Product Details

• Actors: Christine Lahti, Sara Walker, Andrea Burchill, Anne Pitoniak, Barbara Reese
• Directors: Bill Forsyth
• Writers: Bill Forsyth, Marilynne Robinson
• Producers: Robert F. Colesberry
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 19, 1999
• Run Time: 116 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302801060
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #151,424 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This sad and quirky movie by Bill Forsyth (Local Hero), set in the 1950s, is a faithful adaptation of Marilynne Robinson's luminous book. Two orphaned girls (newcomers Sara Walker and Andrea Burchill) fall in love with their happy-go-lucky Aunt Sylvie (Christine Lahti) when she comes to live with them. However, the girls discover their quintessentially eccentric aunt is more crazy than idiosyncratic. She has a lifetime supply of newspapers and tin cans, and she doesn't like to turn the lights on in the house. As all crazy aunts are likely to have, she also adopts a large collection of stray cats. She carries crackers in her pocket for the imaginary children in the woods and disappears into the mountains for days on end.

This shunning of responsibility has a profound effect on the sisters' own relationship. Ruthie (the eldest and narrator of the story) is a tall and gangly teenager, never fitting in at school, and badly wanting to emulate Sylvie's free-spiritedness. But the younger Lucille longs for stability and the need to belong. She tries to help her older sister, but is met with strong opposition from Ruthie. Lucille decides to go it alone and Ruthie, at last, finds her Aunt Sylvie both literally and emotionally.

Unfortunately the townspeople of Fingerbone (a fictitious town beautifully filmed in British Columbia) decide it's time Aunt Sylvie got her act together. But Ruthie and Sylvie cannot conform, and so they escape the grasp of Fingerbone in a surprising and delightful manner. It's in this climax that Forsyth's unique eye for capturing strangely beautiful details opens wide. What Robinson does with language in her book Forsyth mirrors with poetic images. Lahti is simply wonderful as Aunt Sylvie, as are Walker and Burchill as Ruthie and Lucille. A graceful film and offbeat story. --Samantha Allen Storey

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic ode to nonconformity, December 1, 2003

By 

Lleu Christopher "www.liminalworlds.com" (Hudson Valley, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Housekeeping [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Housekeeping is a low key film with a fascinating theme --how people on the fringes of society must sometimes choose whether to conform or hold on to their differences. The central character in this film, Sylvie (Christine Lahti), is really beyond the bounds of conventionality. She is a very interesting and original character --highly eccentric in a believable rather than romanticized way. In a conservative small town in what appears to be the 1950s, Sylvie is a drifter who falls into the role of guardian for her two nieces Ruthie and Lucille. It is the two girls' responses to their aunt that determines the course of the tale. At first, they are both happy to have Sylvie around, but gradually their basic difference in tempermant becomes apparent. Lucille (Andrea Burchill) soon tires of the isolated existence with her sister and aunt in a disorderly house where newspapers are piled to the ceiling and countless cats have the run of the place. She prefers the company of her schoolmates and longs for acceptance in society. Ruthie (Sara Walker), on the other hand, is introverted and more of a dreamer. She and Sylvie grow closer while Lucille drifts away, eventually getting adopted by a teacher. The town begins to pressure Sylvie to conform and raise Ruthie in a conventional manner. At first, she tries to comply, but her attempts are futile; she obviously is not suited for domestic life. When she takes Ruthie on an overnight trip that includes riding a freight train with tramps, the whole town finds out and things come to a head. What is brilliant about Housekeeping is the way it honestly explores the price people must pay to retain their individuality. A more superficial approach would have made Sylvie a charming eccentric whom the whole town eventually loves. Instead, we get a harsher and more realistic truth --that the life Sylvie chooses cannot be reconciled with the demands of everyday life. Sylvie and Ruthie are not portrayed as inherently superior to the conventional townsfolk, although they are, it must be admitted, more sympathetic. We can, however, also see things from the locals' point of view. They believe, with some justification, that Sylvie is an irresponsible guardian. Housekeeping has many lyrical scenes that showcase the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. There is a melancholy, nostalgic feeling to the film, which is consistent with the novel (by Marilynne Robinson) on which it is based. This is a very thoughtful, poetic and original film, one of my favorites.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Quiet Masterpiece, January 21, 1999

By 

Tom From NY "Tom From NY" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Housekeeping [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I saw this when it first came out, and saw it no less than six times. I told everyone I knew to see it, and they all agreed that it was one of the best films of that year, and further wondered why they had not heard of it. I don't want to give a huge review, extolling the film's numerous virtues. Just know that this is a small, quiet, moving and faintly disturbing little movie, which in it's tiny way is far more revolutionary and profound than nine out of ten Oscar winners. For fine acting, direction, cinematography, and music, you need search no further. They don't come better than this. A small quiet film that gets by without shootings, impalings, or overt propaganda.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Acted & Loyal To The Book, September 23, 2000

By 

Carolyn (Topanga Canyon, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Housekeeping [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I have to say first that if you have not read the novel of the same name by Marilynne Robinson, then put down your remote and get to the library, because it is a beautiful, poetic piece of writing that will make you want to thank whomever first taught you to read. Then you will have earned watching this video. Unlike many book and companion movie experiences, you will not turn to a friend and lament as the credits are rolling, "You know, the book was so much better!" The director Bill Forsyth made no bones about his full intent to loyally recreate the world of this book onscreen. Letting Robinson's melancholy style direct the film's focus is a wise choice. The cinematography could not more poignantly recreate the fictitious town of Fingerbone, and the acting is wonderfully understated. This is un-Hollywood, and un-Indie and sad and soulful. Enjoy it.