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Tag Archives: grief
EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994) film genres…
My Father was the centre of the family, and everybody tried to please him. My Mother loves me and everything goes well. I have no conflict whith her, so that’s not dramatic. Ang Lee Why was I not offended by … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Ang Lee, classic film, fable, food, grief, love, melodrama, three generations of women, women's friendships
Tagged Ageing, Ageism, daughter, death, family, father/daughter relationships, film reception, FOOD CHINESE, grandmother, grief, grotesque old woman in film, humour, intergeneration, old woman, representation old woman, students and teacher
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Grief and Guilt -The Straight Story and Manchester by the Sea
Again a brief post that does not deal with the representation of old women in feature films but since I wrote about The Straight Story (1999) 5 years ago I will consider Manchester by the Sea (2016). I find I have … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Film Analysis, grief, guilt
Tagged accidental death, brothers, death of children, family, grandfather, grief, guilt, house on fire, image, men's film, nature, nephew, old age, stroke, teenagers, uncle
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FEMINISM, AGEING, AND FILMS
It is bizarre at the age of 81 to have a feeling of deja vu about the experience of seeing a film. And this is the only way I can explain my profound distaste of Chronic. I have tried to … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, care
Tagged Ageing, assisted suicide], carer, caring, death, end of life care, family, feminism, grief, incontinence, old woman, voyeuristic style
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CHRONIC (2015) : ambiguities and control.
I must come back to Chronic. A friend mentioned to me another film directed by Franco: After Lucia. I viewed it immediately and the experience urged me to revisit Chronic and analyse it. I found that the two films … Continue reading
Posted in Film Analysis, FILM RECEPTION
Tagged ambiguities, assisted death, assisted suicide], carer, caring, daughter, death, disability, film genre, film reception, grief, incontinence, long takes, palliative care, point of view, sexual harassment, story and plot, subjective point of view, vomiting
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The Whales of August 3 .
My 4th viewing with a group. Only one of the 7 women present had seen the film before and her comment was very interesting. The first time was at the BFI/U3A study day event 10 years ago. I found it … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, FILM RECEPTION
Tagged Ageing, Bette Davis, blindness, death, film reception, friendship, grief, Lillian Gish, Lindsay Anderson, memories, representation old woman, sisters, white hair
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Ballad of Narayama (1958)
I had written about this film exactly three years ago and seeing it again proved to be as fascinating. I had shown it to the film group of the time but did not record responses. The membership of the film group … Continue reading
LA VIEILLE FEMME INDIGNE (1965)
Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. Bertolt Brecht. When I decided to look at the representation of the old woman in films for my MA in 1997 I thought I would … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Film Analysis
Tagged age and society, Ageing, Ageism, Allio, Bertolt Brecht, change, death, family, friendship, grandmother, grief, housewife, intergeneration, mother and son, motherhood, old woman, realism, representation old woman, sons and mothers, widow, wrinkles
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THE WINTER GUEST (film reception)
Ever since I compared film critics’ and a group of older women’s views of Le Chat* I have been interested in the way people react to films. Why are some elements of the film not perceived, or registered and what is … Continue reading
THE WINTER GUEST: PHYLLIDA LAW AND EMMA THOMPSON. On women friendships
In my previous post I noted that it might be rewarding to examine Mother Elspeth (Phyllida Law) and Daughter Frances’ (Emma Thompson) story in The Winter Guest. The task of tracing their narrative in this crazily edited puzzle was very … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, anger, caring, daughter, death, editing, Emma Thompson, film reception, friendship, grief, jump cuts, mother, mother/daughter, Phyllida Law, script and cinematography, women friendships
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THE WINTER GUEST (1997) – FUNERALS.
At the age of 80 I find I am attending funerals quite often and at the last one it occurred to me how like a performance the rituals are.(see http://www.ageingageismdiary.wordpress.com). Funerals in films are very common. In thrillers, the detectives … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, burial, cinematography, close ups, complex narrative structure, consciousness of mortality], cremation, death, friendship, frozen sea, funeral as performance, funerals, grief, jump cuts, mother, mourning, pan, perception in films, winter location
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THE OTHERNESS OF THE OLD WOMAN Take 3
Old woman as ‘other’ and films In my blog of Nov. 2009 I wrote: When I first started to show films featuring women of 60 years and over to my contemporaries, I was 63. Some of the women in the … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Conferences and comments
Tagged Ageing, carer, film reception, grandmother, grief, other, representation old woman, teenager
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BABOUSSIA (2003) self sacrificing great grandmother
I have used italics for film quotes and bold italics for director’s quotes mainly from http://www.kinoglaz.fr/u_fiche_film.php?num=60 in French or the extras from the DVD. I have used the spelling of Baboussia used on the DVD cover but there are different … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, carer, caring, daughter, director's comment, family, family and war, grandmother, great-granddaughter, grief, intergeneration, mother, mother/daughter, passive old woman, representation old woman, rural/urban, Russia, self sacrificing old woman
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SINCE OTAR LEFT… (2003) or Women’s Lives.
“Pour moi qui suis issue d’un univers familial plutôt matriarcal, je pouvais y mettre beaucoup de ma propre vie, parler des rapports mère-filles qui m’ont structuré ou destructuré…” What made me choose this film for our October film group session? … Continue reading
ANTONIA’S LINE – Antidote to sexism.
For our film group this month I chose Antonia’s Line (1995). Why did I pick this film from my collection? Three reasons spring to mind. In a new book about ageing: Lynn Segal’s ‘Out of Time, the Pleasures and Perils of … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Film Analysis
Tagged A question of silence, Ageing, anger, british comedies, daughter, death, disability, extended family, family, feminism, friendship, Gorris, grandmother, great-granddaughter, grief, old woman, utopia, violence, war
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SOUS LE SABLE (UNDER THE SAND)
A little while ago Under the Sand (2000) was considered for screening at an event on ageing. I had excluded it from my blog and film group list because Charlotte Rampling was 54 years old when Ozon shot this mystery … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing, Ageism, Film Analysis
Tagged Ageing, Ageism, daughter-in-law, death, disappearance., grief, haptic frame, Haptic turn, loss, mother-in-law, Ozon, wrinkles
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DEPARTURES (2008)
SEE ALSO UNDER ‘RESOURCES’ FOR FILM GROUP COMMENTS It always surprises me how a film is dismissed when people rely on their favourite reviewer’s opinions based on one viewing. Departures won the 2009 Oscar for best foreign film. Few of … Continue reading
Posted in Film Analysis
Tagged absent father, corpse, death, death rituals, encoffinment, grandfather, grandmother, grief, Japan, mother, oscars, rebellious youth, unclean
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The Imposter and the Mother between Grief and Guilt
The Imposter elicits amazement at the story and praise at the way the director tells the story. At the heart of this dramatised documentary is the incredible fact that a mother and sister are fooled into accepting a serial imposter … Continue reading
Posted in Ageing
Tagged Bourdin, daughter, documentary, family, grandmother, grief, guilt, imposter, interviews, mother and son, old woman, representation old woman, siblings, teenager
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The Tree of Life
It is not fair to comment on a complex film generally without studying it in detail but I feel compelled to write about Malick’s The Tree of Life. The film evoked in me deep emotions but also deep alienation. One … Continue reading
Tagged death, family, grief, loss, mother, sons and mothers
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Old Age and Feature Films 
STILL WALKING (2008)
Still Walking (2008) As with some family reunions, my second viewing of Still Walking was quite painful. I saw it at home with a cousin with whom I had shared family reunions in my youth. Her general comment was: there … Continue reading →