Whales of August

It was by pure accident that I watched the film Whales of August, only several days after watching Ladies in Lavender (and I would like to thank my student, Micah Hibler for referring me to this movie). But - as both films have that same starting point, i.e. two old widowed sisters living together in a remote small location - it gave me a good opportunity to compare these two movies: this one - American, from 1987; the other - British, from 2004.

Let's begin by saying that watching a movie made more that 30 years ago - is in within itself - a sort of a gerontological experience. A travel in time: remembering not only how lives used to live, but how movies used to be made and filmed.

Moreover, as two great stars are features in the British film (Dench and Smith) - Whales of August also have two famous American actresses of the time: Bette Davis and Lillian Gish. While I must admit that I haven't seen many movies of theirs before, they both provide an outstanding acting performance in this movie.

The movie was directed by Lindsay Anderson, and is based on a story (and a play) by David Berry. The location of the movie is Maine's Cliff Island, where it turns out that the house and the location has become a popular place for artists on the Island.

The plot is simple: it follows the daily life of the two old sisters, spending the summer in their seaside house. One of the sisters is blind (Davis), and bitter, while the other (Gish) is much softer, and takes care of her sister. This context provides for the rest of the movie to very slowly provide the stage for the sisters to reflect on time, on aging, and on the nature of their relationships, and relationships with others.

Similar to the British film - this is almost a theatrical play - and things develop slowly and in a very subtle manner. However, I must admit that I liked this movie much better its more recent British counterpart: the dialogues between the two sisters are much richer and provide some fascinating insights about the social construction of old age and of familial/inter-generational relationships. The life-course perspective - and the gender elements of roles and personal histories - set (in my view) a great starting point to gerontological discussions which are still very relevant to these days.

So for a nice, relaxed gerontological movie experience, or for a setting for a contextual discussion on American gender and aging experience in the 50s - this is a great movie.

1987

USA

Director: Lindsay Anderson

The movie on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqC68k5miG8