Director: Irving Rapper
Ah, the 'woman's picture,' a concept based around the fact that only women want to see dramas about women, unlike dramas around men, which are seen as more universal. Bette Davis was one of the queens of this genre, and this film is one of its exemplars. We have a woman, Charlotte, shaping and being shaped by the relationships in her life: her mother, lover and daughter figure.
Davis and Paul Henreid are very good together, their attraction palpable and believable. As with many child performaces of this period Janis Wilson is a touch overwrought, but that actually works with her character. The plot keeps going, and felt overwritten at times. The ending is so famous that the last line is become cliche, and almost induced a smirk.
I often like a bit of humour with my films that deal with relationships, and think Now, Voyager could have benefitted from a few moments of levity. Other than that a good film with a strong performance from Davis; though really, what else do you expect from her?
Women's picture this may be, but I evidently like it more than you do. It's my favorite Bette Davis performance. I admit that if you don't buy into it that it can come across as sappy or overwrought. But I buy into it completely, and so the whole thing works for me.
ReplyDeleteI worked mostly for me. Davis is great, and she manages to make the dowdy Charlotte just as believable as the more confident Charlotte. Maybe I have seen to many of these stories to completely go with it.
DeleteI think the definition of women's picture has changed under current perceptions. Now they're seen as films only women could enjoy but there's no way back during the time they were being turned out en masse that they weren't pulling in all audiences both male and female. The amount of money that a star of Bette Davis magnitude was capable of pulling in at the box office couldn't have been achieved with only half the population in attendance. And this was one of the top grossing films of her career.
ReplyDeleteAll that aside I think this is one of Davis's top performances, Dark Victory is her best in my opinion, Charlotte Vale goes through tremendous changes and Bette modulates them well without going over the top. They are brief bits of humor scattered throughout, the taxi ride, Mary Wickes's wry nurse, but I think anymore in this case might have thrown off the delicate balance of the picture.
You might be right about that - that 'women's picture' used to be more universal. We may have gone to niche in our modern marketing for movies (not to mention funding them).
DeleteThis is a great performance of Davis - I can't really imagine anyone else doing it (maybe Barbara Stanwyck, but she is one of my favourites, so I am biased).
I get the feeling that comic levity in dramas and "serious" movies is a more recent occurence. There are many of these older movies that could use some, but I guess they were afraid back then to make it a comedy.
ReplyDeleteTrue, though I think Davis could have carried off the humour. I have warmed to this film more since I wrote this review, but my feelings of 'this could use some comedy' is something I feel about a lot of films.
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