«Not for the faint of heart»
Read some of the other reviews and you'll know the basis of the story. But this kind of film is not for everyone. The story line is difficult to say the least. A woman determined to kill herself and the mother (who loves her more than anyone else in this world) trying desperately to find a way to stop it from happening. If suicide is too distressing a subject for you, do not watch this film. If you are thinking of suicide, do not watch this film. It evidences how someone can convince themselves that this is the right choice (which it is not), but hopefully it also points to the fact that a suicide always deeply, adversely and irreversibly affects someone else in this world, even if it's just the person who finds the body (I know of which I speak). This movie may be boring for some, but only because of the film style. It is, as one reviewer said, like watching a play. It is almost what you might see if someone just took out a video camera and made a home movie of the lives of these two people in the last hours of Jesse's life. No interesting angles, effects, changes of venue, et. al. It's just the intense, "real-life" story of a desperate, helpless mother and her daughter who is all but gone. It is a dispairing and heartbreaking narrative for anyone with a heart.
[Sunday, November 02, 2008]
|
«Superb and riveting performances! »
I am usually very apprehensive to watch movie versions of theatre plays, and it is rare that a performance is pulled off to perfection. This was it! Superb performances, true to the dramatic plot, and complete with intensive moods required to pull it off. And, when I knew that two impressive actors would portray the characters, Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft as Thelma, the mother of Jessie, a young lady planning her suicide, carefully, strategically and nonchalantly. The story takes place in the home with just two people, and all in one night, within a matter of a couple of hours. There is no musical soundtrack to draw from the moods.
Pulitzer Prize by Marsha Norman 'Night Mother.
Marsha Norman won the Pulitzer Prize in 1983, and when I learned she did the Screenplay for the movie, I was more confident the performance would be first class. If you haven't read the book, do so, it is riveting, unlike something you may have read in drama.
A right to die
Jessie is divorced and has a juvenile son whose whereabouts are unknown. She caretakes for her mother, Thelma and has a brother Dawson and his family who live nearby. In her lifetime, Jessie has had epileptic seizures, her husband Cecil left her and she moved back with her mother. But it is this night, after plans to do her mother's manicure, that Jessie plans go to her bedroom and kill herself. It is her right, as she is tired, hurt, sad, and feels used. Throughout, you will learn of the past.
Stages of grief - for the living
In 1969, Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross wrote the groundbreaking book, On Death and Dying and named the five stages of grief that people who are dying go through, and not in an exact order. The five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. What we see is Thelma, going through these stages, denying that the suicide will happen, angry that she can't stop it, bargaining with Jessie to stay alive, depressed and down when she can't stop it and that little moment when Thelma accepts the inevitable.
This is an emotional, powerful film with exceptional performances!......Rizzo
[Monday, October 27, 2008]
|
