THE TENTH MONTH
US, 1979, 123 minutes, Colour.
Carol Burnett, Keith Michel, Dina Merrill, Cristina Raines.
Directed by Joan Tewkesbury.
The Tenth Month has the ingredients of soap opera but is given lavish television movie treatment and a long running time. It is also a star vehicle for Carol Burnett, rather serious in comparison with her television comedy roles. However, during the 1970s and 1980s, Carol Burnett made the transition to cinema films and made such interesting films as Pete and Tillie, The Front Page.
She plays a woman who becomes pregnant to a travelling pianist, played by Keith Michell. The dilemmas of the pregnancy are brought to bear in the film and it raises the serious issues of abortion.
The other women in the film, some pregnant, others giving advice, provide a range of reflection on the nature of pregnancy, motherhood, the unwanted pregnancy, having to deal with a real situation, coping and not coping, the possibilities of termination. To this extent, the film offers a great deal for reflection.
The film was based on a novel by Laura Z. Hobson, best known for her novel of Gentleman’s Agreement, the Oscar-winning film of 1947. The film was written and directed by Joan Tewkesbury, a writer in the 1970s for Robert Altman with Thieves Like Us and Nashville. With Old Boyfriends, she began to direct, mainly working in television.
1. Entertaining? Impact? Quality drama? Drawing of characters? Exploration of issues?
2. A telemovie for home audiences? Appreciation, sympathy, understanding? Telemovie style? Joan Tewkesbury and her writing, direction? The feminine sensibility? Carol Burnett's performance? Relationships between men and women? Dignity, respect, love? Equality? Difference?
3. The aspects of New York, atmosphere? Affluent society? Music, Carnegie Hall and the classics? Harlem and Mrs. Figueroa?
4. The focus on Dori and the audience experiencing her situations with her, seeing people with her? Views, judgments? The woman's viewpoint, feminist viewpoint? Relationships and affairs? Pregnancy, abortion? Responsibility?
5. The structure of the film: on each character, the focus on Dori, the intertwining of the characters and situations? Importance of music? Editing and pace, dramatic contrasts?
6. Carol Burnett's presence and skill in the portrayal of Dori? Marriage, work, pregnancy and abortion? The concert - Townsend, Poole?
7. Poole in himself? Response, arrival, following? Her reaction? Talk, affection, love? The carry-through? Poole's wife, seeing the children? Dori’s pregnancy and the impossibility of telling? The telling and the reaction? Her joy, delirious - not he?
8. The visit: the doctor, pregnancy, reaction? The brother and Ellen? Cele? The tests (and Ellen's reaction)? Views on pregnancy, the past, longing, responsibility? Fatherhood? Poole? Preparation for the birth? Job?
9. The background of Harlem: the tour, other visits, settling in, Mrs. Figueroa and her sympathy, her daughter, not telling? The toughs of the neighbourhood? Dori at home? Poole's visits? Cele? The party?
10. The contribution of the sub-plot: Nancy, sister, the abortion. demonstration? Nancy's miscarriage? Effect on Dori? Law and women?
11. Poole and the apology? The presence at birth? Possibilities?
12. The visual presentation of the birth? Its hardness? Dori? Reaction? The effect on those present - and their contribution?
13. The party? Staying at Mrs Figueroa's?
14. Cele as friend? Character, help with Dori? The nature of the bonds? With Poole?
15. The clash with Poole? The belief about the father? The end and the finale?
16. The significance of the title? An authentic New York story? Understanding of individuals, relationships? Love? Pregnancy, abortion? Birth, adoption? Issues of morality, conscience, humanity. law?
