“Terms of Endearment” – about Belated Declarations of Love
Title: “Terms of Endearment”
Release Date: 1983
Director: James L. Brooks
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Debra Winger, Jeff Daniels
“Terms of Endearment” is a movie that never gets old. Although the fashions and customs of the 1980s are long gone, the story of family relationships still very often follows the same path. James L. Brooks’ five-time Oscar-winning comedy-drama is a moving portrayal of the complexities of family life that arise from constant understatements and omissions. Mother and daughter, husband and wife, partners – everyone gets lost in the dead ends of communication failure. The eponymous “terrible twos” are usually spoken at the wrong time and always too late.
“Terms of Endearment” – mother, daughter, and men
The main character of “Terms of Endearment” is Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine), a woman of mature age whose entire life revolves around her only daughter, whom she raised alone. When Emma (Debra Winger) announces that she is getting married, her mother almost has a nervous breakdown. She does not attend the wedding because she considers this decision a mistake of her life. Soon, however, she manages to build a relationship with the young couple and welcomes her grandchildren into the world. Unfortunately, their relationship is once again put to the test when Emma’s husband, Flap (Jeff Daniels), is promoted to a professorship in a distant state and takes his family with him. From then on, the mother and daughter’s contact is mainly limited to phone calls.
Years pass, Aurora begins an affair with an eccentric neighbor and astronaut named Garrett (Jack Nicholson), and Emma gives birth to her third child and has to deal with serious financial problems and her husband’s infidelity. One day, it turns out that Emma has cancer.
“Terms of Endearment” – an Oscar-winning comedy-drama
The film “Terms of Endearment” is based on the novel by Larry McMurtry, published in 1975. The 1984 film adaptation became a real box office hit, but its 1996 sequel, directed by Robert Harling, did not repeat the success of the first part. The film won five Oscars (including Best Picture) and four Golden Globes. James L. Brooks’ screenplay and direction were highly praised, as was the star-studded cast. Shirley MacLaine, unmatched as a possessive, neurotic mother, rightly received an Academy Award. Her on-screen partner Jack Nicholson, who won the award for Best Supporting Actor, gave one of the best performances of his career in Terms of End Affection.
Ultimately, Debra Winger, who was nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe, did not receive any awards, but it is difficult to imagine a better choice for the role of Emma. In the 1980s, the actress had a dazzling career in Hollywood, most often playing sensitive yet strong women in films such as “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982) and “Legal Eagles” (1990). Interestingly, Debra Winger later appeared in a similarly dramatic role to that in “Terms of Endearment” in “Shadowlands” (1993).
“Terms of Endearment” – a film about the difficulties of interpersonal communication
“Terms of Endearment” is a multidimensional movie whose genre and meaning cannot be summed up in a single formula. This comedy-drama, filled with humor, irony, and moving moments, shows both mother-daughter relationships and romantic relationships, as well as different ways of coping with the passage of time. Birth and death provide the existential framework in which the entire story is literally and symbolically enclosed. The film begins with a scene in a child’s room, and ends with a funeral. On the level of the mother-daughter relationship, we see a gradual loosening of the bond.
Aurora must come to terms with the increasingly painful and ultimately final loss of her daughter: through marriage, moving out, and finally death. Paradoxically, however, it seems that the external signs of separation do not destroy the relationship, but deepen it. Contact, necessarily reduced to words, forces the women to search for what connects them. It is no coincidence that a telephone appears on the film’s posters – it is the film’s central metaphor. In the foreground are verbal exchanges – the eponymous “tender words,” which are often full of irony and mutual jibes. However, beneath the surface lie unresolved bundles of intense emotions. Family communication appears like a telephone conversation – at once close and distant, honest, yet avoiding sensitive topics. What is said becomes as important as what is left unsaid.
Words of love are always the most difficult to articulate. They cannot pass through the throat of Aurora, who hides her fear for her daughter’s life behind the mask of an eternally demanding mother, or Garrett, who prefers to get involved in fleeting romances with younger women rather than make an intimate confession to his neighbor. It is no coincidence that the most moving scenes in the film are two silent ones: when Emma’s eldest son, even on his mother’s deathbed, cannot bring himself to express his feelings, and when Aurora says goodbye to her daughter with a look in her eyes.
Tender words never come at the right time. We carry them inside us for years, saving them for a different, better occasion, and often we allow them to remain inside us forever. This is the poignant truth of James L. Brooks’ film.