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Hitting the road in the old Bonneville

Bonneville does have its bright points: Bates is operating in a different, more authentic universe than the rest of the cast, and provides some genuine laughs. The color scheme of the movie is consistently attractive, too, if unrealistic (when the women are in an autumn environment, they wear harmonizing outfits of orange, brown, and khaki green; when they're at the beach, they're all in white, beige, and light blue. And I sure don't think the '66 Bonneville came in burnt orange.) Joe's ashes have gotten the Hollywood treatment, too. My husband, a pastor, has had occasion to deal with cremated remains ("cremains," in the funeral industry's cute little euphemism). What Arvilla keeps tenderly releasing to the wind is ashy and fine as dust; what you'd be more likely to see, on looking into the shoe-box-sized container, would be dried, pulverized bone, with some chips disconcertingly larger than others.

The visual center of the drama is Lange's face, and unfortunately she's had that thing done where the zone from eyebrows to cheekbones has been ironed out sideways with extra starch. You'd think any actor would especially prize and protect control of the myriad subtle muscles around the eyes, but this surgery pins everything back so tightly that the eyes look taut and masked. The rest of Lange's still-lovely face is soft and believable, and it's a shame she didn't leave well enough alone. She's an actress of substance, with two Oscars on her mantelpiece, and could have easily sold us on the beauty of a natural older face. This surgery doesn't even deliver what it promises: it doesn't make anybody look young, just weird.

Bonneville seems carefully constructed to get older women to come out to the movie theater, and self-consciously adorable "Red Hat" ladies will eat it up. They may be able to bring some men with them, with the car providing catnip for the guys the way Brad Pitt did for female viewers in Troy. For anybody else, the film is a bust. The '66 Bonneville was a great car, but these talented ladies deserved a better vehicle.

Talk About It

1. Have you ever visited a site from your childhood and found familiar landmarks gone or changed? What was different? What was the same? How did it make you feel? Did you think the changes were beneficial, harmful or neither?
2. Why do we sometimes feel it is important that things stay the same, even if we know change is necessary or inevitable?
3. At one point a character learns that something he always thought was true was a lie told to him since childhood. Is this lie like parents deceiving their children about Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy? Is it unlike? What do you think of such deceptions? Are they harmless or wrong? Why?
4. What do you think of Miss Falewicz's line, "Our history belongs to us—we can change it if we want to"? What do you think she means by that? In what senses might someone want or try to change the past? Is it ever something we can do? If so, is it something that should or shouldn't be done?
5. Did you notice the Last Supper painting seen on Mr. Fletcher's wall in a key scene? What if anything do you think it signifies?

The Family Corner

Bonneville is rated PG for some mild language and innuendo. There's no sex, violence, or bad language. Intergenerational family conflict forms the basis of the plot.

Photos © Copyright SenArt

© Frederica Mathewes-Green subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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