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Reviews
Trolösa (2000)
Excellent Morality Tale
An excellent film. It gives you the experience through the characters of infidelity, the glee of romance, and the inevitably carnage it creates. Lena Endre is perfect. The enigmatic Swede that happily orchestrates an affair with one of her good friends, a friend of the family, and her husbands best friend. She thinks it will be fun without any consequences. It's like a willingness to suspend disbelief, or just plain denial that anything could go wrong, or that anyone could be hurt. I must admit, that is the point I simply don't go for. Apart from that, Liv Ullmann does a brilliant job of directing. She has a master's touch for giving the audience enough, but not too much, just enough to keep you absolutely fascinated. The script is obviously very good, by Ingmar Bergman, but Ullmann has improved it dramatically with her alterations and additions. She takes a woman, who has everything and shows what happens when you take it all for granted and greedily take more. Henricksson's character is at least honest about his ability to destroy everything he touches. His character remains the same throughout and loses nothing. It is Marianne who loses the lot, and sorry to say, rightly so. This is a beautifully done morality tale that does not leave out the inevitable damage the children are forced to endure at the hands of their selfish, stupid, lustful parents.
Wetherby (1985)
What a shame.
The cover looks very promising. Unfortunately it fails to deliver despite having an exceptional cast. Incredibly boring and annoying. Had to stop watching it half way through, and I'm a die hard film fan. I am willing to give movies more than a decent chance to prove themselves. Why it fails? the deadly slow pace, the meandering/chopping back and forth between the two plots. The feeling that the movie is going nowhere and will leave you wondering why you bothered. Truly Vanessa Redgrave is always a good bet which is why I chose it, together with the fact that her daughter (Joely Richardson)is in it spurred me on. The premise is a good one, but the lack of momentum is excruciating. Ian Holm, Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, are all playing their roles adequately. What a shame.
Mildred Pierce (2011)
Note Perfect
This is a beautifully adapted work. The tone is spot on. Any single mother watching this will find the relationships between Mildred, her daughters, her ex and her lover realistic and timeless. Mildred is pulled by instinctive forces within her to survive, improve things for her daughters and herself, to protect her family, to have pride in her work, and love in her life. Things that every woman wants. The story was written in 1941 and is as relevant and modern today as it was then. Mildred is just a woman, trying to provide a superior standard of living for her family; her circumstances as a single mother leave her utterly vulnerable to the sharks circling her. These people have their own ideas about how to get their needs met, manipulation and taking advantage of another person's weakness, blackmail vs Mildred's straightforward no-nonsense approach leave her wide open. That and her heart. A real morality tale for the ages, but especially mothers; single or not.