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OLD AGE AND LOSS IN FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS

University of Minnesota258 Appleby Hall128 Pleasant St. S.E.Minneapolis, MN 55455E-mail: yahnk001{at}umn.edu

Last Orders. Video/DVD/2001/109 min. Based on the novel by Graham Swift. Directed by Fred Schepisi. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

Last Orders is a film about grief, memory, ritual, lifelong friendships, intergeneration, love in old age, unresolved conflicts, failed dreams and the compromises of maturity, and the mystery of how one person's life can extend outward and affect the lives of so many other people. In 1990 three old men in their late 60s—Ray, Vic, and Lenny—gather at the Coach & Horses pub, their favorite watering hole in their London neighborhood. One carries a box that contains a brown plastic urn with the ashes of a fourth friend, Jack, an old drinking buddy. Jack's last request, his "last order," was to have his ashes scattered on the pier at Margate, a town on the Strait of Dover, east of London. Before long they are joined by a fourth man—Jack's son Vince—and begin their journey to Margate. As the action of the film unfolds, each of the men experiences memories of the particular ways in which their lives were enriched and enlarged by their ties to Jack.

The lives of the four old men had not turned out the way they had expected. Jack always wanted to be a doctor, but he spent his career as a butcher; Ray always wanted to be a jockey, but he worked in insurance. Lenny wanted to be a middleweight boxing champion, but his talent never rose above mediocrity. Only Vic, who worked as an undertaker, seems to have found the right career for himself. What kept their friendship going? One of their common bonds was their military experience in World War II. All of the men lived in the same town, and some worked on the same street. The Coach & Horses pub was the center of their social life—a place to "have a pint" after work, swap stories, celebrate special occasions, and nurture the friendships established during and after the war.

Rather than telling the story in a linear way, the structure of the narrative moves forward and backward in time similar to the structure of the film Iris. But in Last Orders the nonlinear structure is complicated by the number of main characters who draw upon memories of Jack. In the present, the scene that dominates consists of the four men in a Mercedes as they drive out of London and east toward Margate. The scenes in the car are intertwined with scenes of Ray and Amy (Jack's wife) sitting on a bench across the Thames from the Houses of Parliament and reminiscing about their lives with Jack. This scene, revisited throughout the film, takes place the day Jack died. Ray was the first person Amy called when Jack died. The emotional core of the story is revealed through Amy and Ray's reminiscences. Another scene taking place in the present compares Amy's activities on the day the men drive to Margate. Amy is making a pilgrimage of her own that day—to visit her profoundly retarded daughter, who has lived in an institution since she was born in 1939. In one sense, the same day the four men are saying good-bye to Jack, Amy is saying good-bye to her daughter and starting a new life. In effect, the film is really about a spiritual pilgrimage on the part of all five surviving members of Jack's circle of family and friends. Each of the characters brings unresolved conflicts to this experience; and yet each of the characters finds a measure of resolution of past hurts through reliving their ties to Jack, completing the pilgrimage, and engaging in the ritual of scattering Jack's ashes (or in the case of Amy, of finally sundering her ties with her middle-aged daughter).

The film's narrative moves seamlessly from the present to the past and offers numerous insights into the relationships between the main characters. For instance, early in the film Ray, Vic, and Lenny stand at the bar in the Coach & Horses. Vic places the urn holding Jack's ashes on the bar, and the men raise their glasses to the memory of Jack. At that moment the scene cuts away to a shot of Jack emptying his glass at the Coach & Horses years ago, wiping his lips, and kidding the other three about who buys the next round. "You blokes would die of thirst without me," Jack says. The sound level is high because the pub is crowded. Jack orders a new round and then picks out an attractive woman on the other side of the bar and teases her—warning her not to "come on" to these four old men—although one of them, Ray, is available. The young woman winks at them, and Jack kneads Ray's shoulder affectionately and whispers in his ear that this woman could be the right one for him! And then magically the scene cuts away to the former scene of the three old friends, each man lost in thought, rapt in a moment of silence, respect, and awe at the mystery of death. This editing captures the grief these men feel and prepares the viewer for similarly powerful cuts later in the film.

Another example of filmmaking magic occurs after they have returned to the car and Vince resumes the drive. Their first thoughts turn to the luxury of riding in a Mercedes. Suddenly Lenny, remembering the song "Blue Bayou" that was playing in the pub (it was "Jack's song") begins to sing along with Ray, "such a lonesome time, since I left my baby behind—on the blue bayou!" They all laugh—and then the scene cuts away to a scene from the past. All four men, as well as Jack's adult son Vince, are at the crowded pub and the indomitable Jack is leading them—and almost everyone else in the pub—in a rousing chorus from "Blue Bayou." The sound level, the smoky haze, the animated expressions, all evoke the social atmosphere of the pub—a place to gather, celebrate, act silly, "let your hair down," and affirm friends and community. "Last orders!" the bartender cries, and the men huddle around for a last set of drinks. These two cuts early in the film also illustrate the power of the memory to evoke images of the dead—and the images in this case characterize Jack as the leader of this group, the core of this micro-community, a man full of life and vigor, expressive, caring, and committed to his friends.

