We've all done it, looked at our reflection in the shining surface of a new car. I can still remember seeing myself and making funny faces as I leaned into the chrome bumpers on my father's car as I polished it as a little boy. But those reflections and those cars grow old I don't need to do anything funny to make my nose look large or my face look funny anymore. That car has rotted past rust by now. And this movie is a study in aging and our reaction to it.
Mr. Dodsworth is a solid citizen, an okay, straight-arrow kind of man who isn't an angel and isn't a devil, just a plain good man with his strengths and failures. He has pulled himself up by his bootstraps and done better than most, building a powerful automobile manufacturing business and a strong family and bonds with friends. Upon retirement he listens to his wife who has never been satisfied in their little home town but wants to go to Europe where she visited briefly and which she now considers her rightful place.
The movie is the story of this fickle, foolish woman trying to flee inevitable age by trying to be what she is not while her husband supports her time and again with the kind of faithfulness born of his own needs and habits as much as old-fashioned morality.
Ironically, when his opportunity comes to find youth and romance again, you long for him to take it while you've been crying for the wife to wake up through the entire film. It is that balance between running from old age, embracing the accomplishments of a lifetime, and finding youth in love no matter what your chronological age, that drives the picture.
You know a great film when you lose yourself in it and start thinking about your own issues. What have you accomplished in life? What is awaiting you? What are you living for, what is worth dying for, and what would you do if you could, even at this point...and why aren't you doing it now? You will find yourself asking and struggling with all of these issues in the course of this film. You will see your own reflection in the shining surface, a mirror to examine an aging face, or a window, to examine the world.
And speaking of shining things, this cast is made up of some of the greatest names to ever work in film. This film shows why. Even across the decades, even across faded black and white, their voices, their expressions, still gleam. And in their smiles and tears you will be able to see what is important about the life you've lived, the life you could have lived, and the life and love you can still find, if you want it.
Mr. Dodsworth is a solid citizen, an okay, straight-arrow kind of man who isn't an angel and isn't a devil, just a plain good man with his strengths and failures. He has pulled himself up by his bootstraps and done better than most, building a powerful automobile manufacturing business and a strong family and bonds with friends. Upon retirement he listens to his wife who has never been satisfied in their little home town but wants to go to Europe where she visited briefly and which she now considers her rightful place.
The movie is the story of this fickle, foolish woman trying to flee inevitable age by trying to be what she is not while her husband supports her time and again with the kind of faithfulness born of his own needs and habits as much as old-fashioned morality.
Ironically, when his opportunity comes to find youth and romance again, you long for him to take it while you've been crying for the wife to wake up through the entire film. It is that balance between running from old age, embracing the accomplishments of a lifetime, and finding youth in love no matter what your chronological age, that drives the picture.
You know a great film when you lose yourself in it and start thinking about your own issues. What have you accomplished in life? What is awaiting you? What are you living for, what is worth dying for, and what would you do if you could, even at this point...and why aren't you doing it now? You will find yourself asking and struggling with all of these issues in the course of this film. You will see your own reflection in the shining surface, a mirror to examine an aging face, or a window, to examine the world.
And speaking of shining things, this cast is made up of some of the greatest names to ever work in film. This film shows why. Even across the decades, even across faded black and white, their voices, their expressions, still gleam. And in their smiles and tears you will be able to see what is important about the life you've lived, the life you could have lived, and the life and love you can still find, if you want it.