THIS IS MY LIFE

US, 1992, 105 minutes, Colour.
Julie Kavner, Samantha Mathis, Gaby Hoffmann, Carrie Fisher, Dan Aykroyd, Caroline Aaron, Kathy Najimy.
Directed by Norah Ephron.

A quite engaging comedy about a stand-up comic and her coping with her two daughters and her career. It was written by Nora Ephron whose previous credits included Silkwood (screenplay) and the autobiographical Heartburn. She next made Sleepless in Seattle.

The film is full of Jewish humour and jokes that travel quite well. Julie Kavner, now best known for voicing Marge Simpson for so many years, is excellent as the mother as is Samantha Mathis as the moody teenage daughter. The film is both cheerful and thoughtful.

1.The show business world? Stand-up comedians and their struggles? The intercutting with ordinary life of mothers, children and families?

2.The title, the reference to Dottie, to her two daughters, Erica and Opal?

3.The New York settings, the use of the city landscapes? The contrast with Los Angeles? The Carly Simon score?

4.The prologue, Dottie and her makeup, her role as a stand-up comedian, her ambitions?

5.The portrait of the family, the bonds between mother and daughters, support, the father, the aunt and her house, Harriet? The aunt’s death – shopping, and the alarms going off with the tag on the dress she was trying on?

6.The reading of the will, Dottie being left the apartment, the possibilities of a new life for mother and daughters?

7.The comedy clubs, Dottie’s friends, Claudia, Angela? Mia and Ted?

8.Claudia and Arnold Moss, the agent, getting her jobs, going to Los Angeles, her success, the humour of her jokes, on television, the advertisement?

9.The contrast with the children at home, the babysitters, the concert, T.S. Eliot? Jordan and his attraction towards Erica? Las Vegas? The relationships and the wrong guesses? Listening in? The confrontation?

10.Albany, the father, Martha and her background?

11.Dottie’s return, the hopes for the family?

12.A portrait which is particularly American, American families, women and their lives, their work, performance? The effect on children, their growing up, relationships, self-esteem?