There is something about a James L Brooks film that has to do with the fractured nature of its characters. He often looks at wounded and flawed lives that seek correction from each other. ‘Terms of Endearment’ is an outstanding human drama on the same lines.
Winner of the Best Picture Oscar in 1983, the film revolves around a mother and daughter whose lives have been closely intertwined for 30 years. The mother, Aurora is a widow who has forgotten what it is like to be with a man and the daughter, Emma is a wide eyed woman full of zest for life and wants to break free and marries a man much against her mother’s wishes.
As she enters into the marriage her life and dreams are slowly ground away as she finds herself nursing three children, boredom as a housewife and a husband who is suspiciously not around as much. Her fall from grace is coupled with her mother re-discovering the woman inside her as she befriends a former astronaut turned playboy, Garrett who lives next door. The film is an exploration of the journey that these personalities go through as they interact with each other.
Brooks’ story is not designed to have an introduction-conflict-resolution structure. It is meant to have a loose plot with enough scope to explore in depth, the evolution of these characters through different phases of their lives. The quality of dialogue in the film is outstanding as are certain sequences that are now part of cinema history. One that stands out has drunken astronaut driving Aurora along the beach in his silver convertible using his feet to steer and her foot to step on the pedal. Exhilarating and memorable!
Shirley MacLaine as Aurora, Debra Winger as Emma and Jack Nicholson as Garrett deliver fantastic multilayered performances. It reminded me of the performances delivered in another fine Brooks film, ‘As good as it gets’ which came out much later. McLaine won the Oscar for Best Actress and Nicholson won it for Best Supporting Actor and Winger was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Each of these characters endears themselves to the viewer and makes one wish for good things to happen to them. They have their own idiosyncrasies that have brought them to their stages in life but are all trying to find meaning to their existence.
‘Terms of Endearment’ is a must watch for those seeking to understand complex human relationships and dependencies. It is a master class.