Hysterical Blindness

This is a strange one to review. Nothing very much happens in it, but there is a lot of character and relationship work going on. It has a great cast, which I think really pulls the movie up a peg or two. If you are a fan of the actors I'd say go for it, rather than relying on the storyline alone.

Someone on the IMDB site has described 'Hysterical Blindness' as 'a gem out of a paper bag' and I could not have put it better myself. This movie is set in Bayonne,New Jersey, in the 1980's and is just a story of the lives of three women. Gena Rowlands superbly plays the aging matriarch who has to wait tables in the local diner to make ends meet. Ben Gazzara plays the widower love interest for a long abandoned Rowlands, and they both have a relationship starting to cook for them in their august years.

Uma Thurman is her thirties something daughter who is self-centred and basically low on self esteem and confidence with men - desperate being the operative word here. Juliette Lewis plays the long suffering single-parent friend of Thurman often finding their long friendship trying and restrictive due to her pal's insecurity and most unreasonable jealous streak.

All three actresses play this social drama superbly and make it look like a slice of real life drawn straight from the eighties. It's about conflicting personalities and relationships and is excellent entertainment. If you missed it first time around - give it a viewing now - a terrifically acted movie.

This is an odd film, with at times a made-for-TV feel (which I think it was). At times I find Uma Thurman's neurotic character too unlikeable and desperate in her quest for a man, but I also liked the gentle pace of the story and the characters were uttterly believable.

Uma Thurman plays a woman, who suffers from occasional bouts of blindness, brought on by the stress she feels in her hunt for a boyfriend. This hunt revolves around her and best friend, Juliette Lewis's, nightly visits to a low grade bar in New Jersey where they reside. You really get a sense of the women's frustration as they try to find their Mr Right.

There is a nice sub-plot involving Thurman's mum, played by Gena Rowlands, a waitress in the local diner and one of her customers', played by Ben Gazzara.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend the film, but thought the performances were all excellent and it was a fairly pleasant watch.

Debby (Thurmann) suffers attacks of temporary blindness due to hysteria induced by her desperation to find love. Her best friend Beth (Lewis) is in a similar situation as a single mum. Together they spend evenings in the local bar searching for one night stands.

Although sensing the quality of this film from the beginning I found myself struggling to connect with the drama, and I had soon fast forwarded to the end still floundering.

Turning on the excellent director’s commentary brought everything into focus. In fact I found this commentary an integral part of the film expanding on the drama.

Indian director Mira Nair takes an extraordinarily subtle and visual approach to film making, deliberately filling the frame with action and colour (unusually vivid patterns for a western film) shots through windows, through glass and in mirrors, and strange angles between groups of people. Also she inserts solo dancing scenes for the girls as they try to attract men, which seem to stem from the directors Indian roots and feel out of place in a western drama.

All this subtlety adds enormously, but in the context of an intense and sometimes shrill drama is only evident when explained. However this subtlety shines in the substantial and beautifully acted sub plot of a late life romance between Debby’s mother Christine (Rowlands) and Nick (Gazzara).

A very ordinary movie