***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** If you are able to find this rare title, it still holds the same power that it held when it debuted on network TV in 1979.
Bette Davis plays crotchety Lucy Mason, a widow whose daughter had deserted her many years prior. Gena Rowlands plays long-lost daughter Abigail who suddenly appears out of nowhere to reunite with her mom.
It is never clear until much later in the film why Abigail is suddenly back but what is apparent is that Lucy is none too thrilled. Lucy blames Abigail for the marital discord between her and her dead husband. Abigail offers little remorse but in a final confrontation they finally settle their differences and mother and daughter begin to seemingly heel old wounds.
Until Lucy discovers that Abigail has returned home to die.
This is one of Davis's best roles of her later years. She plays Lucy with a wide range of the emotions that she was known for but less scene chewing. It was as if Davis was re-enacting the strained relations she had with her real life daughter. Her heavy smoking had taken a toll on her voice, but the cracking only added to the snarling warmth of her character. Gena Rowlands steals many a scene by underplaying her character against Davis's occasional outbursts. Both captured their characters beautifully. In her last book shortly before her death, Rowlands was one of the few actresses to escape Davis's wrath. Their off-camera admiration for each other comes across in the heartwarming moments leading up to an emotional surrender in the last scene.
The moment when Davis learns her daughter did indeed use her to come home to die pulls out a powerful resistance from the seasoned actress.
The script is well written, the music appropriate and the New England setting adds a surreal calmness to the storm between these two headstrong women. This is must-see TV for any mother and daughter in a strained situation.
Bette Davis plays crotchety Lucy Mason, a widow whose daughter had deserted her many years prior. Gena Rowlands plays long-lost daughter Abigail who suddenly appears out of nowhere to reunite with her mom.
It is never clear until much later in the film why Abigail is suddenly back but what is apparent is that Lucy is none too thrilled. Lucy blames Abigail for the marital discord between her and her dead husband. Abigail offers little remorse but in a final confrontation they finally settle their differences and mother and daughter begin to seemingly heel old wounds.
Until Lucy discovers that Abigail has returned home to die.
This is one of Davis's best roles of her later years. She plays Lucy with a wide range of the emotions that she was known for but less scene chewing. It was as if Davis was re-enacting the strained relations she had with her real life daughter. Her heavy smoking had taken a toll on her voice, but the cracking only added to the snarling warmth of her character. Gena Rowlands steals many a scene by underplaying her character against Davis's occasional outbursts. Both captured their characters beautifully. In her last book shortly before her death, Rowlands was one of the few actresses to escape Davis's wrath. Their off-camera admiration for each other comes across in the heartwarming moments leading up to an emotional surrender in the last scene.
The moment when Davis learns her daughter did indeed use her to come home to die pulls out a powerful resistance from the seasoned actress.
The script is well written, the music appropriate and the New England setting adds a surreal calmness to the storm between these two headstrong women. This is must-see TV for any mother and daughter in a strained situation.