Two great mysteries: death and parents
One True Thing A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1998 By Michael Redman
***1/2 (Out of ****)
Removing masks may be the most difficult thing we can do. We all wear them and many of our relationships are mask to mask rather than human being to human being. They make life easier. It's much simpler to deal with most of the people you encounter during the day as personas and not people.
The danger is when we treat our lovers, close friends and other intimate relationships as their roles, ignoring the reality of the individual. Perhaps the most difficult barrier to break through is that between parents and children. These stereotypes are formed so early in life that it's tough for parents to see their grown children as entities separate from themselves. For an offspring to view their parents as something other than "Mommy" and "Daddy" takes a lot of work.
When Ellen Gulden (Renee Zellweger) returns to her small town home, the masks start to slip a bit. Although she easily falls into old childhood patterns desperate for her father's approval and disdaining her mother's homemaking, real people slowly appear.
Father George (William Hurt), a professor of American Literature, is a cold perfectionist. Mother Kate (Meryl Streep), a Martha Stewart clone, devotes her life to her women's group, the "Minnies", decorating the town for every available holiday. Daughter Ellen is an investigative reporter for "New York" magazine without a moment to spare.
That's who they are and that's who they remain until Kate discovers that she is dying of cancer. Then the old model falls apart. Everyone's armor develops chinks and begins to dissolve as they deal with real life. Ellen starts to come to grips with her anger at her father and her embarrassment for her mother when they emerge from their archetypes.
The film is slow at first, but director Carl Franklin ("Devil In A Blue Dress" seems to have crafted it that way so we can appreciate the characters' evolution. His choice of presenting the story as a flashback from a scene of Ellen being questioned about her mother's death is less successful. The framing scenes are supposed to present a mystery but it is a minor one and not worth the plot details that are given away.
Streep couldn't be better and that should come as no surprise. As Kate slowly succumbs to her disease, her transformation is astounding. An Oscar nomination would be in order. This is Hurt's best performance in a long time, more than making up for his unfortunate Professor Robinson in "Lost In Space". Although Zellweger's teary-eyed hurt and angry little girl is tedious occasionally, she hits the role right on target more often than not.
A few characters appear to have little purpose. Ellen's brother and her on-again, off-again boyfriend do little for the story. Her New York friend who visits a few times has an intriguing screen presence but is only seen for a few minutes. We are left to wonder why these people exist.
The same is true of the subplot concerning Ellen's attempts to track down a political story. These scenes could have been eliminated without affecting the film at all.
Meryl Streep films are often not fun. This is no exception. It's real, it's poignant, it's instructive, but it's certainly not pleasant. And it's not supposed to be. Great art isn't always a frolic in the sunshine, but it is always worthwhile. If this motivates us to lose those masks for a little while, it will have done its job. Maybe it's time to give Mom and Dad a call.
(Michael Redman as written this column for over 23 years and would like to state for the record that he also didn't have sexual relations with "that woman" as defined by the legal description. He would like to volunteer himself as a witness to the fact that he did not observe Bill Clinton engaging in sex with Monica Lewinsky during the deposition in the present tense while they were or were not alone. Email a more exciting tale to Redman@indepen.com.)
[This appeared in the 9/24/98 "Bloomington Independent", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at Redman@indepen.com]
-- mailto:redman@indepen.com This week's film review at http://www.indepen.com/ Film reviews archive at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Michael%20Redman
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