directed by Robert Benton
Classic for today. Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman, a popular novel and an even more popular film. Cannot be bad, right? And it isn’t. I was trying to watch it 3 times. Somehow the topic of the story wasn’t appealing, despite the couple of fantastic actors. Perhaps it’s good I’d waited with it because this production requires a specific mood and concentration from the viewer. It just seems like a simple story, but when you focus enough, you may see much more than just two people arguing. So the story goes like this: Joanna (Meryl Streep) and Ted (Dustin Hoffman) are a young married couple with a small son Billy (Justin Henry). At first everything seems fine, they’re just a regular family. One day Joanna informs Ted that she’s leaving him and Billy, because she wants “to find herself”. The man, neglecting work, needs to devote himself to the child. They don’t really tolerate one another that much, because Billy is used to being with mommy and Ted is used to be a workaholic, not a babysitter. After several months they finally create a great father-son connection and then… then Joanna comes back saying she’s ready to take care of Billy again. Simple? For us perhaps yes. But back then it was a quite controversial film. First of all, it’s about a divorce, which used to be more of a taboo topic. Now people get married and divorced during the same weekend, but before it was considered as a social catastrophe. We also have the character of Billy, who is a child that’s being treated like a doll, so it emphasises the problem of not focusing on the offspring of a divorcing couple. Then there’s the topic of gender inequality in a sense. Joanna, a woman, a mother – she should always stay at home and make sure her family is fine. But no, she runs away just like that. And Ted, a man – he should be working and not taking care of children at home. Suddenly those perfect female and male worlds get destroyed. There’s no longer a mother and a father. There are parents who can behave completely different from what we’re familiar with. After 40 years, this film may still shock some of you, even if you’re used to the reality where after “happily ever after” there’s a child and divorce and another marriage, another child, another divorce etc. You may also reflect a lot about who is the good or the bad one in this relationship. Or are they really? A huge bowl of food for thought. And I think one of my favourite roles of Meryl Streep.
My rating: 8/10
S.
I have nothing to watch 