Anne Heywood in The Shaming (1979)

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Based on a novel by William Inge, The Shaming (1979) is the story of a confused, abusive sexual relationship between a white schoolmarm and a young black janitor in 1950s Kansas. Anne Heywood is the copper-topped teach who's hit thirty-five and is starting to wonder when her life is going to get some meaning. She wants a man and a rugrat or two, and without that she's left with nothing to do but stew. Well, she has her classroom too, but teaching just doesn't cut it anymore. She wants someone to love her, no matter how or why. And that's when young John Lafayette comes into her life. The youngster rapes her, and she's too ashamed to tell anyone. Unpunished and unhinged, he returns to do it again and again, and poor addled Anne starts to look forward to his attention. Can anyone save this savory lady from total self-destruction?