This sad and quirky movie by Bill Forsyth (Local Hero), set in the 1950s, is a faithful adaptation of Marilynne Robinson's luminous book. Two orphaned girls (newcomers Sara Walker and Andrea Burchill) fall in love with their happy-go-lucky Aunt Sylvie (Christine Lahti) when she comes to live with them. However, the girls discover their quintessentially eccentric aunt is more crazy than idiosyncratic. She has a lifetime supply of newspapers and tin cans, and she doesn't like to turn the lights on in the house. As all crazy aunts are likely to have, she also adopts a large collection of stray cats. She carries crackers in her pocket for the imaginary children in the woods and disappears into the mountains for days on end.
This shunning of responsibility has a profound effect on the sisters' own relationship. Ruthie (the eldest and narrator of the story) is a tall and gangly teenager, never fitting in at school, and badly wanting to emulate Sylvie's free-spiritedness. But the younger Lucille longs for stability and the need to belong. She tries to help her older sister, but is met with strong opposition from Ruthie. Lucille decides to go it alone and Ruthie, at last, finds her Aunt Sylvie both literally and emotionally.
Unfortunately the townspeople of Fingerbone (a fictitious town beautifully filmed in British Columbia) decide it's time Aunt Sylvie got her act together. But Ruthie and Sylvie cannot conform, and so they escape the grasp of Fingerbone in a surprising and delightful manner. It's in this climax that Forsyth's unique eye for capturing strangely beautiful details opens wide. What Robinson does with language in her book Forsyth mirrors with poetic images. Lahti is simply wonderful as Aunt Sylvie, as are Walker and Burchill as Ruthie and Lucille. A graceful film and offbeat story. --Samantha Allen Storey
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Where's the DVD??? Comment: Great movie from a great book, why is this not available on DVD? You can get any piece of garbage Sly Stallone ever made in multiple formats, but not this little gem. What a world. Customer Rating: Summary: Seemless, Enjoyable Drama Comment: "Housekeeping" is an excellent film adaptation of the novel by Marilynne Robinson. It is engaging, seemlessly edited and beautifully photographed. Some characters and scenes have their humorous sides, but this movie is essentially a drama, a story of the extreme impact the arrival of an unconventional aunt has on two sisters in a small, 1950's northwestern town. Christine Lahti gives an Oscar-worthy portrayal of the aunt, and the supporting cast is strong, as well. The setting and time period are flawlessly portrayed.
PLEASE, let this film be released on DVD someday soon! It is too good to be lost. Customer Rating: Summary: Housekeeping (original movie) EXCELLENT - VHS - not so good Comment: My favorite movie of all-time was Housekeeping which I saw in the Quad Cinema in New York many years ago. I was very disappointed with the VHS version, however, which cut out some of the most tender and magical moments. It made me feel he just did not even get the movie at all, or even care to. Customer Rating: Summary: Running On Empty Comment: *** This comment may contain spoilers ***
The movie tells the story of two young girls whom their mom brought to her home town in the Pacific Northwest and committed suicide at the same day. The girls stay with their proper and respectable grandmother but after her death, their aunt, eccentric, literally out of this world Sylvie arrived after long time to take care of her nieces. There is a mystery behind Sylvie's smile, behind her strange for the most population of the small town behavior - she collects empty tin cans and used newspapers, she loves to walk alone and to visit train station and a nearby mountain lake. Christine Lahti is the center of the movie as a lonely gentle woman who has lived through many disappointments and failures it seems and learned how to choose what is really important for her and not to pay attention what anyone would think of her. It is easier to live this way but Sylvie will have to learn how to get closer, to connect, and to love again. As time passes, one of the girls, Lucille is embarrassed by her aunt and leaves the house to live a normal life. Her sister, Ruthie, a shy, quiet and insightful girl identifies with Sylvie's longing for freedom and chooses to stay with her. There are gentle kindness, quiet sadness, the spirit of freedom and adventure, unspoken words, bitter disappointments, failures, search for love, for understanding and belonging in this movie. Christine Lahti is great - watching her reminded me of two remarkable movies, "Running On Empty" where Lahti played one of the main characters, the mother and wife in the family that had to be on the run and the devastating and profoundly moving "Vagabond" by Agnes Varda, the tragic search for absolute freedom.
Customer Rating: Summary: A perfect film ... in danger of disappearing forever Comment: If I were marooned on a desert island with a choice of five films to watch for the rest of eternity, this would easily make my list. It's a superb (and surprisingly restrained) adaptation by Scottish director Bill Forsyth of Marilynne Robinson's novel.
The film, which like the novel is both darkly humorous and desperately sad, obviously posed a dilemma for Sony Pictures, who ultimately chose to market it as a "wacky comedy" about a "wacky aunt". This trivialized both the message of the film, which dealt with the real cost of both conformity and non-conformity, and the nuanced acting by the then largely-unknown cast - particularly the young actress Sara Walker.
Special mention should also be made of the cinematography, which used the exquisite landscapes surrounding Nelson, British Columbia to represent the fictional town of Fingerbone, Washington - which is virtually a character in the film in its right (brooding, mysterious, and breathtaking by turns).
WHEN will Sony finally wake up and release this gem of a film as a DVD?
