Ordinary People

Genre: psychological drama

With: Timothy Hutton (Conrad), Donald Sutherland (Calvin Jarrett), Mary Tyler Moore (Beth Jarrett), Judd Hirsch (Doctor Berger), M. Emmet Walsh (Salan, the Swim Coach), Elizabeth McGovern (Jeannine Pratt), Dinah Manoff (Karen), Fredric Lehne (Joe Lazenby), James Sikking (Ray), Basil Hoffman (Sloan), Quinn K. Redeker (Ward)

Director: Robert Redford

Screenplay: Alvin Sargent and Nancy Dowd (based on Judith Guest’s novel)

Release: 1980

Studio: Wildwood Enterprises, Paramount Pictures

Rating: R

MBiS score: 8.5/10

  

‟I feel the way I've always felt about you.” 

 

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Story-line: on the outside, Conrad looks like any active, responsible teenager but, on the inside, he is under severe pressure and suffers from nightmares and panic attacks. Parents Calvin and Beth are somewhat aware of his plight but cannot measure its full extent… Conrad himself hides it as best he can. There has been talk of sending him to a psychiatrist – Calvin is all for it – but, ultimately, it will be Conrad’s decision to make… and to live by.

Pluses: formidable acting by Timothy Hutton (a sad, pitiful Conrad), Donald Sutherland (his sensible, slightly distracted father), Mary Tyler Moore (as a character radically different from her TV sitcom persona) and Judd Hirsch (the unflinching Berger), a fine supporting cast in secondary yet important roles, expert direction that lets the story flow economically, a coherent, subtle and very observant screenplay that uses circumstances, silences and insinuations as meaningfully as straightforward dialogues, irreproachable cinematography, able editing (especially for flashbacks), well-tailored production values, a useful musical score dominated by Pachelbel’s Canon in D and a surprisingly potent ending.

Minuses: none. The movie is particularly enlightening in its illustration of a patient-psychiatrist relationship.

Comments: the flawless, mature ORDINARY PEOPLE tells the story of a conventional family that tries to get back to normal after a trauma and discovers that it won’t manage it without honest and painful soul-searching. Along the way, every member of the Jarrett clan will grope for understanding and empathy… yet face disbelief, lack of support or even hostility. Robert Redford’s work is modest but revealing and firmly anchored in reality, which makes it worthy on a human level and justifies its four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role – T. Hutton, Best Screenplay and Best Director) and five Golden Globes in 1981. It teaches us all that, behind closed doors, ordinary people can live extraordinary tragedies.     

 

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