I'll See You in My Dreams

Reading the synopsis for this movie I thought I'd be in for an hour of sentimental slush about senior citizens like myself, but it isn't like that at all. Sure, it's about the kind of problems we old folk can encounter, and therefore how it will register with other sections of the population I can't tell. Some won't have any patience with it because it doesn't affect them. Yet. A pity, as they're the ones who'd benefit most from seeing it.

It's an intelligent, well-written, tactfully directed, thoughtful and touching movie. It is luxuriously cast with a bunch of top-level character actors who fill the screen with their warmth. It's invidious to single anyone out but I'm going to mention Martin Starr, an actor I don't remember encountering before in spite of his many credits. His scenes with Blythe Danner are particularly good. Danner herself, the movie's linchpin, is vulnerable without being self-pitying or cloying in any way. A fine performance in a fine film.

This film certainly seemed like a saccharine affair from the posters and the summary, but it was actually a very nice surprise. There's a real sensitivity and emotional depth to it that I didn't expect, and it actually doesn't really hit as many of the clichéd plot points as you think. Just when it's about to seem likely to hit one of them, it turns course and opts to go for something more realistic. The performances are also exquisite. I don't think I've ever seen Blythe Danner in anything else before this, but she was a revelation. not opting to make anything too obvious, it's a quiet, restrained but emotionally meaningful performance. She's certainly up to the task of demonstrating the nuance that the script and direction suggest. Overall, this is a very good film and definitely recommended.

Carol Petersen (Blythe Danner) is a widow of 20 years and a retired singer in a band. She has a simple life and her circle of friends (June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place). They want her to move into the retirement community. Her dog dies of old age. She starts a friendship with the new pool guy Lloyd (Martin Starr). He's a poet graduate and living with his mother. Bill (Sam Elliott) is the new love in Carol's life. Her daughter Katherine (Malin Akerman) comes for a visit.

A high June Squibb is hilarious. This is a rather light easy story. Blythe Danner is incredible. She encompasses every part of this movie. Her internal struggles even before she has them are all very effective. It's a quietly powerful performance.

But I got to admit, I did not know she had it in the first place.

Blythe Danner for me is usually recognized as the very attractive significant other when older actors want to pretend on screen that they are interested in age appropriate women.

But Danner is a very sexy, charming woman and she gets to show all of this in her leading role in this film. It's a strangely realistic look at what romance looks like in those golden years with Sam Elliot as Danner's love interest, a man who proves he still got the heat himself at his advanced aged.

Also liked seeing Rhea Perlman in the flick as one of Danner's aging friends in the movie. She plays a woman living in a senor citizens home, which I found hard to swallow. She showed far too much energy on the screen.

It's a good romantic comedy for any age but a lot more than what it's sold to be. For the most part, it's about a woman who's just going through a mood and this can happy to anyone at any age.

Recommend.

Most of the other reviews of this film which I read were negative. There is no way to tell the age of those reviewers, but my age is 68. I like this movie, which was touching but not maudlin. It's true to life to me. My wife is still living, and I don't have a big enough retirement savings account to buy a boat and a Cadillac. But we are fortunate enough to have our only child in the same city, and our only grandson (and very likely the only one there will ever be) there also, so we are already ahead of Bill and Carol. But you have to be in old age to appreciate this story. If one of us dies, what will the other do? Would we consider remarriage? How would you find somebody, if you wanted to? If one of our beloved pets dies, what will we do? Do we want to start with another one, even an older one which might die before we do? Do we go to a retirement facility or keep the too-large house? Old age is generally not exciting, even if you have enough money to eat and buy medicine, and it's little things where you find happiness (even if it is TV or golf). This was intentionally a low-key story, which didn't answer any of the questions it raised. We only know tiny tidbits about Carol, but nobody else. Where did Bill come from, other than Dallas? What does Carol's daughter do, and where does she live, and why haven't they seen each other more often? You can draw you own conclusions or just accept this little snippet of Carol's life and move on, as she will, but to what we don't know. It's life, where we come into contact with people but know nothing about them. And nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. If you are lucky enough to have a tomorrow.