On the Edge

On the Edge is a compendium of three short science-fiction films, each with a decidedly feminist slant. The first segment, directed by Helen Mirren, is "Happy Birthday," in which a straight-A student (Sidney Tamilia Poitier) seeks recourse after she is "quota'd out" of graduate school. Next up is "The Other Side," directed by Mary Stuart Masterson, wherein a scientific genius (Anthony LaPaglia) clones himself upon learning that he has inoperable cancer - only to find himself and his clone as two points in a romantic triangle. Closing out the program is Anne Heche's "Reaching Normal," the tale of a bored housewife (Andie McDowell) and her "telepathic twin," an eccentric college professor (Paul Rudd).