REVENGE OF THE MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN
US, 2004, 90 minutes, Colour.
Christine Lahti, Brian Kerwin, Bryan Brown, Abby Brammell, Caroline Aaron, Maggie Lawson, Cynthia Harris.
Directed by Sheldon Larry.
Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman is as expected. It focuses on the break-up of a twenty-five-year-long marriage, the husband (Brian Kerwin) walking out on his wife suddenly and taking up with her young assistant at the Los Angeles Chronicle (Abby Brammell). Christine Lahti portrays the middle-aged wife – something she did two years earlier in the telefilm Open House where, once again, her husband walks out on her.
Christine Lahti is a very strong screen presence (And Justice for All, Whose Life Is It Anyway). Here she is a very poised woman, happily married, with two children, a good job – and it all falls around her. She decides to cope, relies on her friend Madeleine for advice as well as from her mother. She meets up again with her first love, an Australian, played typically by Bryan Brown, with whom she travelled in her young adult years. However, he could not commit himself and continued to be a travel writer. While her husband eventually thinks about coming back, she decides not to have him back, relishes her freedom and the opportunity to start a new life. She sees the marriage of her daughter, gives advice to her son to leave his selfish girlfriend. In the end, she goes to Umbria to join the Australian in his olive farm – which opens up possibilities for her and a different life.
The film will be appreciated, especially, by middle-aged women who have had similar experiences.
1.An entertaining film? Interesting? Questions raised about marriage, commitment? Middle age? New lives?
2.A piece of Americana, the American city, Los Angeles? Homes, friends? The newspaper? The social life? The musical score?
3.The title, the tone, Rose’s experience? Nathan leaving her, her shock, her losing her job, the insults and the humiliation, Mindy? Her mother, Madeleine? Her stances? Hal? A future?
4.The flashbacks: Rose, with Hal, the travels all over the world? In Brazil, her pregnancy? Losing the baby? Hal not being able to commit to her? Sad on the plane, Nathan sitting next to her, comfort? Marriage?
5.Rose’s voice-over, her actions, her mind, the differences? Her observations about herself, her emotions, what was happening to her? Her decisions, her future?
6.The portrait of Rose, competent at work, friends with Mindy? Achievement in her job, the book reviews, her astute comments? Her relationship with Nathan? Working with him? His coming home, wanting to talk, his awkwardness? The truth and her disbelief? Her reactions? Her shock, talking with Madeleine, her mother? At the office, everybody sympathetic? Simon and his firing her? Her packing up and leaving? Seeing herself as invisible, the man borrowing the chair at the café? Her being at home, the news and her son’s reaction, Rachel driving all night, her reaction? Their taking her side? Her continuing to work in the garden, her drinking with Madeleine? Her openness to Nathan coming back? This changing? The confrontation with Mindy and her telling her the truth? Nathan and his coming in, the discussions about dividing the property? Wanting to move into the house? Hal Thorne and his message, going to the party, meeting him again? Having dinner with him, the possibilities, Rachel intruding? Nathan and his coming back, asking to come back? Her decision to stay free? Encouraging him with Mindy, the possibility of children? Mindy’s coming to her, the twins and the pregnancy? Her going with Madeleine, France? The visit to Umbria, Hal and his receiving her? An open ending?
7.Her final comment – the revenge of the middle-aged woman as a life well lived?
8.Nathan, his kindness towards Rose, the twenty-five years of marriage, taking each other for granted? His leaving, awkwardness? The affair with Mindy? His being in and out of the house? Mindy and her turning up at Rose’s wedding dinner? Rose telling her off? Nathan and his awkwardness, coming back to Rose, her rejecting him, wishing him well? A credible characterisation of a middle-aged man, dissatisfied in marriage, going with a younger woman – and the effect?
9.Mindy, at work, making a play for Nathan, it becoming serious? Friendship with Rose and working with her? The betrayal? Talking frankly? Turning up at the house, at the wedding dinner, Rose telling her to leave? Nathan and his awkward speech about marriage, taking Mindy away? Mindy finally coming with the news about the twins?
10.Madeleine, good friend, sharing, drinking – and her story about her husband and the condoms?
11.Rose’s mother, widow, advice, the dinner for her grandchildren? Her advice about Nathan?
12.Hal Thorne, the past, successful writer, meeting Rose again, the talk, the dinner, the possibilities? Rachel’s intrusion? His invitation to Umbria, Rose accepting?
13.Rose and the job interviews, the various offers? The phone call from Simon and her keeping him waiting, telling him off?
14.A glimpse at a fiftysomething woman, her experience, the shattering of her life, rebuilding it? The background of the story of the governor, his affair, his wife’s suicide? The film’s positive outlook on a future?
