tuesday, October 21, 1980
page 8
daily nebraskan
'Ordinary
By Pete Schmitz and
Jennifer Bauman
Schmitz: Ordinary People. Robert Red
ford's directorial debut about the dark
side of the upper middle class family
life, is one of this year's best-made
films. But I left the theatre feeling angry
despite the movie's splendid acting,
artful photography , and sensitive musi
cal score.
The problem with Ordinary People
is its story. While it is refreshing to see
Conrad overcome his suicidal tendon- -cies
(sternming from his inability to
cope with the death of his brother who
drowned while they were out sailingX
I was distressed by the subtle blame
put on the boy's mother for many of
his problems.
Peopl
'e 'examines family relationships
Mutton. One gets the impression that
Buck metaphorically drowns in his
mother's loving indulgence, while Con
rad is driven to the double edged blades,
him that cuts into his heart.
I'm not claiming that everything is
blamed on Beth. Indeed, Conrad must
deal with insensitive school chums as
well as a pushy swimming coach. We
even witness Donald Sutherland, as the
father, bumbling awkwardly with his
son early in the movie.
But why are the father and son al
lowed to grow while the mother is not?
If the family's problems are not blamed
mainly on the mother, then why does
the script become so focused on her
psychopathology? And why are Beth's
emotional shortcomings merely explain
ed by her mother's rigidity?
What most depresses me is that blam
ing mothers in film ignores the social
factors thaf make them and their fam
ilies miserable. Ordinary People ends
with the father and son together, but
in corporate suburbia America, it's
going to take more than a hipster psy
chiatrist and Beth's absence to help
Conrad and his father.
Dauman- momjsin manifest in
Ordinary People arises mainly from the
film's conclusion. Up to that time,
there are attempts to show Beth as a
victim rather than a villain.
Beth's emotional distance, her em
phasis on keeping up appearances at
the expense of honesty and affection
in the family, are easy to understand
after seeing her peers. Beth and these
other corporate wives are highly sus
ceptible to the dictates of Madison
The problem with "momism" in
American movies is nothing new.
What is different is that before the
70's moms were portrayed as domin
eering, over-protective, love-starved
martyrs.
After social scientists and artists
made it clear to mothers that they
should lay off their kids and develop
their own interests, the cinema pro
vided us with a new kind of mother
who is cold, detached, and unashamedly
selfish.
This is examplified by Jane Fonda in
California Suite Geraldine Page in In
terior and Ingrid Bergman in Autumn
Sonata. In Lwtay M Ctayburgh's char
acter represents both the indulgent and
aloof mother. In Ordinary People , Beth
(portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore), is
given this same kind of double-maternal
exposure.
In the flashbacks, Beth's warm and
seductive manners toward Buck, the
dead son, are contrasted to her coldness
toward Conrad, portrayed by Timothy
Allen's lutes
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Donald Sutherland portrays the father of a suicidal son, Timothy Hutton. in the
movie Ordinary People, also starring Mary Tyler Mow. The film was directed by
Robert Redford.
Avenue, and tnetr compuance wan
consumer trends are some tunes im
portant to their husband's success.
When Calvin tells Beth that the
way to deal with a difficult repairman
is to "charm him," it is clear that her
husband has learned to rely on Beth's
attractiveness and her social finesse to
solve problems. Cultivating appearances
has become the focus of Beth's life.
Though none of this particularly
endears Beth to us, it helps exonerate
her. But late in the film, when Conrad
hugs Beth, and she is so emotionally
impotent that she cannot respond at
all, she suddenly seems more like a
caricature than a real person. This last
portion of the film completely de
stroys the three-dimensional character
that Moore builds with her fine perfor
mance. xcept for the unfortunate resolu
tion, Ordinary People really is not out
to pin the blame on anyone. It is shown
that Conrad's problems come within,
and the solutions, likewise, must come
from him. Conrad's initiative ui tacKUng
his anxieties makes a positive statement
about adolescence. It's too bad that die
R rating of the film (on the basis of a
few four-letter words) will keep some
teenagers from seeing Ordinary People.
Hutton, Moore, and Sutherland por
tray the Jarretts with skill and restraint.
The role of Conrad's analyst (Judd
Hirsch) could be dismissed as a trite
stereotype were it not for the spark be
tween Hutton and Hirsch that gives life
to their sessions.
hi a film, which much of the inter
action comes from repressed gestures
and glances, details are important. And
, these actors all capably handle the diffi
cult job of fleshing out their characters
in the time available to them.
