Customer Reviews

'night, Mother [VHS]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

...if your forty-something daughter told you that she was preparing to kill herself?

The entire movie revolves around a rather maudlin day in which Jesse, played by Sissy Spacek, informs her mother, portrayed by Anne Bancroft, that she plans to take her own life that very evening. No amount of pleading, commiserating, or lamenting on the part of her mother can dissuade this resolute woman from her grim task, which she delays long enough to spend the day and evening with her. The day progresses, and their discussions progress deeper and deeper into Jesse's past, though Jesse never does truly reveal just why she has decided to end her life.

Her mother alternates between resolve and horror, but never calls for help. And at the end, Jesse ignores her mother's frantic pleas, and succeeds.

As the credits scroll, one is left with a profound sense of loss, having watched and become familiar with Sissy's character in the course of the movie.

I just happened to watch this movie for the first time on television about 8 years ago and loved it immediately. It was televised again and I made sure to tape it. When watching this movie you cannot help but get engrossed in the lives of Jessie and Thelma Cates. The performances by Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft are convincing and powerful. I will admit that "'Night, Mother" is a sad story, but it's also very interesting. By the end you feel as though you're a part of the Cates family, and feel the pain as Thelma comes to terms, but not quite, with her daughter's suicide. I would highly recommend this movie!!

I would really have liked to have seen this performed live. Nevertheless, beautifully adapted and performed. An unhappy epileptic woman pragmatically prepares to kill herself and puts all her affairs in order. Her mother tries to (unconvincingly) convince her not to do it. The mother has stupid arguements, you wait and wait and wait for her mother to say "I LOVE YOU DON'T DO IT". Compelling, heart breaking and beautifully dark.

Written for the stage by Marsha Norman, 'NIGHT, MOTHER opened on Broadway in 1983 with Anne Pitoniak and Kathy Bates in the roles of Thelma and Jessie Cates. It proved a stunning success with critics and audiences alike, running 380 performances, receiving the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a Tony award for Best Play, and Tony nominations for Pitoniak, Bates, and director Tom Moore.

In 1986 Marsha Norman herself adapted the play to film. The roles of Thelma and Jessie went to Anne Bancroft and Sissy Spacek, and in the process of writing--and possibly under pressure from producers--Norman expanded the original play to include characters mentioned but never seen. The result was something slightly less than ideal. Spacek is perfectly cast as the suicidal Jessie, but although she gives an excellent performance Bancroft is intrinsically miscast in the role of Jessie's "plain country woman" mother. The expansion of the original story also has the effect of diluting the claustrophobic intensity of the original. As for director Tom Moore, although his work for the play was memorable, his work with the film was unremarkable.

But unexpectedly, such is the power of the story's basic premise that these flaws hardly matter. Watered down, fiddled with, and somewhat miscast, 'NIGHT, MOTHER is still a knock-you-flat story that raises the sort of questions that keep you awake on a sleepless night. Thelma is an ordinary, uneducated woman who takes life as it comes; Jessie, however, is an uneasy mixture of introspection and uncertainty, a woman whose marriage failed when she developed epilepsy, whose son has become a bit of gutter trash, who has over the years become a recluse in her mother's home. She's tired of the whole thing, and on this particular evening she informs her mother that in a few hours she's going to shoot herself and put an end to it.

Like the play, the film is essentially an emotional explosion between the two women, Jessie spelling out her reasons for her suicide, Thelma working to turn Jessie from it. Although the suspense of the film arises from a "Will she do it or not?" situation, the real interest here is in Jessie's motivations, the how and why of her decision, and the tactics that Thelma uses in an effort to bring Jessie's plans to a grinding halt, and the way they battle each other over the course of the film. The interest is in the characters, plain and simple.

As noted, Bancroft is not ideally cast here. It is extremely difficult to accept her in the role of Thelma Cates. Even so, Bancroft gives it all she has--and the end result is quite powerful as acting pure and simple, a remarkable feat. But the real powerhouse here is Spacek: we believe her, never question her in the role, and buy into it from start to finish. Even with Bancroft's miscasting, the dilution of the play, and the uninspired direction, Spacek's performance is more than enough to render the film powerful, memorable.

This is not a film that I casually recommend. It rather depends on the viewer's life experiences, and I would hardly send it off to a person in a depressed state of mind or one who had a suicide in the family. But it is worth the trouble it takes to seek out, particularly if it leads you on to reading the play itself--or better yet, seeing a stage production of the same.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Being the mother of 3children and a divorcee and having experienced the same depths of unhappiness that Jesse has I could feel her despair and her ultimate desire to bring an end to her pain. The pathos of an ill mother trying to save her daughter's life is extremely touching. The ending is magnificent.

Why this movie is not available DVD floors me. I taped this on Showtime when it first entered TV. One of the most powerful movies i've ever seen besides "Requiem for a dream". This movie covers the life of mother and daughter in a span of 12 hours. Mother (Anne Bancroft) is clueless to her child's suffering. Sissy Spacek's performance is breathless. How simple and clean.

This movie is a sleeper. No one has really heard of it, but it is one of my all time favorites.

The acting is unbelievable. I think I saw this movie about 15 years ago for the first time, and I became an Ann Bancroft fan after viewing this fabulous, but dark, movie.

No need for synopsis, others have done that here, but if you want to indulge in a great character study movie, try this one. It's quite a 'roller coaster' ride, with no car chases, no buildings blown up, no gore. Simply two women, a mother and daughter, conversing for the span of one evening. The movie is sad, the acting is fantastic, and the plot so different from anything you have ever seen before, you will be entralled.

Well written, Well acted, Well cast. If you like Sissy..you'll love this.. I did. Should contain a warning label CAUTION: DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE WITH ANYTHING LESS THAN A FULL BOX OF TISSUE AT HAND.

A young woman, Sissy Spacek, decides that she's had enough of how her life is going, she is desperately unhappy and wants to, as she says it herself, get off the bus early [bus as meaning get out of living] and instead she decides to shoot herself. Her mother only party aware of this has a whole night to stop her daugther from accomplishing her plan while also for the first time they get to know each other better. Both actresses give brilliant performances and you will feel the mother's anguish and confusion, as you will grasp the daugther having honest firm resolution. Great film, remarkable story.

I teach Education Profession in which I work with high school students who want to explore the teaching profession. When we studied barriers to learning, targeting grief and depression, we watched this video. 'Night, Mother captures the factual stages and characteristics very well. Afterwards my students (16-18 year olds) said they enjoyed it even though "it was sad." Suicide is sad, but in a society that believes in canned self-improvements is a credit card purchase away, `Night, Mother shows that the decision can derive from cold but intelligent self-reflection--money, self-improvement books, or time may have no effect. It addresses the dismal conclusion that some suicides cannot be prevented. The film begins after Jesse has made her decision and now wants to make her last evening with her mother a memorable one. I'm cheered that Jesse carefully evaluates her condition and situation before making the critical decision that she does and that she doesn't blame anyone. By her narrative she suggests the process of suicide that leaves that large--ever large and bold-faced--punctuation that ends a life can begin years before the actual event. Though the film makes viewers grapple with unanswerable questions, `Night, Mother is a powerful film that makes you want to read a play by Marsha Norman.