LIFE IS SWEET
A film review by Myra Van Inwegen
Copyright 1992 Myra Van Inwegen
What do you expect of a movie named LIFE IS SWEET? Well, if you're like me, you expect something like a warm look at a happy time in someone's life. Well, that's definitely not what this movie is. A friend remarked, as we walked out of the theater, "Maybe they were thinking of calling it LIFE IS A BITCH." Well, I don't think that would have been an appropriate title either, but we did have a little bit of discussion as to whether it was depressing or not. I'll give my views on this question later.
This is a British movie, starring no one I've heard of before. It covers roughly four days in the life of a working class family consisting of mother, father, and two fraternal twin daughters who are as different at can be. Other players include a man who's always trying to sell the father something, a fellow who's about to open a new restaurant, and one of the daughter's boyfriends. I found the accents of these people a bit hard to understand at times and missed a bit of dialog, but not enough to affect my enjoyment of the movie.
There is no single focus of this movie, no single problem that they all must face. Rather it tells a little story about each character, and we learn about the trials and hopes of each. But it also deals with the family as a whole and how they react with each other and the support or lack thereof that each character receives from the family.
Now, is this a depressing movie? Lots of unpleasant things happen to the family, but we get the feeling that they don't really consider these things depressing. They seem to accept that bad things will come along with the good, and when something bad happens, they just get on with their lives, learning how to cope with it. One feels that this family (at least most of it members) have hope.
The thing I liked most about it is the end of the movie. It didn't really end, it just stopped, and the credits started to roll. At first I was a bit annoyed -- I wanted the movie to go on, I wanted to find out more of what happened to them. But then I realized that that's the way real life is. Problems are really not solved in a day, or even four days, so it is unrealistic to expect to have all the answers by the end of the movie. Instead, one is lead to wonder what happens after the movie ends, and whether each person works for and achieves his or her goals.
Another thing I liked was the look of the film. It had nice rich color and scenes were carefully framed, though the camera work was nothing special.
I liked this movie a great deal, and recommend it even at full price (I, who always see the matinee shows, spent full price for it and was very satisfied).
-Myra myra@saul.cis.upenn.edu
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