h1

The Good Wife (1987) aka The Umbrella Woman

January 19, 2009

The back of the DVD box read something like this: What will this sweet housewife  do when she finds herself lustful for the new town bartender?

The above description missed the mark, to me,  about what the real themes of the story are: appreciating what you have versus what you don’t, appreciating what you have versus what you think you’re missing or have missed in life by making commitments when you did, and with whom you did. These are internal conflicts anyone can feel once they’ve made a commitment, for love or for money.  And in a marriage, if one partner reveals their doubts, whether discussing them openly, or behaving unusually, where does that leave the other partner? Is the relationship forever changed? Is that change for better or for worse?

The story takes place in Corrimandel, Australia, 1939. This is an area of flat land and a fairly sunny climate. There are small farms as far as the eye can see. Corrimandel  is a town of less than 1000, everyone knows each other’s business and casts judgement accordingly. Not much changes here. When it does, it can sweep some people up in its wake.

Sonny (played by Brian Brown) has a pretty  good life –a house, steady employment, and a beautiful, sweet-natured wife, Madge (Rachel Ward). His only stressor is his rebellious younger brother, called Sugar (played by Steven Vidler), who works with him and resides at his home.

Sugar , by contrast,  has a lot of growing up to do. He used to live in a boardinghouse downtown, but it didn’t last. Sonny let Sugar move in with the hopes that his example could rub off on the young man, but it doesn’t really work. Sugar sees his older brother as a boring, lackluster example to follow. Sugar wants status, the good life, women, but he expects to get away with reckless behavior and he squanders opportunities.

Sugar runs errands and helps with housework in addition to working as a lumberjack. Madge soon becomes his first crush. One night he spies (through the porch curtains) Sonny and Madge making love. Within days, Sugar boldly asks Madge why can’t they do the same? Madge coyly responds with another question, but knows exactly what he’s asking about.  She may even be a little gleeful that someone besides Sonny finds her attractive. She tells Sugar that he should ask Sonny if it’s okay for their rendezvous, she’s indifferent, and that all men are the same, they like to think their different, but they aren’t. (These ideas come back later).

Sugar confronts Sonny a minute later, Madge follows him.  Sugar asks if he can have sex with Madge. Sonny asks how Madge felt, Madge claims to have said nothing. Sugar counters, Oh no she didn’t, she said all men are the same.  Sonny, not visibly angry or disturbed by this conversation, tells Madge that if that’s the way you feel, then go ahead and find out if that’s true. She steps into the bedroom with Sugar. Once they are undressed, he reaches climax almost immediately.

Madge talks with Sonny after her encounter.  He asks well, what do you think now? She admits it wasn’t that great, and she still loves him (Sonny) more than anyone else.  There’s the false assurance that this disappointment may have taught her something, but it didn’t. Sonny can tell Madge has grown dissatisfied with her current life, and he lets her make her own mistakes. He is a steady presence, is truly dedicated to Madge, and doesn’t react violently to her wandering. Madge admits later that she doesn’t deserve Sonny’s love, he reminds her that he has no one else to give it to.

Unlike his brother and her husband, Sugar feels no loyalty or sense of obligation to anyone but himself. Sugar publicly lets it slip that he’s seen Madge nude and they had sex at least once.  The first time it happens, Madge is there and instantly humiliated, she runs out of the ladies store where she was trying on dresses.  Unfortunately, it becomes an endless topic for ridicule among townsfolk. Townsfolk who turn out to be hypocrites with their infidelities, but the point driven home is this–you can misbehave, but as long as its not publicized, and its not with another town  regular, its allowable. No one’s talking because chances are, they’re in on the same game.

A new bartender arrives in town to work at the hotel bar. This man, Neville Griffith (played  by Sam Neill), is an object of fascination for both Madge and Sugar. Both are very naive and not the best judges  of character; their relations with Neville reveal that. Madge’s first meeting with Neville occurs when he arrives at the train station. She happens to be walking by; she is carrying her parasol and looking elegant. Neville embraces Madge forcefully and tells her to meet up with him later at the hotel. Madge rejects him.  Neville accepts a car ride from his new boss, the hotel owner, and tells Madge she only gets one chance with him. This plants a seed in Madge’s mind that she might have another chance, when Neville meant quite the opposite. She starts dressing sexier, wearing more bold colors, and going to town more, and drinking alcohol. If Neville appears anywhere, she sees him, then pretends not to notice. Neville, meanwhile, is busy trying to seduce every 18-35 year old in town, married or not. He becomes a bit of a celebrity, and is amused by it.

