Housekeeping (film)

Housekeeping is a 1987 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Christine Lahti, Sara Walker, and Andrea Burchill. Based on the 1980 novel Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, the film is about two young sisters growing up in Idaho during the 1950s. After being abandoned by their mother and raised by elderly relatives, the sisters are looked after by their eccentric aunt whose unconventional and unpredictable ways affect their lives. Filmed on location in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, Housekeeping won two awards at the 1987 Tokyo International Film Festival.[3]

Housekeeping
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bill Forsyth
Produced by	Robert F. Colesberry
Screenplay by	Bill Forsyth
Based on	Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Starring	Christine Lahti
Music by	Michael Gibbs
Cinematography	Michael Coulter
Edited by	Michael Ellis
Production company	Columbia Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	November 25, 1987 (1987-11-25) (USA)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million[1]
Box office	$1,083,282[2]

Plot

Teen sisters Ruth and Lucille, raised by a grandmother after their mother's suicide, end up living with an aunt in a western U.S. town called Fingerbone after the grandmother dies.

Aunt Sylvie is an unusual woman. She likes to sit in the dark and sleep in the park. Others in town are never quite sure what to make of her. And the same holds true for the girls, even when Sylvie writes elaborate excuses to get them out of school.

Cast

• Christine Lahti as Sylvie
• Sara Walker as Ruth
  • Tonya Tanner as Young Ruth
• Andrea Burchill as Lucille
  • Leah Penny as Young Lucille
• Anne Pitoniak as Aunt Lily
• Barbara Reese as Aunt Nona
• Margot Pinvidic as Helen
• Bill Smillie as Sheriff
• Wayne Robson as Principal
• Betty Phillips as Mrs. Jardine
• Karen Elizabeth Austin as Mrs. Paterson
• Dolores Drake as Mrs. Walker
• Georgie Collins as Grandmother

Production

Housekeeping was the first North American film by writer and director Bill Forsyth, whose previous films—That Sinking Feeling (1980), Gregory's Girl (1981), Local Hero (1983), and Comfort and Joy (1984)—were produced in Scotland.[4] Forsyth's screenplay for the film is based on the 1980 novel Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. It was in fact the prospect of bringing the novel to film that brought him to America. Forsyth would later describe his film version as an attempt to "make a commercial to get people to read the novel".[5]

Forsyth had been sent a copy of the book by an actress friend and he loved it. "There is in it that generational haunting that affects most of us," Forsyth says, "those familial burdens we all carry: the grandfather in the story they never knew but who seems to be there all the time." [1]

Forsyth bought the screen rights and took two years to raise money to finance it. "We took it to studios who had expressed interest in it; we didn't just send it out wildly. I didn't get anywhere. I tried to work out various co-productions. At one point it was going to be a Canadian-Norwegian co-production, but that fell apart. I had some English money, but not enough."[1]

Diane Keaton agreed to star and based on this Cannon Films agreed to finance. However Keaton pulled out six weeks before filming and Cannon withdrew finance. "That was one horrendous week," Forsyth says.[1]

Forsyth succeeded in raising finance from David Puttnam, who had produced Local Hero and who was appointed head of production at Columbia. Christine Lahti played the lead.[1]

Forsyth said, "I had always written the story and the script before, and therefore I was the expert on the characters. But these characters, this strange woman and those two unpredictable young girls, were up for grabs. I began to look forward to that half-hour each morning when we discussed the characters and what the day's scenes meant."[1]

Shooting

Housekeeping was filmed on location in Castlegar and Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.[6] Principal photography began on September 22, 1986 and ended in December 1986.[7]

Release

Housekeeping was released in the United States on November 25, 1987.[3] That month it was also shown at the Regus London Film Festival.[8] Housekeeping was released on VHS video in the United States on July 8, 1988.[7]

Critical response

In his review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby described the film as a "haunting comedy about impossible attachments and doomed affection in a world divided between two kinds of people"—those who pass aimlessly through life and embrace random existence, and those who seek to impose reason and order on random existence.[9] These two types are represented by the eccentric aunt Sylvie, who wanders aimlessly from town to town, and Lucille, who longs to establish familial roots and "live the way other people do".[9] The relationship between Lucille and her sister Ruth is transformed as the latter grows increasingly drawn to her aunt's way of life. Canby notes that Forsyth is able to "make us care equally" for both sisters.[9]

Canby described Lahti's performance as "spellbinding" in this "role of her film career":

Sylvie is a beauty even when she looks a mess. She enters the movie quietly, as if by a side entrance, so it takes some time to feel the strength of her presence, which, once established, dominates the film. When she's off-screen, one tends to worry about what she's up to. When she's on-screen, one searches for clues to what's going on in the seeming serenity of her mind.[9]

Canby is equally impressed with Sara Walker's portrayal of Ruth and Andrea Burchill's Lucille, noting that "every member of the cast is special".[9] Canby concluded:

Housekeeping is by far the most accomplished comedy yet made by Mr. Forsyth, the Scottish director who first came onto the international scene with Gregory's Girl and Local Hero. Miss Robinson's novel has provided him with material in which the mysterious is an essential component of the mundane, and not simply a leavening agent. Though it's full of moments of real sadness, Housekeeping is also startlingly funny.[9]

In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "one of the strangest and best films of the year".[10] According to Ebert, Lahti was the perfect choice to play the central role of Sylvie.

Although she has been excellent in a number of realistic roles ..., there is something resolutely private about her, a sort of secret smile that is just right for Sylvie. The role requires her to find a delicate line; she must not seem too mad or willful, or the whole charm of the story will be lost. And although there are times when she seems to be indifferent to her nieces, she never seems not to love them.[10]

Ebert concluded, "At the end of the film, I was quietly astonished. I had seen a film that could perhaps be described as being about a madwoman, but I had seen a character who seemed closer to a mystic, or a saint."[10]

On the AllMovie website, Housekeeping has an editorial rating of four and a half out of five stars.[11]

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
New York Film Critics Circle Awards, 1987	Best Actress	Christine Lahti	Nominated
Tokyo International Film Festival, 1987	Best Screenplay Award	Bill Forsyth	Won
	Special Jury Prize	Bill Forsyth	Won
	Tokyo Grand Prix	Bill Forsyth	Nominated
USC Scripter Award, 1989	USC Scripter Award	Bill Forsyth, Marilynne Robinson	Nominated

References

1. Film Maker Tends to His `Housekeeping': [Home Edition] Champlin, Charles. Los Angeles Times 10 Nov 1987: 1.
2. "Housekeeping (1987) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
3. "Housekeeping (1988)". The New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
4. Meir, Christopher (October 2004). "Bill Forsyth". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
5. Hunter, Allan (August 1994). "Being Human". Sight and Sound: 24–28.
6. "Housekeeping Original Print Information". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
7. "Housekeeping Miscellaneous Notes". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
8. "Regus London Film Festival: 31st". BFI. Archived from the original on January 14, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
9. Canby, Vincent (November 25, 1987). "Housekeeping (1987)". The New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
10. Ebert, Roger (January 22, 1988). "Housekeeping". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
11. Erikson, Hal. "Housekeeping (1987)". AllMovie. Retrieved January 25, 2014.

External links

• Housekeeping on IMDb
• Housekeeping at Rotten Tomatoes
• Housekeeping at Box Office Mojo