Diane Keaton and altruism in the movies


Diane Keaton passed away on October 11, 2025. She was seventy-nine years old. Versatile and classy, she defined the roles she was given rather than letting those roles define her. During a fifty-five-year movie career that included one Academy Award (in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall, 1977) and numerous star-billings alongside male movie greats such as Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and Warren Beatty, Ms. Keaton, through all her complex characterizations of femininity on screen, both dramatic and comedic, made a significant mark on American cinema.

In one of her lesser-known films, Marvin’s Room (directed by Jerry Zaks from a screenplay by Scott McPherson), she portrays Bessie, a staunch and self-sacrificing woman who has spent the last twenty years caring for her mute, bedridden, multiple-stroke victim father, Marvin (Hume Cronyn), and her ailing aunt, Ruth (Gwen Verdon). Bessie’s life changes drastically when she learns she has leukemia and requires a bone marrow transplant. The rest of the film is a poignant exploration of family dynamics, responsibility, and the value of selfless caregiving in the context of renewed relationships Bessie establishes with her estranged sister, Lee (Meryl Streep) and Lee’s two dysfunctional children, the emotionally volatile teenager, Hank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his ten-year-old brother, Charlie (Hal Scardino), all of whom may be eligible donors for a procedure that could save Bessie’s life. 

The film draws attention to the high emotional toll of individual altruism rooted in a sense of duty, family responsibility, and unselfish love displayed by family caregivers. Today, and for the foreseeable future, many medical conditions that were once fatal are survivable. An increasing number of people, therefore, find themselves taking on the usually unpaid, self-sacrificial roles of caring for sick or disabled relatives. Results from a recent study in the United States, for example, showed that more than 59 million Americans provide care for an adult with a complex medical condition or disability, and another 4 million adult family members care for a sick or disabled child. In the United States, despite help from job-protective legislation such as The Family and Medical Leave Act (which provides twelve weeks of unpaid leave, continued health benefits, and guaranteed job reinstatement for those working in companies with more than fifty employees), these responsibilities render caregivers extremely vulnerable to unemployment, job and opportunity loss, financial hardships, emotional burnout, and physical illness.

In Marvin’s Room, as in real life, altruism cycles back as Bessie, the self-designated family caregiver, becomes the person in need. In addition to dealing with her own severe illness and the consequences of her new vulnerabilities, she must struggle with the problem of who will replace her if or when she is no longer able to provide caregiving services to her loved ones. Sadly, this reversal of fortune is not uncommon. Yet, the realities of caregiving environments are rarely the focus of medical or surgical consultations, which understandably target disease diagnosis and treatment.

Not all patients have a champion who can knowledgeably advocate for their well-being. Films like Marvin’s Room are a gentle reminder that it is a moral obligation and professional duty for physicians and other health care providers to take it upon themselves to inquire about caregiving responsibilities for all patients, and, if possible, to offer support, assistance, and tangible solutions that might help family caregivers lessen their burdens. In so doing, health care providers not only demonstrate compassion, selflessness, and commitment, they also create opportunities for acts of medical altruism that express our humanity.