Movie Review

Directed by Paul Cox, starring: Julia Blake, Charles Tingwell, Terry Morris, 1 hour 38 minutes, 2001.

This little gem of a movie is about love lost in youth and found again in old age. Andreas Borg (Tingwell) has been widowed for 30 years and somewhat on a whim contacts Claire (Blake). They were young lovers forty years ago and had separated in a very painful way. His father had forced the separation and sent him away to school and Andreas had apparently capitulated rather easily to his father's demand. Life had gone on. Each had wed others. She is still married to John and they endure a comfortable and conventional marriage. "We're good friends" says Claire.

Their first encounter is pleasant and somewhat affectionate. ("I must warn you. I'm a fragile old lady with a son and three grandchildren") They catch up on each other's histories, the state of their families, the kind of mates they have and how they have spent their time. But when they part each begins to remember former passionate times and on his part a great longing to see her again develops. The second meeting occurs in gruesome circumstances. Andrea's wife's grave must be moved to make way for a new housing development and he must witness the move. He is undone by the sight of bones being unearthed and Claire is comforting and strong. They spend the night together. Une grande passion is unleashed and thoughts and feelings long held in abeyance by Claire for both the men in her life threaten to tear those lives apart. It is not so much the remembered passion (there are many flashbacks) but Andreas' current vulnerability and need that Claire responds to. Life with John is unruffled, 'perfect'.

It is amusing to watch the relationships with children. Both of their children are in mid life. Both have settled for the realities that "life becomes life. You go on, day after day, and pretend that everything is all right." as Andreas' daughter laments. The children are practical. The parents are foolish romantics.

Claire's attitude is that she is "too old to keep secrets" and declares to her husband that she has slept with Andreas. John's response is to treat the declaration as an aberrant fantasy; evidence of some mental breakdown. As the truth dawns he becomes enraged and then very attentive and tender towards Claire. She is a kind of Christ figure at this point. She notes that if she hadn't precipitated the crisis he would not have discovered dimensions of his true self and true emotions. (The truth shall make you free but first it will make you nuts!)

Love and the graceful experience of finding love again as a surprise is the theme that is pushed in the publicity for the film. But Death is a counterpoint to this theme. Two scenes form the poles of the relationship of Andreas and Claire. When they spend the night together Claire states "If we're going to do this, lets do it like grownups." When Andreas receives the news from his doctor that he has a life threatening cancer he says "Let's do this like grownups. " His response to the pressing reality of death is Silence, passivity and withdrawal,( "I want you to promise me that no one will know about this. No one!") Her response to the possible death of her marriage is Declaration, aggression and confrontation. ("I'm too old for lies.")

v Carl Jung theorizes that animus for women and anima for men are shadowy parts of our unconscious that come into play in force in the second half of our lives. Counter to our intuition of the way things usually are, men can be in the grip of irrational feelings and women in the grip of irrational thoughts. While the love story fills us with sentiment and hope it is clear that the protagonists do not come unencumbered to this new state of euphoria. There is the obvious presence of John, Claire's husband but also the less obvious weight of unresolved angers and fears from their previous relationship and the current disappointments and dashed hopes in Claire's present marriage. While there is much talk about 'the present', the unconscious is the engine to this 'new' reality.

This is a movie for lovers of every age though there are uncomfortable moments for all of us to reflect on the ways in which complacency, comfort and disengagement are factors in the way we "settle" in relationships. It is also a movie in which we are reminded again of the cost of new life, nothing less than death and resurrection.