Movies for Adults
by Carrie Hoffman

Introduction: In a creative writing workshop that I took during my junior year of college, my professor once mentioned Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and the whole class groaned. My professor told us to give it another chance, but to wait ten years; she said it was unfortunate that so many high school students were forced to read the novel because they weren’t ready for it yet, that their age ruined it for them and gave them a bitter feeling toward the book. Same thing happened when I read Richard Ford’s The Sportswriter, a novel about a man’s mid-life crisis, which I picked up after having enjoyed Ford’s short story "Rock Springs" in another creative writing class. In a conference with my professor, I told him how much I’d hated the character, hated the book—he said, "Of course you didn’t like it; you’re twenty!"

So when thinking about the movies I would choose for this list, I wanted only movies which met one of two criteria:

a) movies that you would have a greater and deeper understanding of precisely because you are an "adult" (read: beyond college age) and have had various adult experiences and thus have a more mature understanding of people, the world, emotions, etc.

b) movies that one would not even like or have any interest in watching before the age of about 22.

For these reasons, all of the movies on my list tend to be intensely serious, and in most of the cases, about highly complicated relationships. I guess these are the things we learn about as we get older.

Here’s my list, in no particular order.

Breaking the Waves, dir. Lars von Trier – For me, this film was about a cycle of denial, fulfillment, and then disappointment. In between are themes of love, devotion, and eroticism. Emily Watson plays Bess, a not-quite-all-there young woman from a small Scottish village. In the village, there’s a very strict and restrained code of behavior for women—which the highly emotional Bess does not meet. She finally finds Jan, with whom she falls in love; they have great sex and Bess seems thrilled with life. Then Jan gets a job on an oil rig and is gone most of the time, leaving Bess troubled and lonely most of the time, waiting for him to return home. In a memorable line, Bess says, "In ten days, Jan will be home for a week"—a woefully sad line in which the waiting is longer than the payoff. Then Jan is paralyzed in an accident on the rig, and in the hospital, there’s lots of tension about the couple’s inability to be physically intimate with each other—this prompts Jan to urge Bess out into affairs with other men so that she can return with the details. Though the plot here could certainly have become rather tasteless, von Trier handles it deftly, always attentive to Bess’s inner life and her complicated relationship to Jan. The acting in the movie is excellent, as is the soundtrack. On the whole, it’s a movie about the relentlessness of life and about devotion. It’s one that I think would only get better the older you are.

Dancer in the Dark, dir. Lars von Trier – Another film about the relentlessness of life. A movie that leaves you with your mouth open and a sick feeling in your gut. It’s been five years since I saw this film in the theater, but I still remember so much about it. I’ll skip the plot summary for this one since it’s one of those where you know it’s headed down a dark path, you’re just not quite sure where. Bjork stars as Selma, a woman who’s going blind and works in a factory. She has a young son. There are wonderful scenes about dreaming where Bjork’s factory turns into a musical. There’s a tragic ending. It’s a movie about how evil people can be, I think. About the dreams we have, but in the end also about how stark life can actually be.

The Five Obstructions, dir. Lars von Trier and Jorgen Leth – This film has a documentary and a much more "arty" feel than the other two Lars von Trier films. It’s very premise-based: von Trier convinced film director Jorgen Leth to re-visit his early film The Perfect Human and filmed the process. The idea is to force someone (in this case, an artist) to confront the unfamiliar, to try to create something new. Von Trier had Leth re-film the same scene five different times according to rules set up by von Trier. Leth had to use the same dialogue in the original film (which was just a man in a tuxedo talking at a table of food), only he had different "obstructions" each time—the setting had to change, one version had to be animated, one could have no cut that lasted more than a half-a-second, one had to be filmed in a place that made Leth uncomfortable, etc. Along the way, we get an eye into Leth’s life, into the relationship between Leth and von Trier, and an understanding of how hard it is to make things. It’s a film that might seem a bit to "arty" to a younger person, but which stands out as "adult" because of its emphasis on getting out of a comfortable position in life—something that younger people would not understand as well, I don’t think, because they haven’t yet had a chance to become comfortable. At the same time, it’s also about the friendly-yet-contentious relationship between the two filmmakers. Also, at the same time, we learn about Leth as a person. Highly interesting stuff.

Deliverance, dir. John Boorman – Everyone loves this movie. I didn’t see it until this year so I’m not sure, but I suspect that it would work for someone as young as sixteen, but I think they would respond to different features in the film than I did. For a younger viewer, this movie might end up being loved for its sensational plot stuff, all the Gothic toothless, inbred, grotesque images of the south. What I found so compelling, though, are the psychological make-up of the characters. The way a horrifying event (won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it) affects each one. Also, the film has a very dark worldview that seems to speak to people who’ve "seen things" in life.

Hilary and Jackie, dir. Anand Tucker – A really creepy movie that becomes more creepy when you learn it’s based on a true story. This also stars Emily Watson along with Rachel Griffiths as sisters and cello players. The film centers on jealousy between the two sisters, as well as the music world. There is a horrifying scene of infidelity. All in all, good for adults.

Metroland, dir. Philip Saville – Another film starring Emily Watson that takes on the theme of infidelity. This one actually centers mostly on her husband in the film, played by Christian Bale, who has found staleness and discontent in his married life as a father in the suburbs. He begins reflecting on a love affair he had with a French woman in Paris, an affair he gave up to marry Emily Watson’s character. He comes disastrously close to infidelity and instead chooses his wife. Near the end of the film we learn that Watson’s character—who seemed perfectly suited for the suburban mom role—is just as dissatisfied as him. It ends up being a film about regret, jealousy, choices, dissatisfaction. Nice adult-ish themes.

The Wings of the Dove, dir. Iain Softley – Another film, like Dancer in the Dark, about how badly people can treat each other. This one is based on the Henry James novel of the same title and stars Helena Bonham Carter as Kate. Kate’s is in love with a man named Merton, who is unacceptable to her wealthy aunt because he is poor. Kate then becomes best friends with a rich American woman named Milly, who is in Europe because of an illness: she is dying. Kate thus conspires to have Milly marry Merton so that he can inherit all of Milly's money when she dies—and then he can marry Kate. The betrayal of the cancer patient. It’s a complicated love triangle with really rich characters, rich themes of guilt, conspiracy, jealousy, and disingenuousness.

In the Company of Men, dir. Neil LaBute – A film about how absolutely evil someone can be, and how horrible we can be to each other. More of the same, only ratcheted to an unspeakable level.

Battleship Potemkin, dir. Sergei Eisenstein – This is the only "classic" movie on my list. It's a 1925 film that dramatizes an uprising by sailors on a Russian ship, a film that has a political bent that is certainly adult—about abuses of power, the conditions of workers, and rebellion. Lots of grotesque images of men being killed and the spoiled food they are forced to eat (meat filled with maggots). Beyond these thematic interests, it’s black-and-white, which should be enough to make it an "adult" movie.

In the Bedroom, dir. Todd Field – The story begins when Frank, a college student, returns from his first year of college and starts dating Natalie, played by Marisa Tomei, who is divorced and has two kids. Natalie’s jealous ex-husband ends up killing Frank—and this leaves us with what the movie is about: Frank’s parents have to deal with the loss of their son. Powerful performances by Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson here, heavy with grief. Exactly the horrible way you would expect it to go down when someone suddenly loses a child. A movie that I can only imagine would have even more resonance for anyone who already has children.