This wonderful movie transcends its intended audience. Most people seeing this say it is a woman's movie.
The lead is female. The problems are those associated with women: marriage, relationships, loneliness, and love. Those who don't like the movie, say it leaves out half the human race.
Nonsense.
The film introduces us to a maiden aunt who is overweight, plain and very self conscious with glasses that, in her opinion, does nothing for her. It is the custom of her family to either bully her (her mother and her niece), or to show a silent sort of pity. Only June is determined to do something: she introduces Charlotte to Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains) who immediately understands her condition. To her credit, so does Charlotte. She knows she needs help, or at least a change.
With his excellent guidance, she is transformed into a beautiful engaging woman. She decides to go on a ship's cruise to fulfill an unspoken need. She meets Jerry (Paul Hanreid), with whom she immediately falls in love. He returns it. But (as we learn later), he is married, but is very unhappy. His wife is not a partner: she's an emotional leach. He is a noble man and will not divorce her to marry Charlotte.
Charlotte respects his nobility: she will not be a home wrecker. They part. Charlotte decides to try developing a relationship based on comfort. Eventually she realizes it is not for her, that she cannot settle for a little when she has had a love like the one she's had with Jerry.
She gets into an argument with her mother and her mother cannot stand the strain of the argument and has a fatal heart attack. She cannot stand her guilt and goes back for help from Dr. Jaquith. There she meets Jerry's daughter Tina. She immediately takes a liking to the girl. They become like mother and daughter, both fulfilling the needs of the other.
Jerry is eternally grateful and decides Tina is in the right place.
That essentially is the plot. But the plot description really pales the dialog, the delivery, the music, the direction, and the sincerity of the production. With a 50% divorce rate, we cannot understand much of what happens in the film. We would likely think the nobility is another word for stupidity. We would think her timidity laughable: we are encouraged to make our way in the world.
And yet don't we all wish we could love someone with the unwavering feminine moral standard of Charlotte? She had the power to corrupt Jerry, but did not. Don't we all wish we knew someone like Jerry who had plenty of opportunity to stray, but did not?
How we watch one of those films determines what our response is going to be. If we are cynical, we will probably laugh. If we are emotional, we likely will get teary eyed. If we know what we are watching we will enjoy and be enriched by a film that transcends all its surface "defects."
10 out of 10
The lead is female. The problems are those associated with women: marriage, relationships, loneliness, and love. Those who don't like the movie, say it leaves out half the human race.
Nonsense.
The film introduces us to a maiden aunt who is overweight, plain and very self conscious with glasses that, in her opinion, does nothing for her. It is the custom of her family to either bully her (her mother and her niece), or to show a silent sort of pity. Only June is determined to do something: she introduces Charlotte to Dr. Jaquith (Claude Rains) who immediately understands her condition. To her credit, so does Charlotte. She knows she needs help, or at least a change.
With his excellent guidance, she is transformed into a beautiful engaging woman. She decides to go on a ship's cruise to fulfill an unspoken need. She meets Jerry (Paul Hanreid), with whom she immediately falls in love. He returns it. But (as we learn later), he is married, but is very unhappy. His wife is not a partner: she's an emotional leach. He is a noble man and will not divorce her to marry Charlotte.
Charlotte respects his nobility: she will not be a home wrecker. They part. Charlotte decides to try developing a relationship based on comfort. Eventually she realizes it is not for her, that she cannot settle for a little when she has had a love like the one she's had with Jerry.
She gets into an argument with her mother and her mother cannot stand the strain of the argument and has a fatal heart attack. She cannot stand her guilt and goes back for help from Dr. Jaquith. There she meets Jerry's daughter Tina. She immediately takes a liking to the girl. They become like mother and daughter, both fulfilling the needs of the other.
Jerry is eternally grateful and decides Tina is in the right place.
That essentially is the plot. But the plot description really pales the dialog, the delivery, the music, the direction, and the sincerity of the production. With a 50% divorce rate, we cannot understand much of what happens in the film. We would likely think the nobility is another word for stupidity. We would think her timidity laughable: we are encouraged to make our way in the world.
And yet don't we all wish we could love someone with the unwavering feminine moral standard of Charlotte? She had the power to corrupt Jerry, but did not. Don't we all wish we knew someone like Jerry who had plenty of opportunity to stray, but did not?
How we watch one of those films determines what our response is going to be. If we are cynical, we will probably laugh. If we are emotional, we likely will get teary eyed. If we know what we are watching we will enjoy and be enriched by a film that transcends all its surface "defects."
10 out of 10