MERMAID
US, 2000, 94 minutes, Colour.
Ellen Burstyn, Samantha Mathis, Jodell Furland, Peter Flemming, Tom Heaton.
Directed by Peter Masterson.
Mermaid is based on a true story. One of the attractive aspects of the film is that during the final credits, the real-life characters meet the actors on the set of making the film. (They look far less glamorous in real life than the stars who portray them.)
The film focuses on a little girl, aged four, played by Jodell Furland at the same age (who has had a strong subsequent career in film and television). She is quite credible in the role – although she has the rather irritating (or perhaps endearing) habit of referring to herself always in the third person. Samantha Mathis is her mother. Ellen Burstyn is her strong grandmother. In coming to terms with the death of her father and his being in Heaven, mother and grandmother try their hardest to get her used to the idea of her father being away. With the encouragement of a genial and friendly postman, she writes a letter and attaches it to a balloon. It travels four thousand miles from Yuba City in California to the town of Mermaid in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The balloon had a mermaid on the front of it – and it landed at Mermaid Lake. Much is made then of the imagery of the mermaid including a reading from Hans Andersen’s fairy tale.
This is a wholesome film. It is also a film where the audiences will need plenty of handkerchiefs and tissues because of the presentation of the little girl, of death, of family relationships, of the experience of the Prince Edward Island family and their kind response to the letter and the balloon.
Peter Masterson is a producer, actor and writer who directed a number of films including The Trip to Bountiful.
1.The impact of the film? Family audiences? Wholesome? Moving? Issues of death?
2.The setting in Yuba City, California, the ordinary town, homes, shops, the county fair? The comparison with the woods in Prince Edward Island? The musical score?
3.The title, the balloon with the mermaid, Hans Andersen’s story, the mermaid going towards the light? An image of death and going to the light? The balloon, the town of Mermaid, the lake?
4.The introduction to the family: the death of Ken, Rhonda’s grief, Desi missing her father? Rhonda’s way of handling the situation, the explanations, the images of Heaven, taking Desi to the cemetery, her father’s grave and the photo? Attempts to explain Heaven? Her father not coming back? Trish as support, Rhonda feeling the pressure of having to live with her mother? Needing a job? Quaid and his presence in the house? The family settling in? Trish’s kindness and concern for her granddaughter?
5.The situation, Quaid and his work, Steve and the crop-dusting, his friendship, his marital break-up, his two children? His kindness towards Desi, taking her to the fair, Rhonda’s reaction to him? Trish urging things along? His relationship with Rhonda, her hesitation? His being supportive and a potential father for Desi?
6.Desi herself, her age, the performance of Jodell Furland? Her language, referring to herself in the third person? Her grief, talking about her father? Having to go to school? Going to the fair? Her friendship with Steve, saying she didn’t need another father? The balloons, the postman, his kindness? Writing the letter? Visiting the cemetery? Her emotional reactions, locking herself in her room? Her response to the Mc Kinnon family, their letter? The article in the paper, the people writing letters, sending the money for the fare? Rhonda and Desi going to meet the Mc Kinnons? A happy meeting, the father reading the Hans Christian Andersen story?
7.Trish, a strong woman, concerned? Love for her daughter, her own experience of marriage, Quaid?
8.Rhonda, the effect of grief, her love for her husband, Steve finding the letter in the toolbox? Dealing with her daughter, trying to be honest, trying not to hurt her daughter? The experience of the balloon, the McKinnons?, her help for her own grief?
9.The Mc Kinnons, Wade finding the balloon, taking it home, reading the letter, the children’s response, Donna’s response? Thinking it over, the discretion and kindness in her letter? The effect on Desi and the family? Their welcoming Rhonda and Desi to Canada?
10.The background of the town, Rhonda growing up there, the twins and their talk about her husband, the teachers, the school, the postman and his kindness, the fare?
11.The impact of the final credits, the cast and the actual characters?
12.A moving experience? The reaction of death and grief and coping? The goodness of human nature?
