I'll See You in My Dreams

We were so pleasantly surprised by I’ll See You in My Dreams. We went to the theatre to see Far from the Madding Crowd, but the paper had the wrong show time listed. The only other movie then was I’ll See You, and we’re so glad we got to see it, her. The “her” is Blythe Danner, whom I’ve loved ever since I watched her countless times in her role as Zelda Fitzgerald in the tv movie The Last of the Belles. I used that film in my English classes, thus the countless viewings. That was forty-one years ago when she and I were much younger, just after Blythe gave birth to a little girl named Gwyneth Paltrow, before Blythe grew old enough to play the aging but still lovely Carol. It begins with the death of her dog and bed partner Hazel, as sad a scene as the scene in the Jesse Stone film, Night Passage, when Tom Selleck had to have his dog Boomer put to sleep. I wept for Boomer; I wept for Hazel. Carol has been a widow for the twenty years since her husband was killed in a plane crash. She retired from teaching with the insurance money and hasn’t done much of anything since. No men in her life, her days spent taking care of her house and garden, afternoons playing bridge with three retired friends living in the Royal Oaks Retirement complex—Sally (Rhea Perlman), Rona (Mary Kay Place), and Georgina (June Squibb)—and drinking lots of wine. She has a “To Do” board next to her refrigerator. We see how few items there are—dry cleaning, walk. And after a few days even those two are no longer on the board, showing us exactly how little she has to do. She begins an acquaintance with her pool guy Lloyd (Martin Starr), who tries to help her spot a tree rat that has invaded her house. He is a young man who seems to be searching (unsuccessfully) for meaning in his life but not searching very hard. The two of them bond at a karaoke bar when he sings the only song he ever sings (and sings very badly) and she sings (very well) “Cry Me a River.” Way back in her past she sang in a rock band, she tells him. He wonders why she ever quit singing and she tells him that life simply took her in another direction. She goes on, only half joking, that we all go through life searching for meaning and we all find it. What is it? he asks. Death, she tells him. How’s that for a thematic statement? She also meets Bill (Sam Elliott), who takes her out for an afternoon on his yacht. They date several times and they both feel an attraction that could be lasting. Simple plot, lovely story, wonderful acting, especially in the expressive facial shots of Blythe Danner as she portrays this aging woman trying to find some reason to go on living. This is a four-out-of-five star flick and I recommend it to all who want to see someone in their dreams.