Here's a handy guide I wished I had on me during my screening of LIFE DURING WARTIME:
Joy Jordan: Shirley Henderson (WARTIME), Jane Adams (HAPPINESS)
Allen: Michael Kenneth Williams (W), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (H)
Trish Maplewood: Allison Janney (W), Cyntha Stevenson (H)
Bill Maplewood: Ciarán Hinds (W), Dylan Baker (H)
Andy: Paul Reubens (W), Jon Lovitz (H)
Mona Jordan: Renee Taylor (W), Louise Lasser (H)
Helen Jordan: Ally Sheedy (W), Lara Flynn Boyle (H)
Trish Jordan has tried to move on with her life after her ex-husband Bill was sent to present for being a paedophile and rapist. She has found a new man, Harvey played by Michael Lerner, her eldest son Billy is now at University and she has told the rest of her children, Timmy (Dylan Riley Snyder) and Chloe (Emma Hinz), that their father is dead. She hopes to spare them any pain but when one of the boys at school looks up their father on the internet and tells Timmy the truth, he comes home crying. This leads to an awkward conversation. Trish's sister Joy decides to take a break from her husband Allen and is constantly haunted and confronted by the ghost of former lover Andy. This leads to a series of awkward conversations. Meanwhile, Bill has been released from prison and decides to track down his eldest son to ensure that he's not going to turn out like his father. Awkward. Conversation.
It was during the meeting of Bill and Billy that something in my mind just clicked and I realised: I hated all of these characters. Just hated them. Couldn't relate to them. Couldn't understand them. Didn't care about them. Wished harm to most of them.
These aren't Real People. In HAPPINESS, despite being rather bizarre and unusual characters, they still came off as human. That's one of the reasons why that film is such an amazing watch. I don't know what's happened in 11years but the characters in LIFE DURING WARTIMG no longer seem human. Example: Trish tells her 12 year-old son that when Harvey touched her elbow she 'got wet'. The son's response? Was it:
(A) “What does that mean?”
(B) “Gross, Mum. I'm your son, what's wrong with you?”
or (C) “Oh, gee-golly-gosh, really Mum? Honest and for trues?”
Yep, it was a version of (C). Not those exact words, but that's how I remember that kid talking all the way through the film.
I sincerely hope this movie hasn't ruined HAPPINESS for me, but to be honest I'm now in no rush to revisit it.