Somehow the film implies that we
will be astounded that sometimes
affluents WASPs are unhappy. But this
myth has been debunked long ago.
By Tom Prentiss
Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, is
an artistically different work than previ
ous Allen films. While piercingly funny
in parts, this message-laden film is a
thought-provoking view of the world
and Woody Allen through Woody him
self. While the humor in the film will be
apparent to those past the level of "The
Dukes of Hazzard," the mcssages
although clear to identify -are far more
challenging to answer.
t movie piercingly funny9 but
senous
u
Ul
Stardust Memories requires more
mental capacity from the audience than
the usual vapid films and it does offer
an interesting glimpse into the mind of a
film genius.
In some respects, Stardust Memories
is a personal purge of sorts as Allen
lashes out through his character, Sandy
Bates, at injustices and absurdities a
round him. Yet, he saves his most pain
ful lashing for his easiest targeMiim
self. As Bates, Allen has created a charac
ter in his own image. Bates is a critically,
acclaimed filmmaker and comedian. He
is caught up in the paradox of being a
comic genius who is. adored by his
public but finds little enjoyment any.
mow out of being funny in a world
wrought with human suffering.
Throughout the film, Bates is search
ing Although his forte is comedy, he
chastises others for closing their eyes to
reality and not concerning themselves
with the misfortunes of others.
Allen portrays Bates as a realist m a
world of people willing to laugh t any.
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Sandy Bates, played by Woody Allen, discusses running away with Daisy played
by Jessica Harper, in Allen's new moy'teStardust Memories.
thins. A Drooosed musical comedv on
the Guyana mass suicides forces the
audience to wonder if comedy some
times violates its poetic license.
He judges his life's worth to be para
sitic. He lives off the laughs he evokes,
but offers nothing of any substance to
those who are troubled, Fminy jokes are
not enoush.
In the midst of his artistic metamor
phosis, Bates must attend a weekend
film festival of his works. There he is
besieged by fans, cultists. and informed
and uninformed film afficiandos. The
latter set includes a woman who has jus;
completed the lefinitive cinematic
study of Cummo Marx
As with all Allen films, Stardust
Memories comes complete with the
complex, psychological relationships
with women mat few can depict as well
as Allen.
Bates is having an affair with Isabel, a
mature, married French woman with
two children, played by Marie Christine
Baxrault, Despite her visits during the
film festival weekend, Bates becomes
smitten by a girl named Daisy who
reminds him of an old flame-Dorrie.
Daisy, played effortlessly by Jessica
Harper, is a concert cellist. Dorrie, in a
haunting performance by Charlotte
Rampling, is cast as the designated fe
male neurotic no Allen film is complete
without. But, credit Allen with creating
Dorrie as more complex than previous
female characters.
Students of cinema will notice the
heavy influence of Ingmar Bergman in
the film -including an intensely gripping
scene of Bates' last visit with Dorrie.
Although content with his relation
ship with Isabel, Bates longs for Daisy
because of memories that she evokes
within him for Dorrie. Again, Allen
shows the intricacies and frailties of
human relationships in stark realism.
Allen has always been preoccupied
with sex, religion and death and concen
trates on the latter the most.
Bates informs us that only when
death becomes a reality do we begin to
understand the meaning of life. For
Bates this meaning is represented in a
stunningly, simple scene with Donie.
With Dorrie lying on the apartment
floor glancing through the New York
Times, and Louis Armstrong playing
"Stardust" in the background, Bates
finds something he has been searching
for.
This simple message of human com
munication is, perhaps, the most satisfy,
ing part of the film.
Gordon Willis' black and white
cinematogrophy is again as superb as
it was in Manhattan. Some will be irri
tated by the lack of color, but the deli
cate lighting effects Allen sought would
have been unobtainable otherwise.
Although Stardust Memories is a film
of Woody Allen, by Woody Allen, it
doesnt necessarily appeal only to
Woody ADen. Those who have criti
cized it as excessively self-indulgent
have missed the universal appeal in
many of its messages.
While it is possible to miss some of
AUen's humor, in Stardust Memories,
Allen asks serious questions behind a
comic mask that should provoke some
thought from the attentive viewer.
Stardust Memories is playing at the
aiuou tueaire.