The film offers a straightforward and dignified portrayal of how men deal with their emotions in the grieving process. In one scene two of the men take bathroom breaks at different times in order to seize the moment and double over with grief. These old men still find it difficult to express emotions directly. They even find it difficult to say a word like funeral. The film is also a travelogue in the picaresque tradition. These "four Musketeers" (Vince and Jack's three best friends) drive east of London with stops at Rochester, the Chatham War Memorial, a field in Kent that evokes a key memory of one of the characters, Canterbury Cathedral, and finally the town of Margate. Each stop connects the men to specific memories and emotions. In a pub in Rochester Jack's son Vince sums up the vital role Jack played in all of their lives when he says, "It's because of him that we're here."

If the film's structure facilitates a spiritual pilgrimage on the part of the characters, it also suggests a gradual unfolding of secrets in the lives of the characters. For instance, why does Jack want his ashes scattered at Margate? What experience drove a wedge between Jack and Amy for more than 50 years? What unresolved grief does Amy finally let go of? What is the secret to Vince's identity? Why does Lenny harbor such hostility toward Vince? What happened between Ray and Amy 20 years ago? What secret has Vic kept for 20 years? Why were Jack and Ray such close friends? The journey to Margate, as well as Amy's last visit to her daughter, answers all of these questions.

The veteran ensemble cast captures the idiosyncrasies, the humor, and the essential dignity of these old characters as they search for meaning and completeness in their lives. Michael Caine is superb as Jack, his Cockney accent at full tilt, his timing perfect. Bob Hoskins is a roly-poly bear of a man, and he plays the role of Ray with a quiet dignity and gentleness. Helen Mirren creates a character whose life has been haunted by years of clinging to an impossible desire for recognition and affirmation. The other main actors—Tom Courtenay as Vic, David Hemmings as Lenny, and Ray Winstone as Vince—portray individualized characters with well-defined characteristics—calm and caring, gruff and boisterous, sensitive and compassionate. Furthermore, all of these actors portray their characters in middle age as well as in old age.

The story of Ray and Amy illustrates the ways in which love in old age often has deep roots in the past. For more than 50 years Ray was Jack's best friend, and at the same time he desperately loved Jack's wife. Both Jack and Amy knew about his feelings—but neither voiced a concern. After Ray's wife left him (for another man), circumstances brought Ray and Amy closer together. Over 6 weeks during one summer 20 years earlier, the two engaged in an affair of their own. During this time Ray provided Amy with a respite from her weekly visits to her institutionalized daughter. He took her places and shared new experiences with her. Amy called him a "little ray of sunshine" and "a little ray of hope." Then why didn't they continue the affair? The easy answers were because Amy had to continue to visit her daughter, or that Vince was home from the military and needed his Mum around. But the real answer was that neither Ray nor Amy could betray Jack by continuing their affair. So for another 20 years they agreed to a hiatus in their emotional relationship. When Jack is in the hospital, however, he tells Ray, "It'll be harder for Amy. She'll need looking after." In effect, Jack gives Ray permission to carry on—and make Amy a central part of his life. Amy stayed with Jack because he loved her—even as he could not love their daughter. Jack knows that with his death Ray and Amy need to resume their lives—together. The scenes showing Amy and Ray spending the day together (on the day Jack died) illustrate two people that are ready to move on after Jack's death. They revisit their emotional ties. Amy reinforces her devotion to her husband. They plan a future together. They are a couple now, even though they chose to detach their emotions from each other for more than 20 years.

In the last scene the pilgrims have arrived at their destination—the pier at Margate. The men dig into the urn. "Good-bye, Jack," "Bye, Dad," "Bye, Jack"—as each of the men throws the ashes up into the air so that the wind can carry them away. Then they share a moment of silence. The men walk away from the pier and decide it's time to have a pint. Lenny puts his arm around Vince, a first gesture of reconciliation after a trip filled with hard feelings between the two. As soon as the men exit the frame, the camera tracks past them and then moves in toward a stonewall on the right side of the frame. The camera moves right along the edge of the wall until only the sea and the horizon line of the cloudy sky is visible in the frame. That shot ends the film. The effect of this film technique suggests that Jack's spirit is present here. When the men leave him behind, then the spirit of Jack moves on toward the sea—perhaps toward eternity—now that his last orders have been fulfilled.

A film like Last Orders offers gerontologists a sobering, complex, and yet ultimately hopeful view of the grieving process. These characters are stubborn, petty, argumentative, flawed, and often have made terrible personal choices in their lives. Yet the emotional core of the story is the love that flows readily from friend to friend, family member to family member, and generation to generation. The stories of these six characters reflect the capacity of the old to preserve and renew lifelong friendships, resolve unfinished business, redeem themselves from self-imposed exiles, restore long-suppressed emotional ties, reconcile intergenerational disputes, and transform themselves in the process.

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