Carrie Fisher openly talks about her history with drugs and alcohol, and how her bipolar disorder is medicated and exacerbated by the chemicals in her body. She’s also very open about her celebrity, her status as the daughter of Hollywood Royalty (Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds), and how that celebrity, and the pressures that come from it, have royally fucked up everybody she knows. In 1985, she OD’d on medications, and had to go to rehab where she underwent Electroshock Therapy in order to realign her brain. And, out of that experience came the fictional (or semi-autobiographical novel), Postcards From the Edge.

Struggling actress Susanne Vale (Meryl Streep, who would receive an Academy Award nomination) overdoses at the beginning of the movie, and is forced into rehab by her Hollywood actress mother, Doris Mann (Shirley MacLaine). Vale struggles with the pressures of Hollyweird, but also the neediness of her actress mother who acts like she’s in direct competition with Suzanne for attention and fame. They struggle with the mother-daughter bond as they care for each other, but their neuroses are not compatible.

But, it’s Shirley MacLaine’s  aggressive take on the show stopping I’m Still Here, from Sondheim’s Follies, that not only reimagines the song in its full defiant potential but also brings forward all of the family issues at play in the relationship. Mike Nichols’ excellent simplified staging focuses exactly on Doris’ domination over a party celebrating Susanne, but also Susanne’s encouragement of such as love of the daughter. In just a few minutes, Nichols sets forth the themes through a physical audience, a giant painting of Doris watching the whole thing, and the flashy dynamics of Doris, her dress, and even flashes of her bright red underwear.

Postcards From the Edge airs on Starz Encore Classics at 8:40pm on Friday, 7/22