After their mother commits suicide, two sisters end up living with their kind but peculiar aunt in their grandmother's old house in a small 1950s town.
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Title: Housekeeping (1987)
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2 wins & 3 nominations.
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Christine Lahti | ... | Sylvie | |
| Sara Walker | ... | Ruth | |
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Andrea Burchill | ... | Lucille |
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Anne Pitoniak | ... | Aunt Lily |
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Barbara Reese | ... | Aunt Nona |
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Margot Pinvidic | ... | Helen |
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Bill Smillie | ... | Sheriff |
| Wayne Robson | ... | Principal | |
| Betty Phillips | ... | Mrs. Jardine | |
| Karen Elizabeth Austin | ... | Mrs. Paterson | |
| Dolores Drake | ... | Mrs. Walker (as Delores Drake) | |
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Georgie Collins | ... | Grandmother |
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Tonya Tanner | ... | Young Ruth |
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Leah Penny | ... | Young Lucille |
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Brian Linds | ... | Deputy Sheriff |
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Storyline
In the Pacific Northwest in 1955, two young sisters, abandoned by their mother, wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations. Written by Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>; edited by Peter Victor
Plot Keywords:
aunt niece relationship | car stuck in mud | voice over narration | small town | sister sister relationship |Taglines:
A tidy comedy. See more »Parents Guide:
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Sylvie: He always does that. If he thinks someone's watching him, he just carries on even more.
Fisherman: Come back here!
Sylvie: Pitiful. He's gonna have a heart attack someday.
Ruth: It must be his boat.
Sylvie: Either that or he's some kind of lunatic. I'm certainly not going back to find out.
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Did You Know?
Trivia
The film takes place in 1955. See more »Quotes
Fisherman: You come back here! Lady, you come back here! Lady, you come back!Sylvie: He always does that. If he thinks someone's watching him, he just carries on even more.
Fisherman: Come back here!
Sylvie: Pitiful. He's gonna have a heart attack someday.
Ruth: It must be his boat.
Sylvie: Either that or he's some kind of lunatic. I'm certainly not going back to find out.
See more »
Crazy Credits
"For Marilynne and Fred and their two wonderful boys" See more »Frequently Asked Questions
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
5 February 1988 (Sweden) See more »Also Known As:
Housekeeping See more »Edit
Box Office
Opening Weekend USA:
$32,171, 29 November 1987Gross USA:
$1,083,282Cumulative Worldwide Gross:
$1,083,282Company Credits
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Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
DolbyColor:
Color (Rankcolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1Contribute to This Page
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This is a film of a rare, intimate perception that is aimed with pinpoint precision at a few unusual characters and the places they inhabit. At first its subjects seem simple, but like many people do, these characters are merely shielding themselves, hesitant to reveal much of their real natures except as as rare gifts in intimate moments. It must have been tremendously challenging to create and portray natural introverts like these characters, but as an introvert myself (I assert that characteristic without any touch of self-disparagement), I found this story rewardingly resonant of my own experience, especially of childhood memories, although indeed my outward circumstances had little in common with this story.
Almost never has any film conveyed a sense and feeling of a few small places so clearly and so effortlessly. We cherished the village in "Local Hero", but Fingerbone is an incomparably more realistic and deftly drawn place (despite occasional overreaching, e.g., the town's name, and a train accident that stretches credulity in more than one way).
For anyone willing to watch, dusk and the blue pre-dawn illuminate and suffuse these characters' lives. Sylvie sits by herself in the "dark", but there are wonderful secrets to discover in places that seem a void to others. Even well-meaning intrusions, like interruptions to meditation, can seem tragic.
Even more distinctly than Forsyth's other work, this film certainly wouldn't appeal to everyone, but it is a beautiful and evocative character study that has the courage to deal with personalities, events and emotions too obscure or inaccessible for most mainstream filmmakers. Forsyth deserves credit for having gotten this made in the first place, as well as for the eclectic perception that gave the film its many unique and worthwhile qualities.