Ordinary People: 1980

For the first time in awhile, I was able to watch all of a movie (in this case, Ordinary People) from start to finish in one sitting, and there's something to be said for that experience. Initially, the film didn't grab my attention; it's subtle in the opening half hour or so. I kept looking at the clock, wondering when the film would pick up. But then as I followed Conrad (Timothy Hutton) on his journey towards healing and witnessed his transformation, I found myself invested in the film. It's really Conrad who made me want to watch the movie. The other characters, his parents and friends, are complex and interesting, but the film seems to be telling Conrad's story more than his family's story.

Ordinary People is based on a novel with the same title by Judith Guest, and I read the book years ago. I remember little of the book (just that it was about a family who loses one son in a boating accident and they are still grieving this loss but in different ways). The film includes this family history, but it starts with Conrad being home after being hospitalized for four months for a suicide attempt. Although there are some stigmas around mental illnesses today, at the time the movie is set (late 1970s), mental illnesses were viewed in a more severe way. People didn't talk about them, and they didn't want to admit that they or their family was seeking help for them. This belief is most apparent with the mother Beth (played by Mary Tyler Moore in a shockingly different role than her TV character, which is how I knew her) confronts her husband for telling a woman at a party that Conrad is seeing a psychiatrist. Beth is upset with her husband Cal (played by Donald Sutherland) because she believes that this information is private. It's not surprising considering how Beth seems to act as if nothing is wrong with Conrad. If anything, she's angry with Conrad for not being okay. The breakfast scene early in the movie establishes her anger and frustration. Beth shoving the french toast down the garbage disposal is so harsh. Because of Cal's presence and proper etiquette, she can't take out her anger on Conrad so she unleashes it on this french toast. This scene set the tone for the rest of film, and it's no wonder that Conrad thinks his mom hates him.

Watching Conrad as he copes with his depression and deals with his grief and anger is the best part of this film. The director Robert Redford uses close ups on Conrad's face throughout the film to illustrate early on how much pain Conrad is in and later how much more relaxed Conrad has become because of meeting with his psychiatrist and learning to feel emotion. Hutton is subtle in his portrayal of Conrad. The entire film he feels so real as a person, and it hurts to see him suffer. When he confronts his mom, you want to see her show love for him. When he goes on a date with Jeannine, you feel that awkwardness that he's aware of and doesn't know how to stop.

It's so interesting to me that Ordinary People won best picture the year after Kramer vs Kramer because the films seem different but are quite similar. Not only do they both deal with family, but they also present father-son relationships that develop and change over time. The mothers are absent in ways in both films. It makes me wonder what was happening socially in the late 1970s that resulted in films like these.