PLAINSONG
US, 2004, 97 minutes, Colour.
Aidan Quinn, Rachel Griffiths, America Ferrera, Geoffrey Lewis, William Andrews, Megan Follows, Mick Hazen, Marianne Seldes, Margo Martindale.
Directed by Richard Pearce.
Plainsong is based on a novel about life in Colorado, a group of ordinary people in a small town. The film shows a cross-section of the townspeople as well as the farmers in the surrounding countryside.
Aidan Quinn portrays a husband whose wife (Megan Follows, Anne of Green Gables) is experiencing breakdown and wants to leave her family. He is a schoolteacher and finds one of the students particularly troublesome and abusive. The principal of the school wants him to pass so that he can be got rid of. His dominating parents are antagonistic towards the principal and the teacher. Rachel Griffiths portrays a divorced teacher, very sympathetic, at the school who takes care of a teenager who has become pregnant and has been kicked out of home by her mother (America Ferrera, Ugly Betty). Geoffrey Lewis and William Andrews portray two ageing single brothers who manage a ranch and are kind towards the teacher’s children as well as taking in the young pregnant girl. Marianne Seldes has a good cameo as a wise old lady who lives in the town and befriends the teacher’s sons.
The film was made by the Hallmark Hall of Fame and so is geared to the widest possible television audience. While it has a great deal of sentiment, it has a hard edge, especially in the character of the teacher as well as the plight of the teenage girl.
The film was directed by Richard Pearce who made some emotional films about the American countryside including Heartland and Country. He also directed thrillers like No Mercy (with Richard Gere) and a great deal of television.
1.A piece of Americana? Both serious and comic?
2.The Colorado settings, the small town, homes, the school, the ranch? The feel of the state? The score?
3.The title and its meanings?
4.The focus on Tom, an everyman character? Ella and her illness, remaining in bed, her moods, her wanting to leave, his helping her to go to the house to live by herself? His visits? The bonds with his sons? Taking them to school? His work in the school, the friendship with Maggie, the principal and his criticisms, wanting Russell Beckman to pass and to be excluded from the school? Tom’s stances on discipline, wanting to fail Russell? The confrontations? The principal’s demands?
5.The background of the farm, the two brothers and their characters, single, ageing? Their down-to-earth work with the pregnant cattle? The boys going to work and enjoying it? Their riding there on the horse later?
6.Victoria, her age, pregnancy, her mother turning her out, later seeing her in the town and ignoring her? Going to school, confiding in Maggie, staying with Maggie? Maggie taking her to the brothers? Her stay there, life, work, school, their shopping for all her maternity needs? Her meeting the father of the child, her going off with him? Her treatment of the old men? Her realising that it was a mistake, the boys’ ignoring of her? Going back to Maggie, the return to the brothers, to hospital, the birth of the daughter, the brothers with her?
7.The brothers and their life, their mentality, down-to-earth, welcoming the boys, welcoming Victoria, the shopping, her leaving, welcoming her back, present at the birth?
8.Russell Beckman, his problems in class, the physical attack on Tom, the meetings, his dominating parents? His being urged to pass the boy? The boys, going to the ranch, on the horse, the encounter with Russell and his group, their being taken? Tom going to the house, confronting the parents and Russell, Russell blurting out the truth?
9.Tom’s wife, the boys and their visit, their love for her, her leaving, would she recover?
10.The boys, with their mother, the rounds with the paper, their meeting Mrs Sterns, her reaction, sitting them down, talking, their friendliness, going to visit her, discovering her dead?
11.Maggie, at work, her concern for Tom, at school, supporting him? Her father and his mind going, his attacks on Victoria? Her story about her marriage, the divorce? A good woman, helping the students?
12.The film as a slice of life, life in an American town, families, hardships, disappointments, hopes?
