Terms of Endearment (Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger)

(Amazon UK link)

We were ready to watch a film a little earlier than usual last night, so decided to opt for one of the slightly longer ones in our ‘to-watch’ drawer: ‘Terms of Endearment’. This drawer contains some films we have not yet seen, and some which we haven’t seen for at least nine or ten years. Neither of us could recall having seen this before, but as we watched it, some scenes were familiar. I later discovered that we first saw the film towards the end of 2011.

‘Terms of Endearment’ was produced in 1983, although it feels rather older. Shirley MacLaine is wonderful as the rather uptight Aurora, who worries about many things and has a hard time expressing any emotions. The first part of the film sees her panicking that her infant daughter Emma has stopped breathing, something which apparently happens every night. She’s happier when she manages to wake her daughter, and then hears her crying.

The scene is done in an exaggerated way to show that it’s light-hearted but it’s bittersweet; the worst could have happened, after all. And the next scene shows the aftermath of the funeral of Aurora’s husband, when Emma is perhaps eight or nine. We fast forward to Emma’s student years, and then to the eve of her marriage to a young man with the bizarre name of Flap (Jeff Daniels), who is a teacher. Emma (Debra Winger) is very close to her friend Patsy (Lisa Hart Carroll), apparently in a romantic sense; but both plan to marry men and to have babies.

Aurora doesn’t approve of Flap, and feels that the marriage will be a disaster; she is quite possessive as a mother, and phones Emma every morning. She’s horrified when she learns she’s going to be a grandmother...

It’s entirely a character-based film spanning three decades, although the majority of the action (such as it is) takes place after Emma and Flap are married. Aurora has a string of devoted admirers, including her next-door-neighbour, a very sleazy former astronaut called Garrett (Jack Nicholson) and also Vernon (Danny deVito) who seems to be there purely for the humour he’s able to inject into what’s sometimes quite a poignant story.

There are some amusing scenes and some clever dialogue; there are also many different demonstrations of family dynamics, and the difficulties of communication between men and women, and between the generations. There’s a very sad ending to the film which we had both entirely forgotten about, and some interactions that I found quite moving.

The whole was beautifully done. I was totally caught up in the story and it didn’t feel as if it were too long at all. I almost wish it could have lasted longer. The cast members were all perfect in their roles and the pace was just right for a gentle character-based film.

The UK rating is 12A which I think is about right. There’s nothing explicit but quite a few implicit references and scenes. The bad language is mostly mild but there are some ‘strong’ words used, and the storyline is not one to appeal to children or even younger teens.

Highly recommended to all who like this genre.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews