The Gerontologist 43:426 (2003)
© 2003 The Gerontological Society of America
OLD AGE AND LOSS IN FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS
Robert E. Yahnke, PhD
University of Minnesota
When the audiovisual review column began in 1976, reviews of feature-length films seldom were a part of the mix of educational and training videos reviewed. Beginning in the 1990s, however, reviews of feature-length films began to appear on a regular basis. In all, 27 feature-length films have been reviewed in the column. The most recent were reviews of the fictional films Waking Ned Divine and Tea With Mussolini (Vol. 39, no. 4, 1999) and the full-length documentaries The Buena Vista Social Club (Vol. 40, no. 2, 2000), Old Men (Vol. 41, no. 5, 2001), and The Fighter (Vol. 42, no. 2, 2002). Feature-length films run 3–4 times longer than typical educational videos and thus are more difficult to integrate into gerontology curricula. But feature-length films (and feature-length documentaries) offer much greater complexity of characterization, a broader scope of the depiction of themes relevant to aging, and a higher level of subtlety and complexity in the interaction among characters. Feature-length films are to educational videos what novels are to short stories.
In this column, three reviewers evaluate two feature-length films from 2001 and one film from 2002. The first two films, Iris and Last Orders, are similar in terms of the structure of the screenplay. Both films utilize extended flashbacks that interrupt the narrative in order to convey a sense of how the lives and values of characters in the present are informed by events in the past. Iris is based on the relationship between Iris Murdoch, one of the great 20th-century English novelists, and her husband John Bayley, a fellow at Oxford University. In her old age, Iris suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Last Orders weaves together the relationships, family lives, and secrets of six characters. About Schmidt, the third film, celebrates the transformation of a retired insurance executive, played by Jack Nicholson, as he works out the parameters of his new identity after the sudden death of his wife. All of these films are about loss. In Iris, a spouse grieves the loss of his wife's former self because of her dementia; in Last Orders, a man's wife and his best friends experience the dimensions of the grieving process; and in About Schmidt, the main character overcomes the loss of his role (in retirement) and the loss of his spouse. At the same time these films offer insights into the way those who recover from loss adapt to their changed circumstances and find a new and deeply felt identity that will sustain them in their old age.
I hope readers will let me know their thoughts on the quality and content of future issues, share their ideas for future themes, inform me of their media productions, and share their thoughts on new developments in film, television, and other media as they relate to gerontology. Readers may contact me via e-mail at the following address: yahnk001@umn.edu
