The central figure, played by Melanie Mayron, is a photographer sharing a large funky apartment on the Upper West Side of New York with her best girlfriend. The girlfriend suddenly decides to get married to someone she's only recently met & this seems to throw our main character into a period of soul searching. Who is she without her best friend? Can she handle the loneliness? The jealousy?

This film reminds me a lot of the Eric Rohmer films of the 70's & 80's...stylewise, it's very stark. Nothing much happens. But it's the ordinariness of the characters that seems to draw us in. In some ways, this film is too stark...so plain are the cast, so grey is the scenery & sometimes, so mundane the dialogue. But 'Girlfriends' has a warmth & a charm that has always made me remember it. To add to this, the film now has the look and feel of another era, the late 70s, which is now interesting to look at in retrospect.

Fans of 'Thirtysomething', who enjoyed Melanie Mayron's character, Melissa, will especially like this film. There are a number of parallels between the two characters. She alone with her warm smile, crooked teeth and mass of wild hair, brings enormous humanity to the proceedings.

Susan Weinblatt (Melanie Mayron) is a struggling photographer hoping to stop doing weddings and such. She lives with aspiring writer best friend Anne Munroe in New York City. They are moving into a new apartment when Anne tells Susan that she's marrying Martin (Bob Balaban). Susan struggles professionally and personally. She's lonely with less of her best friend. She takes in hitchhiker Ceil and has an aborted fling with Rabbi Gold (Eli Wallach).

It's a New York indie about the single modern girl. It's not a sitcom where the cute blonde just can't find Prince Charming. It's more truthful and yearning than that. Her need to find her place in the modern world is palpable. Mayron has a great sense of a New York girl. The visual work is a bit flat which is excusable for an indie. Eric is a bit of a frustrating nothing. I'd rather have more awkward drama with Rabbi Gold or Ceil. The plot unfolds rather than builds drama.

Girlfriends, a bittersweet tale of two female roommates split apart when one gets married. The other, our protagonist in this film is all at sea. The two women out of necessity and believe me this is true in New York City came together to share rent. But living together as you do and hitting it off you get to share lives.

Melanie Mayron and Anita Skinner are the roommates. Out of the blue one fine day Skinner announces she's marrying Bob Balaban. At that point Mayron is just lost. Mind you there's nothing sexual going on with them, but Skinner can't adjust to now being alone. Even a relationship with Christopher Guest just ain't the same thing as sisterhood.

Eli Wallach the old family rabbi and a most modern thinker keeps Mayron employed in her profession as a photographer using her as a wedding photographer. Mayron is pursuing this as an art form as well and here she has the encouragement of museum exhibitor Viveca Lindfors. Will success in her profession fill a lot of the emptiness?

Girlfriends is a nice character study from the women's point of view. Not much of a plot but seem character portrayals.