Aurora Greenway: I just don’t want to fight anymore.
Emma Horton: What do you mean? When do we fight?
Aurora Greenway: WHEN do we FIGHT? I always think of us as fighting!
Emma Horton: That’s because you’re never satisfied with me.

1983’s Best Picture winner “Terms of Endearment” knows how to pull its punches, whether being a bittersweet narrative into a woman beyond her years attempting to re-enter the dating scene, or the terrible truth that some people will never succeed in impressing their parents. This film is underlined with emotion, varying from sweet and innocent to depressing and tragic. This is my look into the mother-daughter dramedy “Terms of Endearment”

WHAT I LOVED ABOUT TERMS OF ENDEARMENT

-Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger: Beautiful acting from theses now veteran actors, both deserving in their nominations and ultimately MacLaine’s win. The movie starts off with a baby in a carriage sleeping and all we here is a man and a woman presumably downstairs of the house they reside. MacLaine decides to check on the sleeping baby and ends up coming to the conclusion seeing that the baby wasn’t moving that the baby had suffered crib-death. She pokes and prods the child until the baby starts wailing and crying. Just a perfect way to start a movie about a mother-daughter relationship that relys on the daughter feeling everything she does isn’t enough for her mother. Shirley’s character Aurora is the realisation of a parent who never seems impressed with her child. Spoiler Even in Emma’s dying breath, she seems to be reaching out for her mother’s approval, a heartbreaking moment if I ever saw one Spoiler end. Debra Winger’s Emma also delivers a quirky fun character who seems to be longing for more. She loves her mother to every extent and loves gossip. She is outgoing and even when she discovers that she is dying, she still continues with her optimistic view on life. The drama theses two go through is just part of the poetry that is life.

-Supporting Cast: Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels, John Lithgow, and Lisa Hart Carroll are great stepping stones to the lives that theses two ladies lead. Jack Nicholson overcomes a lot of the actors, creating an eccentric “ladies” man who has a hard time coming to terms with his emotions. Truly a oscar winning performance.

-The Writing: You couldn’t write a better story. The themes of life, love, and tragedy are underlined with comedy and serious overtones. The script is witty and charming. The moment of death in the film hit me in the way it should have, in shock. I didn’t know how to feel at first, until Aurora began to freak out, I really couldn’t believe it. It felt like you grew up with the characters and seeing something as tragic as that really prevails to hit the heartstrings.

WHAT I HATED ABOUT TERMS OF ENDEARMENT

-I don’t think there’s anything I really hated about the film, but I think it would have been neat to see how they could have used DeVito as a love interest. He seems to be there just as a kind of stalker type, but never really gets a shot at Aurora. Also a little bit more with the Kids could have helped us feel more, especially for Emma’s youngest, Melanie. I guess if I had to complain, it would have to be with the way they present the film in the media or medium, as a kind of fun, chick flick, kind of romp, which will turn away a lot of viewers. That knocks off only half a point tho in the final score.

OVERALL

This film is great, truly a film deserving of the Best Picture status. Not a film for everyone, but if your a film lover like I am or you love character development, then this could be a film for you….Also this is essentially a chick flick (yes I know, at first I was afraid of what I was about to watch), but it’s truly a sweet drama.

RATING: 4.5 OUT OF 5