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Tag Archives: Ageing
THE WHALES OF AUGUST (1987)
At the 2006 U3A/NFT Older Women in Films Study Day the focus film was The Whales of August. The film at the time was not available on DVD or Video but the film group had watched a copy from the TV. … Continue reading
Posted in Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, blindness, braille reading, carer, caring, cataracts., death, disability, friendship, hearing aid., linear and circular time, lined faces, looks, low and high tides, moonshine, nature, representation old woman, sea, sisterhood, sisters, stroke, whales, white hair, wrinkles
2 Comments
Baghban (The Gardener – 2003)
66 years later than Make Way For Tomorrow and 50 years later than TS, Baghban (2003) treats the same subject of the generation gap in a changing world. But in contrast to both MWT and TS Poojah the old woman … Continue reading
THE OLD WOMAN IN ‘MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW’ AND ‘TOKYO STORY’
The film group is on holiday so I can come back to my three years old project. This is to consider the old woman in two classic films with the same story. For there is no magic that will draw … Continue reading
IN THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS take 3
The theme of the Penzance Literature Festival was Vision. I was delighted to be invited to give an alternative vision of old women in film. I chose The Company of Strangers. ( I prefer to use the Canadian original title … Continue reading
CINEMA LE GRAND AGE D’OR
At long last an informed and researched article about ageing and films in the general press albeit in the French le Monde. Jacques Mandelbaum, journalist and film critic whose articles are sometimes published in The Guardian, writes about ageing and … Continue reading
THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS, STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY (1990)
Written in 2007 We usually analyze a film because it is intriguing. Indeed this film intrigued me. The first time I saw it I was dealing with a father deep in the nightmare of dementia and a mother immobilized by … Continue reading
Posted in Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, contemplation, cooperation, death, feminist approach, friendship, group of old women, group solidarity, serenity, time
4 Comments
MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937)
La cohabitation n’a jamais fait de bien à personne. (my mother) Life flies past us so swiftly that few of us pause to consider those who have lost the tempo of today. Their laughter and their tears we do not even … Continue reading
BELIEVE ME THE IMAGE IS MORE THAN IT APPEARS. (Ovid-Heroids)
I was chuffed last week when I was asked to take part in a project about the representation of old women. The researcher was not the usual young academic looking at old women from an ‘objective’ point of view, not … Continue reading
QUARTET (2012)
SEE ALSO UNDER ‘RESOURCES’ THE FILM GROUP RESPONSES When I first saw Quartet at the London Film Festival I was as enthralled as the whole audience. We left the cinema with smiles on our faces. There were so many pleasures … Continue reading
Posted in Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, amour, best exotic marigold hotel, care home, caring, friendship, intergeneration, La Traviata, music, musicians, opera, Quartet, representation old woman, retirement home, Rigoletto, verdi
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AMOUR – QUESTIONS
ALSO SEE UNDER FILM GROUP PAGE THE RESPONSES OF THE FILM GROUP Two people have said to me: your blog is about the representation of old women and yet you do not address this in the one about Amour. This is true. … Continue reading
Posted in Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, Ageism, carer, caring, co- housing, daughter, death, family, film reception, Haneke, looks, old woman, oscars, representation old woman
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What is old age conference: Margaret Rutherford, Haptic Turn
I feel privileged to have attended the interdisciplinary conference ” What is old age? New perspectives from the Humanities” organised by the University of Warwick on February 23rd. 2013 ; Two keynotes addresses and 8 panels. The only frustration was … Continue reading
BALLAD OF NARAYAMA (1958) and AGEWISE
I was rereading chapter 1 of Margaret Morganroth Gullette’s book AGEWISE : The Eskimo On the Ice Floe. At the back of my mind lurked vague thoughts about a film group. I decided to revisit The Ballad of Narayama which has the same theme as the Eskimo … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Film Analysis
Tagged abandonment, Ageing, Ageism, Agewise., caring, death, folk myth, Gullette, Imamura, intergeneration, Kinoshita, mother and son, obasute, old woman, otherness, ritual
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Ageing and Film Guide, Older Women in Film Group
I am taking the plunge and starting work on my ‘Women, Ageing and Films Guide’. I have an extended knowledge of the filmography and have led enough workshops about the subject to have material to share. This is a long-term … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Conferences and comments
Tagged Ageing, amour, death, film guide, film reception, friendship, women's group
6 Comments
The Mother (2003) and staging age
I am back from holidays. I like doing my serious reading when there are no interruptions of trivial chores, visits to the doctor, hospital, podiatrist, optician and hearing specialist or social and family activities. After my post on The Mother, … Continue reading
Posted in Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, Ageism, daughter, family, framing, grandmother, Kaplan, Kureishi. Michell, mother/daughter, Older Feminist Network, staging age, unconscious framing
3 Comments
Me, Ageing and Films
It is the end of the year and I am entering my 79th year. Time to stop and consider. ‘Archbishop of Canterbury criticises contempt and abuse of elderly people. Rowan Williams uses final Lords speech to warn of damaging … Continue reading
Haneke’s Amour
I have delayed writing about Amour. Of all the films I have ever seen Amour is the one that has touched me the deepest in my intimate world. I have in the last few years witnessed the slow physical and mental decline and … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing
Tagged Ageing, amour, carer, caring, Haneke, mental disability, separation
8 Comments
Ageing and Bond OO7
I was told that in Skyfall the last Bond film Judy Dench has the role of a powerful old woman, M boss of MI6. I am still reeling from the excess of explosions, dead bodies, train, cars and helicopter crashes … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, Bond, escapism, Judy Dench, M, OO7, Skyfall
4 Comments
Films and demographic changes.
I thought my days of getting angry were over. Not so. I broke my vow of remaining silent in public meetings and spoke out in anger stunning the audience and the panel. It was at the annual Pensioners Forum for … Continue reading
Hope Springs: Instruction video
My motivation for studying films when I retired was my fascination with the difference of opinions and the heated debates about certain films I experienced during my compulsive film going teens. Now, after 57 years of seeing films, reading reviews … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Ageism
Tagged Ageing, comedies, counselling, hope springs, late bloomers, Meryl Streep, old couple, old feminist, sex therapy
3 Comments
56th BFI London Film Festival and ageing.
Have things changed? 15 years ago when I started work on the representation of the old woman in films I was told (see ‘why this blog’ page) ‘who is interested in old women?’ Since then, at every London Film Festival … Continue reading
Age Spots and Spotlights: Celebrity, Ageing and Performance
An interesting research symposium “Age Spots and Spotlights: Celebrity, Ageing and Performance”. http://agespotsandspotlights.blogspot.com/ I was so pleased to have been invited (on the strength of my blog) by one of the organisers Dr. Deborah Jermyn. Before going to the event … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing
Tagged actors, Ageing, ageing voice, Ageism, celebrities, celebrity culture, cosmetic surgery, grotesque old woman in film, looks, mask of age, media, representation old woman
3 Comments
Old Age and Feature Films 
Have times changed in Hollywood?
Today Pamela Scully tweets “Hollywood ‘Still Refuses to Let Actresses Age at all’ and gives this blog address: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/09/19/wrinkle-washed-female-faces-in-film-marketing/ In this blog Doug Barry writes about Susan Sontag and quotes her. “The Double Standard of Aging” was published in The Saturday … Continue reading →