The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 199 Days to go: 203
Movie #178: Mermaids
I really relate to Charlotte Flax (Winona Ryder). I was never as crazy as she is, but I get her. Those middle teen years are brutal. Charlotte lives with her mother Mrs. Flax (Cher) and little sister Kate (Christina Ricci, even more wee and adorable than she grew up to be), and every time Mrs. Flax feels restless or in need of a change, she packs up the family and moves to wherever her fancy strikes. It’s something she talks about with regard to her love for cars — the freedom to leave, to go where she wanted, to live life by her rules — that started back when she was Charlotte’s age. Charlotte hates everything about it.
Mermaids is such a special film because it explores the relationships of mothers and daughters in ways most movies don’t. It focuses on the relationship when it’s perhaps most volatile, but in a way that neither undermines nor champions either side. Charlotte and Mrs. Flax both have valid opinions and they both have unreasonable expectations. They both make smart decisions and they both make huge mistakes. It’s in this way that Mermaids is actually able to create a relationship filled with strife that still feels authentic and full of love.
Mrs. Flax is a woman who has been burned before. Charlotte’s father left her the day Charlotte was born and from that point on, it’s seemed, especially from Charlotte’s viewpoint, that Mrs. Flax has spurned any kind of commitment, from romance to full meals (Mrs. Flax only cooks hors d’oeuvres). Meanwhile, Charlotte longs for stability. She fantasizes about her father (a sort of “grass is greener” compulsion I understand quite well) and scorns her mother and desperately finds to find a place for herself that is the opposite of her mother’s life.
For Charlotte, this idyllic life is currently focused in Catholicism, despite her family being actually Jewish. And as someone who felt pretty lost herself around this age, I fully understand that need to embrace something sturdy and reliable, something that promises solace and answers. Of course, mostly Charlotte just manages to confuse herself and by the end of the film has found a new obsession.
Catholicism isn’t her only obsession in the film, though. The more fervent, all-consuming obsession of Charlotte’s is Joe (Jake Ryan himself, Michael Schoeffling) — convent caretaker and school bus driver extraordinaire. In direct conflict with her quest for religious purity, Joe has turned Charlotte into a raving horndog. Brilliantly, Mermaids addresses the sexuality of a teenage girl with frank sincerity. She is filled with lustful thoughts and desires. She is curious and naive and worldly, all at once. She is growing into womanhood in physical and emotional ways, and her sexuality isn’t left out of that journey. That’s what adolescence feels like, and not nearly enough movies (especially in 1990) spoke to those things in honest and straightforward and believable ways. I love Mermaids for that.
I also love how it deals with an idea I’ve thought quite a lot about: how as a teenager you push away from everything your parents stand for, and how your children will push away from you, and how the cycle will repeat itself into infinity. And yet, even as you lead your life in opposition to your parents, you still wind up becoming them. It’s a fascinating, disturbing, mind-boggling phenomenon, and it’s as common as dirt. Mermaids portrays all that really well too.
The other great thing about Mermaids is Bob Hoskins, who plays Lou. Bob Hoskins is not your typical romantic lead, and yet when Mrs. Flax tells Lou he’s a sexy guy, you believe her. He is clearly, openly into her. In a big way. And they have a ton of natural chemistry that sizzles on the screen. I love how accepting he is of her and how unafraid he is to call her on her bullshit. He’s simply perfect for her, and to be honest, when Hoskins died this year all I could think was how devastated Mrs. Flax must be. They make quite a couple.
Also, can someone hook me up with a Mrs. Flax as a Mermaid costume? I’d be really grateful.
Viable Option 