Searching
for Debra Winger will most likely divide audiences down the middle. On the one
hand it might very well be perceived as a collection of very fortunate women complaining
about the living hell it is to be rich and famous. By the same token I'm sure
there will be plenty who will understand and appreciate the objective of Director
Rosanna Arquette’s film. The title here might be a little misleading (one
might mistake it for a documentary that sets out to discover what malevolent forces
have conspired to destroy the life of Debra Winger - you’re thinking of Margot
Kidder). Rather, Arquette’s mostly compelling film uses the fact that Debra
Winger chose to retire from acting at a relatively young age in order to escape
the plight of the aging actress in Hollywood. With this general notion as a mission
statement, Arquette sets out to explore the topic visa vie the extemporaneous
thoughts of a couple dozen of our most luminous female movie stars.
I
have to admit that I was shamelessly transfixed to this film, because so many
of the actresses offering their thoughts and opinions have been women that I’ve
grown up with, feel a strong kinship toward and have adored throughout the course
of my movie-watching life. The subject these women are invited to vent about is
certainly no revelation. It’s common knowledge among film fans that the climate
of the industry is one that values novelty and youth above all else. This coupled
with the fact that it is largely controlled by men who equate financial security
with nubile breasts and creamy smooth complexions, and it's not an ideal situation
for the aging actress.
The
film is a tad windy and repetitve, still and all, many a cogent point is made
by these icons of the screen (however redundantly) and in some small way perhaps
this film may shine some light on the problem and provide a springboard for awareness
and change. And in a sense, chiefly via the advent of the independent film industry,
as well as television, there are many more substantial roles for actresses over
forty than there were ten years ago. Still, in the world of the Hollywood blockbuster
these leading ladies of the past are often relegated to stock supporting roles.
The aunt, the grandmother, the sister, the best friend etc. - actresses in the
prime of their talent and often beauty just aren’t’ written for and
that really is a shame.
Searching
For Debra Winger isn't just about the paucity of good roles for actresses over
40, the film also focuses on whether or not it is possible for them to maintain
a successful film career while also carrying on rewarding family and love relationships.
Though there is a recurrent diatribe that the film often falls into, there are
enough individual takes on these subjects to keep the film from devolving into
a off-putting morass of feminist polemics. Searching for Debra Winger stays on
the move and is light enough on it’s feet to hold one’s interest -regardless
of one’s personal opinion of these matters.
The
majority of the actresses that participate are candid and charmingly forthcoming
and the dream-team cast assembled here gives the film enough voyeur-power to sustain
it over the course of it’s running time. On board is an interestingly representative
cross-section of women and I’ll now embark upon the daunting task of listing
them all from memory: Sharon Stone, Holly Hunter, Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg,
Diane Lane, Meg Ryan, Vanessa Redgrave, Salma Hayek, Frances MacDormand, Jobeth
Williams, Ally Sheedy, Alfre Woodard, Charlotte Rampling, Laura Dern, Robin Wright-Penn,
Catherine O’Hara, Melanie Griffith, Martha Plimpton, Teri Garr, Theresa Russell,
Darryl Hannah, Kelly Lynch, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Ormond, Tracey Ullman, as well
as Rosanna’s sister Patricia Arquette and Debra Winger herself. The only
male allowed to chime in was an empathetic Roger Ebert.
There
are some obvious non-sequitirs included in the mix, most noticeably Paltrow and
Hayek who have certainly yet to experience the sort of agism that is at the heart
of the proceedings. Another quite profound and inadvertent point the film makes
is the far more bleak plight that black actresses face. The fact that there were
only two black actresses involved (and one of those being Whoopi, whose age has
probably never been an issue in matters of her casting) points to something that
has always bothered me, that being the shameful shortage of roles for the black
actress. All I have to do to make my point is to ask you, the reader, to think
of which black actresses have been left out of this project? Cicely Tyson? She’s
probably pushing 70. Sure there are a number of black actresses that are doing
a wonderful job in the wave of black oriented films, but few of these have reached
a point where they are being ignored on the basis of their age. Halle Berry isn’t
getting turned down because she can’t pull-off nudity the way she used to.
In
any case, I enjoyed this film for a number of reasons. It’s a fact that I’ve
been deeply in love with many of these women at one time or another (particulary
Winger) and to hear them talk about anything is a pleasure for me. Hand in hand
with this was how fascinating it was to hear them bemoan the fact that they had
so much difficulty finding love during the course of their careers (when here
I’ve been all these years with arms wide open). How I’d love to offer
words of comfort. To let them know that their performances in Basic Instinct,
Broadcast News, Klute, Unfaithful, When Harry Met Sally, The Turning Point, Frida,
Fargo, The Big Chill, The Breakfast Club, Grand Canyon, Stardust Memories, Blue
Velvet, Forrest Gump, Waiting For Guffman, Something Wild, Running on Empty, Young
Frankenstein, The Razor’s Edge, Bladerunner, Drugstore Cowboy, Shakespeare
In Love, Legends of the Fall, Panic, True Romance and Cannery Row have all meant
the world to me and have changed my life for the better. Yes many of these women
have been the object of worship only to be cast aside in favor of the younger
flavor of the month, but if there’s anything that this film imparted to me,
is that these gifted and wonderful human beings have been an incredible inspiration
to myself and countless others, and ladies, believe me, we haven’t forgotten
you.