One afternoon, Madge is waiting at the hotel door to watch him.  Neville, sauntering in with his latest conquest, tells her–”I told you. You aren’t as special as you think you are.” Madge is undaunted, she doesn’t seem to grasp the karma in this statement: Neville’s told her what she basically told Sonny (via Sugar) that night awhile back. It isn’t until Neville is forced out of town and she attempts to follow that Madge is forced to accept the life she has instead of one that seemed so tantalizing.

Neville also became on object of fascination for Sugar. His romances, his stories, and his fistfighting skills with drunks made him a legend in the younger man’s eyes.  Neville is amused by Sugar’s admiration. Sugar is amused to hear Neville call Madge a *itch and an object of pity for being obsessed with him. Sugar learns later that he too is seen as pathetic by this hero of his, and that stings. Sugar, never really loyal to anyone but himself, decides to foil Neville’s final and biggest conquest yet: Mrs. Fielding, a rich man’s wife.

Sure enough, Mr. Fielding shows up that same evening to retrieve his wife  and inform Neville he has a paid one way train ticket out of town.  Neville knows exactly who tattled, but lackadasically brushes the local dust of his feet. He heads to a new town and surely, a new set of women seeking his charm and affections.

Sugar goes home to Sonny and reiterates, verbatim, what Neville said about Madge. Sugar naively talks to his brother as if he were Neville, and gets a rude awakening. Sonny gives his brother the beating of his life, and throws him out on his ear, he tells Sugar he never wants to see him ever again and doesn’t care what happens to him. Sugar disappears into the darkness with only the clothes on his back.

Additional notes: The only reminders that it is the 1930s is the ladies fashion, their wavy bob hairdos, and the jazz music played when the family heads to the town hotel for a night out. The rest of the soundtrack is sci-fi sounding keyboards. Perhaps it is meant to hint at Rachel’s inner wistful world, not happy with her life, yearning for the future.  (The shopgirl featured in the movie seemed to be wearing more eye makeup, which was contemporary for  the 1980s.) Or, the music was intended solely to create mood for the story, without adhering to what music was available or popular at the time of the story. Ideally, a film picks one music concept and commits to it, though. Case in point: Dirty Dancing, great film, awesome soundtrack of 1960s oldies. Except it wasn’t 100% oldies–”Time of My Life” and “Yes!We’re Gonna Make Love” were contemporary tracks, not even trying for a retro 1960s sound. It can really annoy music buffs to fast forward 2 decades in a matter of minutes.

Other films that explore the unfulfilled housewife and how she reconciles these feelings (or not): The Bridges of Madison County, The Hours, Far From Heaven, Pleasantville. Foreign Films: Belle du Jour (France), Dark Night (Taiwan). This is by no means a complete list.

Pure trivia: Brian Brown and Rachel Ward are married in real life, and have been for years.

The USA also has a contemporary show called “Desperate Housewives”, the first six seasons are available on DVD, this spawned reality series like “Real Housewives of (insert county).”

h1

The Saddest Music in the World, the “Australia” release

December 8, 2008

Some time ago, I watched this film, “The Saddest Music in the World”, from the rummage pile. It takes place in Canada, in the depths of the Depression. A beer heiress announces over radio, the medium of the day (’dat’s right, Biden!), to the farthest reaches of the world, that they are holding a contest to find the saddest music in the world. People come from all over and compete, but it turns out the whole thing is not a fair contest. Even the heiress, who thinks she’s in on the gag, turns out to be deceived.

After mulling this one over way too much, I can only say it’s so avant-garde and “trying to be quirky”, that I can’t recommend it, really. So I won’t list who’s in it, I am not out to bash anyone’s career here. I don’t expect to find all winners with this blog, it’s the chance of the thing and the hopes of finding some hidden gems.

In other news, it is holiday movie season out there, and there’s a lot to choose from here in the States. I saw that the epic “Australia” is out, the costuming and the cast are high-profile and gorgeous. (Sidenote: Sometimes historic movies are kind of funny–everyone is so clean and dentally perfect to seem like ‘real people’ from way back when. I don’t know how things went for the Australians, but people didn’t bathe regularly here in the States until after WWII. And there was no assumption that average people could make it to a dentist regularly back then, either.)

