlotte has a good nursing job, and has potential to promote into a supervisory role. John becomes increasingly abrasive, and belittles Charlotte, such as locking her out of the apartment overnight when he does not like what she made for dinner. They host a dinner for John's colleagues, and everything goes well, but the next day, John is in a bad mood and ignores Charlotte's attempts to discuss things with him. The next day, John pretends everything is okay, but Charlotte wants an apology. The argue over something in the newspaper and John hits her, breaking her eardrum, saying she swore to honor him and that she should think about that the next time she feels defiant.

Charlotte goes home to her parents. Charles is livid and calls John to tell him off. Charlotte is afraid to leave him because she doesn't think she'll ever get someone as good as John. Helen questions Charlotte about what she did or said to earn such a violent reaction, but she doesn't know. Charles hands Charlotte the receiver to tell John she wants a divorce. Charlotte hears John crying in the background, and decides to go home. John cries and apologizes, saying it kills him to think that he hurt her, and how it will never happen again. Charlotte says they have more than just themselves to think about, and announces she is pregnant.

By 1973, the Fedderses have moved to Washington, D.C., and they have 2 sons, Luke, and Mark. Charlotte has given up nursing to be a housewife. John has continued to be more and more controlling, such as buying a huge house without her input, and even not letting Charlotte decorate it the way she'd like. A bruised Charlotte is pregnant again. At work, John's secretary gives notice because he's too much of a perfectionist. Late that evening, John gets home and Charlotte tells him the kids are disappointed that he didn't keep his promise to take them trick-or-treating, like he promised. Charlotte asks him if he is having an affair, and John shoves her into a mirror. She asks again if he's seeing anyone, and he mercilessly beats her up, even punching her in the stomach while she is heavily pregnant. Charlotte goes to talk to a priest, who reminds her of her sacred vows, telling her to go home and love John, and look to the heavens for answers.

By 1978, the Fedderses have 4 sons. Charlotte calls his office several times to ask about an event that evening so she can get a babysitter, and he ignores the calls, telling his secretary he'll call her later. They attend the party that evening, and John is nice to Charlotte in front of other guests. When they leave, John won't open the door for Charlotte. Charlotte wants them to go to a marriage counselor, and he agrees initially, but they day of the appointment, he doesn't show up. Back at home, Charlotte is giving the kids a bath. John gets home, and having misplaced his keys, breaks a glass panel on the front door when Charlotte does not hear the bell or him knocking. John says the office was busy, and Charlotte tells him he is just afraid of what he'll sound like to other people.

John sees a note about a check Charlotte wrote to the marriage counselor. Enraged, he grabs Charlotte and drags her out of the bathroom where she is giving the boys a bath. He beats her over the stair railing punching her in the back, head, and face. One of their sons runs out and tries to stop him, and Charlotte runs into their bedroom, but not fast enough to lock the door. The older son goes to get the other 2 boys out of the tub. They lock the bathroom door and hear John continuing to beat their mother.

Charlotte takes the boys to a neighbor, Elaine's, house to call her sitter Dotty. Dotty and Elaine try to convince Charlotte to press charges, but she refuses and locks herself in a bathroom. Elaine says she thought they were the perfect couple. Dotty says this had been happening for a long time, and everybody knows about it. Charlotte goes back to the house to pack and leave a letter for John, hoping he will get help. Before she leaves, he comes through the door crying and gives his usual speech, saying that he'll get help and tells her everything else he thinks she wants to hear and she takes him back.

By 1983, the Fedderses have 5 sons and John has gotten a job as the Director of Enforcement for the SEC. Charlotte and John fight about money, as he is getting them in over their heads with debt, trying to empress his colleagues. Charlotte goes to counseling on her own, where she learns about Battered woman syndrome. One day, when they are snowed in, Charlotte tells the boys they can go sledding. John comes out and makes them shovel the driveway all day, and then he scrapes snow of the roof onto the driveway. Charlotte calls them in for dinner. John objects, and tells them to all get back outside. When they don't go, he starts to drag their oldest teenage son up out of the chair and is about to hit him, but Charlotte throws something at him, saying she will not let him abuse her children, and he hits her. Charlotte throws him out.

At her parents' house, they don't believe she will go through with it this time, and it breaks their hearts to see her go straight back to that nightmare. Charlotte hires a good divorce attorney, and they go to court. On the witness stand, John does not directly take accountability, and instead, re-frames it as a problem they both had, and saying he believes Charlotte enjoyed the abuse. The next day, attorneys for both Charlotte and John are called into chambers. John's lawyer asks for him to be granted the time to pursue reconciliation because he is remorseful. Charlotte's lawyer counters that he was always remorseful for the abuse, nothing changes, and she does not want to reconcile. The judge grants 60 days for reconciliation, and Charlotte storms out of the court.

John resigns his position at the SEC, in wake of negative attention his personal problems are causing. John sends Charlotte a letter saying he hopes to meet with her when she's ready. She does go to meet him, only because of court order. John starts to pressure her about a reconciliation, and she throws his ring on the ground, and drives away, leaving him there. They are granted a divorce and Charlotte helps other battered women.

• Lindsay Wagner as Charlotte Fedders
• Michael Nouri as John Fedders
• Georgann Johnson as Helen O'Donnell
• James Karen as Charles O'Donnell

The film premiered on Sunday, May 13, 1990 on CBS.[1]

Richard F. Shepard of The New York Times said "an intelligently thought-out script acted with powerful but restrained emotion makes Shattered Dreams, a new made-for-television film about wife abuse a moving and believable drama".[2]

David Hiltbrand of People gave the film a "B", saying, "Wagner is good as the battered woman, but it is Nouri’s ferocious intensity that makes this drama so disturbing."[3]

The film was released on DVD on December 16, 2003 from Lionsgate.

• Shattered Dreams at IMDb