Wednesday 17 June 2015

Susan Sarandon

Susan Sarandon has enjoyed a successful acting career spanning 45 years. Known also for her social and political activism, she is an Academy Award and BAFTA winner, and can now add being featured in The MAP Club to her impressive list of achievements! Susan was nominated for five Best Actress Academy Awards in the 1980s and 1990s for memorable roles in Atlantic City, Thelma & Louise, Lorenzo's Oil, The Client, and Dead Man Walking (the role for which she won the Oscar). Some of her well-known films in more recent years include The Banger Sisters, Elizabethtown, Enchanted, and The Lovely Bones. During a rainy afternoon MAP Club meeting we watched the comedy-drama Stepmom, which sees Susan play a terminally ill mother who has to come to terms with the new woman in her former husband's life, and Lorenzo's Oil, the George Miller production about parents desperately searching for a cure for their son's rare disease.

For snacks we ate choc-raspberry Tim Tams and sour worms. Lette prepared a delicious Malaysian curry for dinner, and we drank beetroot, carrot, pineapple and mint juice. Our thoughts on the films are below.


Billy on Stepmom: Stepmom was generally enjoyable and Susan was convincing as a once confident and capable mother beginning to lose her strength, both physically and emotionally, as she is gripped by cancer while her motherly authority is challenged by her ex husband's new fiance (Julia Roberts). The film was both funny at times and sad at times, but I didn't think it was a particularly notable film in either regard. The 12 year old daughter character was annoying and poorly acted, and the feminist in me was disappointed when Julia's character was forced by her (male) boss to choose between caring for her stepchildren and keeping her job. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell feature prominently in the soundtrack, which is pleasing, but I have to say there are plenty of mountains high enough, plenty of valleys low enough, and plenty of rivers wide enough to keep me from watching this film again.

Lette on Stepmom: I used to think this was one of my favourite films, and I still love it, but I just remember it being better. Maybe I was a little worried that I'd hyped the film a bit too much for Billy, but in hindsight out of so many Susan films to choose from, this maybe wasn't the wisest choice. The film makes me wish I lived somewhere that snowed at Christmas and had a mum that would make elaborate rugs for me (oh wait! I have that). In a way this film was an educational experience - I now know what snowblowing is thanks to Julia and her sassy speech. Thanks Julia.

Billy on Lorenzo's Oil: Conjuring up memories of my high school science class, Lorenzo's Oil intelligently depicts human compassion and the flaws of medical science alongside each other. When their young son is given the fatal diagnosis of a rare degenerating disease (ALD - adrenolenkodystrophy) the Odones devote every ounce of their being to finding a breakthrough to battle the disease, ultimately finding a treatment in olive and rapeseed oils that is still used today. For me, the film raises a whole range of interesting questions. How much do we still not know about disease and medicine? How much of what we do know is the result of chance encounters or determined (non-scientist) individuals? How do research time frames resolve with everyday lived experiences of disease? How much influence do drug companies have? How would people in less-privileged circumstances handle the same situation (The Odones are white, middle class folk with good western educations, family to support them and a house they could mortgage etc)? Is there a point where one 'gives up' hope? What makes the will to live so strong? How much suffering should a child endure to live? What quality of life is worth fighting for? When disease degenerates the body so much that a person cannot see, hear, communicate, move their body, eat or even breathe without machines and constant monitoring, are they still the person they were before? What makes a human human? This film is fascinating, thought-provoking, heartbreaking and full of hope. I highly recommend it.

Lette on Lorenzo's Oil: I hadn't seen this film before and I actually wish we'd hosted the Susan Sarandon MAP club meeting a few weeks earlier, prior to my Pathophysiology exam. Who knew this film would provide me with a much needed study session on long chain fatty acids!?! Either way I passed the exam, we can all rest easy, thanks anyway Susan. I thought it was an interesting film that depicts a really heartbreaking situation. Susan portrays the role of the devoted mother who is desperate for a cure, something that will ease the suffering of her child, she's very convincing indeed. I'll wear my patch with pride. 

The Susan Sarandon completion patch.