STILL MINE

Canada, 2012.
James Cromwell, Genevieve Bujold, Campbell Scott, Julie Stewart.
Directed by Michael Mc Gowan.

Still Mine is a film about aging and mental deterioration. It is a film which will resonate very strongly with older audiences and also with those in their forties fifties and sixties who are thinking about their parents and what the future will bring for them. However, this is a film of strength and hope.

It is based on a true story, set in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. The location photography brings the town and of the surrounding countryside to life.

Central to the film is the character of Craig Morrison, played with great strength and determination by James Cromwell, who, after his turn as Farmer Hoggart in Babe, has appeared in many strong roles, a fine screen presence. As his wife, Irene, Canadian actress Genevieve Bujold, who in the past played Anne of the Thousand Days, gives a wonderful, unglamorous performance, slowly losing her memory, trying to cope with this, supportive of her husband as he is of her. In the story, they have been married for 61 years and have seven children, the story of their marriage told with delicacy, with intimacy.

The Canadian economy is in decline. Craig has to sell his cattle. He grows strawberries but they are rejected because they are not brought to the depot in un-refrigerated trucks. Because the family house has been so big, he decides to build a new one for Irene and himself. It is here where the difficulties really start. He relies on his own ability, learned from his father, his knowledge of lumber and cutting down trees and making planks to build the house. Suddenly, he is forbidden to build. He doesn’t have a permit, then he doesn’t have plans, then his wood is not stamped with approval. There is a threat to have the place bulldozed and he eventually goes to court. The bureaucracy tells him that he is disobeying rules. He makes the distinction between rules and standards and that his work is above standard..

Craig he is helped by one of his sons and is constantly advised by one of his daughters, a mixture of both Craig and Irene. When Irene is hospitalized, there is greater concern.

The audience is certainly on Craig’s side, even though we know he is a strong and stubborn man and needs to make some kind of compromise. It is when a friend with whom he has been sparring for many years dies and he weeps, we realize that he has great tenderness and that he has shown it to his wife for all the years.

Some commentators have made the link between Still Mine and L’ Amour. The latter Oscar-winning film was intense, confined to the house, focusing on the couple and Alzheimers, with an intrusion by a zealous daughter. While it showed the great love and tenderness, and the stress on the husband, as Still Mine does, it does not have the scope of the down-to-earthness and hope that this Canadian film does. At the end, there is a credit to the Morrison family and indication that both Craig and Irene were still living at the time of the films initial release. He was 91.


1. A portrait of ageing? Based on a true story? The collaboration of the family?

2. The title, for Craig, for Irene? The spouse, the land, the house, life and dignity?

3. Canadian production, settings, New Brunswick, the farm, the land, the vistas, the roads, the buying and the water, the town, offices, the court? The musical score?

4. Comparisons with other films about age, ageing, I was a nurse?

5. The opening, Craig in court, bulldozing in the house, the law, the prospect of bulldozing? Initiating the flashback?

6. A story told in flashback? Craig and Irene and their story? 61 years of marriage, meeting, the dance, a tipsy, Craig sick on irene’s sister? The bond between the two, the marriage, memories of the honeymoon, love, intimacy? Seven children? Craig and his work, instructed by his father, his respect for his father? Helping Chester in 1973? Sparring with Chester? Age, into the eighties? A good man, tough and stubborn?

7. Irene and her age, love for her husband, not looking glamorous? Beginning to forget, burning things on the star, asking questions, becoming more braid, repetitions, Craig and his upset reactions? Yet apologizing and caring? Even cooking?

8. Driving, the cattle, having to get rid of them, buying the milk from Ruthie, the strawberries, the Peking, taking them to the agent, their being rejected the course not brought in a frozen container? Giving the strawberries away on people’s porches? The farm going down? The decision to build the house?, Irene’s reaction, consent, not wanting to move until necessary? John, helping with the excavation? Craig and his going into the forest, cutting down the tree, trading it, cutting it in his workshop, his knowledge of lumber? The tools and the workshop? His abilities?

9. The issues of bureaucracy, the notice, the need for a permit, his going to the office, his tangles with the official, the official and his lack of practical experience? The need for a stamp on the board, the approval of the joists and the joins? The need for plans? His grandson, the engineer, the willing to do the plans, the details? Craig and the little boy, discussions about A age, his coming to help with the measuring? Cravatt and his speech about his father, his abilities? The issue of rules and the law? The various visits, prospective prosecution? Craig being servant? His visits to his lawyer, the discussions, the advice, the lawyer admitting his mistakes, granting in a grant of land?

10. Irene, her deterioration, with these concern, discussions with her father, with john? Yet the bond, the memories, cont sexual intimacy, her needs, support, the prospect of the house, her falling down the stairs, in hospital, later wandering to the beach, in the car, the cold, Craig and draining her inside, her tripping over the shoe, hospital, surgery, rehabilitation? The funeral sequences, her presence, comforting Maggie, in the wheelchair? Her strong character?

11. Ruthie, strong character, with her father, turn and write her father, worried about her mother, her own life and work?

12. John, his work, friendship with his father, talk, support, the experience of ange?

13. The phone call, the journalist, the interviews, the fact that Chester had urged him to ring, the articles in the paper?

14. Just as death, Craig weeping in the church?

15. The court sequence, Craig speech about baseball, but the difference between rules and standards? His being prepared to go to jail? His speech about his wife?

16. Going to the house, the newspaper article, the complete house?

17. The final information about Craig and Irene, age, going into the house?

18. A film about experience and wisdom, age and deterioration, the emotional response of the audience as well as of understanding of the problems of age?