When I first heard of the movie Mermaids, I suspected it was something along the lines of Splash,
the Tom Hanks comedy about a man who unwittingly falls in love with a
mermaid. However, actual mermaids have little to do with this drama that
stars Cher, a teenage Winona Ryder and a nine-year-old Christina Ricci
as a free-spirited Jewish single mom and her two daughters.
Cher is Rachel Flax, who eccentricity, promiscuity and fear of
commitment have led her to pick up and move every few months. This has
led to a very unsettled life for Charlotte, whose teenage rebellion
manifests itself in her yearning for normalcy and her obsession with
Catholicism, and Kate, a sweet-natured child who is fairly content to go
with the flow. The mermaid part comes in mostly with Kate, as she is an
excellent swimmer, and Rachel attends a costume party dressed as a
mermaid. Charlotte, meanwhile, has a habit of taking frequent showers to
cleanse herself of the sins she believes she has committed.
Charlotte is our central character, the one through whom we see the
events of the movie unfold, thanks in part to Ryder’s poetic voiceovers.
She is intense as only a teenage girl can be, and while she is very
hard on herself whenever she exhibits unsaintly behavior, her true
frustration is with her mother, who refuses to accept responsibility for
any of her actions and becomes violently angry when anyone tries to
call her on it.
The movie begins with them moving to yet
another new town, and this time, Charlotte is delighted to find that
their house is next to a beautiful old abbey populated with nuns. This
quickly becomes her favorite retreat. She is more conflicted about its
bell-ringer, a handsome young man named Joe (Michael Schoeffling), since
she develops an enormous crush on him but feels deeply guilty about it.
The relationship that develops between them is a bit squirmy since she
is well below adulthood and he is in his mid-20s, but she is so ardent
and he is so sweet that it’s hard to fault them too much, except in one
circumstance when their actions endanger someone else.
The
1960s setting gives the film a refreshing flavor, making Charlotte’s
naivety feel more in step with the times, while the Kennedy
assassination serves as a major catalyst for the characters. The decade
also is the reason for Cher’s rendition The Shoop Shoop Song,
which plays over the credits and eventually became one of her biggest
hits. As the 60s is my favorite period of the 20th century, I was
excited to realize that it was set then instead of in 1990.
Ricci is simply adorable in her role and brings sunshine to nearly all
of her scenes, while Ryder is moody but still very likable. Equally
appealing is Lou, the down-to-earth, almost-divorced man who pursues a
relationship with Rachel. His decency and kindness, especially to the
girls, is commendable, while his desire for some measure of commitment
makes Rachel extremely uncomfortable. While she is a fun character,
there’s a self-absorption about her that is a turn-off, particularly
since it so adversely affects her daughters on several occasions.
Ultimately, this is a sweet story about an unconventional family trying
to make it together. The sweetness of the bonds between these three
gals and the man who wants to become a permanent part of their lives
makes Mermaids a tender film, while the issues it raises make it
an especially good pick for teenage girls to watch with their mothers.
It serves as a nice reminder that there is always room for forgiveness
and growth in a family, no matter how grievous past mistakes have been.
No comments:
Post a Comment