“Australia” ’s release made me think of an older film I caught on Masterpiece Theatre as a young child in the early 1980s, “A Town Like Alice” (1981). Alice as in “Alice Springs”. I mean to pick it up or find it online, and rediscover it as an older person. I will be sure to share it here. Australian Bryan Brown is in it, and from what I understand, a lot of his other early projects were also about his homeland. I also have another Aussie film on my to-watch list from the bin: “The Good Wife, ” and he is in it too.

If you wonder what a good Australia story is, whether you see this new one out in theaters or not, I suggest looking at Bryan Brown’s body of work.

PS-The less well-known people (to Americans) have pretty cool projects, whether they garnered Oscars, BAFTAs, Cesars, etc. or not…

Related trivia: Australia Day is January 26. The constellation graphically represented on the Australian flag is the Southern Cross. And it really is possible to eat something called a vegemite sandwich.

h1

Saint Ralph (2005)

August 21, 2008

Saint Ralph is an inspiring and comical tale of fourteen year old Ralph Walker (Adam Butcher). Growing up in the innocent 1950s of post-WWII Canada, Ralph has grown up in the shadow of a deceased war hero dad. He is a precocious charmer, not particularly ambitious about his schoolwork, and frequently the focus of school pranks. In his small hometown, everyone knows about Ralph’s homelife–they know his dad was a hero, his mother (Shauna MacDonald) has been in the hospital for years being treated for cancer, and he lives with his grandparents, or at least, stays at their house and that’s all anyone cared to know.

The headmaster of Ralph’s school, Father Fitzpatrick(Gordon Pinsent), makes the perfect bad guy. He is an old curmudgeon determined to break Ralph’s spirit. Ralph frequently finds himself in the headmaster’s office, responding to the older man’s rigid statements with unshakeable optimism and confidence in himself.

Two crises in Ralph’s life happen to shape the story: one, he has an embarrassing moment at the community pool. It is sort of a ’scarlet letter issue’ meant to shame Ralph. It is brought up by nearly everyone Ralph encounters for the rest of the film. The event and people’s failure to ‘let it go’ would devastate a more sensitive child, but not Ralph. Fitzpatrick requires Ralph to join the running team to deal with his excess energy. Ralph begrudgingly complies. Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), the running coach, is not impressed with Ralph’s athletics, but he is much less reluctant to give up on the boy altogether.

The second crisis is far more grave and does impact Ralph forever: his mother slips into a coma. Ordinary touching, talking, or other efforts cannot wake her, as Nurse Alice (Jennifer Tilly) tells Ralph again and again. Fitzpatrick does some investigating and realizes Ralph could be sent to a state orphanage should his mother die–there are no grandparents to be found. A classmate, Chester (Michael Kanev), had been forging all of Ralph’s report cards and notes home for years.

Ralph, meanwhile, is scared straight and more attentive in school. In one particular class, he learns about miracles and employs some logical reasoning:

  • Miracles make the impossible happen.
  • It would take a miracle for his mother to wake up.
  • A boy winning the Boston Marathon would be a miracle.
  • Therefore, Ralph is going to train for the Boston Marathon of 1954 in order to wake his mother up.

Ralph tells everyone about his goal; he is frequently met with initial skepticism. Ralph is seen training and preparing though, and the people around him have a change of heart. Ralph has dogged determination and a sense of purpose his life never had before, and it inspires them all. Except Fitzpatrick, of course. Fitzpatrick tells Ralph repeatedly he will not be able to skip school to make the run, he will be expelled for trying, and most importantly, there is nothing Ralph can do to change what’s happening to his mother. He has to grow up and accept limitations. Ralph doesn’t listen and goes to Boston, aware of all the risks but knowing he has to go for it anyway.

I won’t spoil the ending about Ralph’s performance or his mother, just conclude that the ending is very good. Ralph’s story is a smalltown allegory to Joan of Arc’s. Naive optimism is a part of any child’s youth, but it becomes miraculous when it expands the realms of possibility for other people. If you take nothing else away from this great coming of age story, there is that great theme.

This film was written and directed by Toronto’s Michael McGowan. His current project is One Week. Previous projects he wrote and produced include Henry’s World and My Dog Vincent. More information is available at the movie indexes and by using search engines online.

h1

Hi, world! A movieblog with a backward glance has arrived…

August 11, 2008

A post about a film from the recent past will appear here in the next couple days. In honor of the Olympics, it will be a film about sports.