THE SPRING

US, 2000, 90 minutes, Colour.
Kyle Mac Lachlan, Alison Eastwood, Joseph Cross.
Directed by David Jackson.

The Spring is a telemovie based on a novel by Clifford Irving. It is a variation on the Stepford Wives theme except that the inhabitants of Springville have eternal life because of the spring outside their town. However, the pact among the citizens is that they will keep the secret but will live only to one hundred and die on the first light of their hundredth birthday.

Into this town, by accident, come a widower and his young son (Kyle Mac Lachlan and Joseph Cross – who starred in M. Night Shayamalan’s Wide Awake. After the son has an accident and is confined to the hospital, the father discovers the secret of the town, especially through the ministrations of the attractive doctor. She turns out to be ninety-six and has a son who died in World War II. This provides a dilemma for the father, who is looked upon with great suspicion by the sheriff and other members of the town. He applies to become a citizen and keep the secret. However, he is unable to help his friend Gus to finish his life on his hundredth birthday and there is a shoot-out with the sheriff being injured and being taken to the spring to heal. His is allowed to leave the town. His young son, however, had never wished to stay.

The film is a slight by interesting imagination of what it would be like to have eternal youth – at least to the age of one hundred.

1. The plausibility of the plot? A spring with healing powers? Eternal life? The pact of the town, the death at the age of one hundred?

2. The settings, the open road, the woods, the spring, the town and its life, hospital, sheriff, diner etc? Musical score?

3. The title, the focus on the spring, the town of Springville?

4. The introduction to Denis Conway and Nick, the family background, their going on holidays together? Nick wanting to drive? The almost-accident, the encounter with the Lovells, their hurry to get away after their car was pulled out of the mud? Their leaving behind the tools, father and son deciding to return them?

5. The arrival in Springville, the sense of puzzle, the audience having seen the Lovells and their anxiety, their drinking the water, their ageing? The irony that they wanted to live on beyond one hundred? Their being taken by the sheriff? Their deaths?

6. The sheriff and his suspicions, the interrogation of Denis? Wanting him to move on? The lack of petrol, staying the night? At the diner? The logging truck, the accident with the logs, Nick’s leg being crushed, his going to the hospital? Sophie looking after him?

7. The inhabitants of the town, the sheriff and his being in control, his assistant? The mayor? The Lovells and their son? Denis and his questions, Emma and the diner, her kindness, the mystery of the car? His going jogging, the sheriff taking him from the spring? His visits to the hospital, the attraction towards Sophie? Using her phone, seeing the photos, the telegram, discovering the secret, his discussions with her and her explanation?

8. Nick, his being looked after in hospital, his friendship with the skateboard boy? His recovery, the discovery of the truth, going to the spring and his injuries being healed? His father wanting to stay, his not wanting to stay because of his friends in New York? The father as the grieving widower? His application to the council, the hearing, Sophie’s plea, his explanation, the conditional acceptance?

9. His friendship with Gus, discovering Gus’s relationship with Sophie, his age, Gus and his drowning his school friend? His reaching his hundredth birthday, the friendship with Denis, allowing himself to grow old in the final days, the celebration of the birthday party, the town council forcing Denis to drown Gus, his inability to do it? The confrontation, the children watching, the shoot-out with the sheriff, going to the spring, the sheriff being healed?

10. Denis and Nick, their being allowed to leave, the farewell to Sophie? The speculation of whether they would return when Denis got older?

11. The what if…? Living beyond one’s natural cycle, living young, then having to die?