There was recently a list published here in the UK by one of our networks detailing the '100 greatest tearjerking moments' of all time. Unlike in the US, 'tearjerker' is not immediately synonymous with deliberate sentimentality or a directorial bid to use emotion as a tool for clouding the critical merit of a film. Instead the word is taken at face value, and thus films such as ET, Ghost and The Green Mile comprised the top three 'moments'.
In this sense of the word, Terms of Endearment is the definitive tearjerker. Its emotional crescendos are almost impossibly intense, and while the audience is aware of the obvious conclusion almost a hour before it arrives, this does little to blunt the anxiety and pain of the events. The central mother-daughter relationship, acted brilliantly by Shirley Maclaine and particularly Debra Winger, is the axis for the film's events, spread over a large number of years. Writer and director James L.Brooks draws his characters so skilfully and with such an entrenched emotional subtext that, whether we like it or not, we are inescapably involved with them from the outset, and thus the conclusion as a drama is successful. Winger's rocky marriage to husband Jeff Daniels, mirrored by Jack Nicholson's overt courtship of Maclaine, provides Brooks with the ability to analyse what constitutes a strong romantic relationship, and the spiritual bond two people can attain despite having their differences.
All the performances in the film are outstanding. Winger gives a career best and it is an utter travesty that her mainstream movie 'shelf-life' was prematurely cut short by drug addiction. While Maclaine won the Oscar for her portrayal of Aurora, I agree with other comments on this site that it should have been Winger. Jack Nicholson also won an Oscar and is typically reliable in his role, as are Daniels and John Lithgow (much under-rated as a dramatic actor: all that Third Rock has pigeon-holed him a bit I feel).
The ending simply demands tears, and I will rather boldly assert that if someone claims not to be at least a bit dewey-eyed at the time the credits role, then they simply haven't devoted enough attention to the film. Brooks is one of the best directors still working and his brief yet impressive catalogue leaves me in great anticipation of his future release 'Spanglish'. Please watch this film, you will be richly rewarded if you involve yourself with it enough.
It must come as no surprise that I award this film 10/10.
In this sense of the word, Terms of Endearment is the definitive tearjerker. Its emotional crescendos are almost impossibly intense, and while the audience is aware of the obvious conclusion almost a hour before it arrives, this does little to blunt the anxiety and pain of the events. The central mother-daughter relationship, acted brilliantly by Shirley Maclaine and particularly Debra Winger, is the axis for the film's events, spread over a large number of years. Writer and director James L.Brooks draws his characters so skilfully and with such an entrenched emotional subtext that, whether we like it or not, we are inescapably involved with them from the outset, and thus the conclusion as a drama is successful. Winger's rocky marriage to husband Jeff Daniels, mirrored by Jack Nicholson's overt courtship of Maclaine, provides Brooks with the ability to analyse what constitutes a strong romantic relationship, and the spiritual bond two people can attain despite having their differences.
All the performances in the film are outstanding. Winger gives a career best and it is an utter travesty that her mainstream movie 'shelf-life' was prematurely cut short by drug addiction. While Maclaine won the Oscar for her portrayal of Aurora, I agree with other comments on this site that it should have been Winger. Jack Nicholson also won an Oscar and is typically reliable in his role, as are Daniels and John Lithgow (much under-rated as a dramatic actor: all that Third Rock has pigeon-holed him a bit I feel).
The ending simply demands tears, and I will rather boldly assert that if someone claims not to be at least a bit dewey-eyed at the time the credits role, then they simply haven't devoted enough attention to the film. Brooks is one of the best directors still working and his brief yet impressive catalogue leaves me in great anticipation of his future release 'Spanglish'. Please watch this film, you will be richly rewarded if you involve yourself with it enough.
It must come as no surprise that I award this film 10/10.