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ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE
Review by Ed Nguyen
Stars:
Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Alfred Lutter, Harvey Keitel, Diane Ladd,
Jodie Foster, Vic Tayback, Valerie Curtin
Director: Martin Scorsese
Audio: English 2.0, French 2.0
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Video: Color, matted widescreen
Studio: Warner Bros.
Features: Commentary, "Making-Of" featurette, trailer
Length: 112 minutes
Release Date: August 17, 2004
"It's
my life! It's not some man's life that I'm going to help him out with!"
Film
****
Martin
Scorsese is one of the finest directors of our generation.
His best films are emphatically American stories at heart, demonstrating
existence in the suburbs and streets of our inner city milieus.
Scorsese's most memorable efforts have always centered upon the flawed
characters of Americana, whether they be conflicted boxers, street-smart
wiseguys, or even, as in the case of Alice
Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), struggling housewives.
Alice
Doesn't Live Here Anymore
represents one of Scorsese's early efforts and is a far cry from his more
grandiose and lavish style as of late. However,
the film was also Scorsese's first true commercial success, alluding to the
maverick stylizations and technical artistry of his films to come.
While today Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore tends to be forgotten in spirited
discussions over highlights in Scorsese's film career, the film remains, in many
ways, Scorsese's most heart-felt movie, a simple tale about simply ordinary
people trying to get by as best they can in life.
There is little in the way of glamour and flashiness about this film,
which perhaps makes it the most identifiable of all Scorsese's films for the
common masses and a clear example of the type of personalized, character-driven
filmmaking that exemplified 1970's American cinema.
Alice
Doesn't Live Here Anymore
stars Ellen Burstyn, who prior to this film had just completed The
Exorcist and had been given carte blanche by the Warner Bros. studio to
choose her next film project. As
the women's liberation movement was in full blossom during this era, Burstyn
opted for a screenplay in which the female lead was not simply another wife,
mother, or whore. She also
hand-picked Martin Scorsese to be the director after screening Mean
Streets. Scorsese was just the
sort of young and energetic director that she desired, and Burstyn was confident
in his filmmaking abilities, despite his inexperience dealing with women's
issues on-screen. Her instincts and
trust proved well-placed.
Alice
Doesn't Live Here Anymore
is told from a woman's point of view. It
unveils one woman's strive for personal happiness and independence as she
emerges from the subservient role of obedient housewife, no longer content to
live an "auxiliary" existence in the shadows of a man.
Instead, this woman, Alice Hyatt, slowly transforms into a self-reliant
woman, one who rediscovers a meaningful sense of purpose and pride in her life.
The film is wry and frequently quite funny as it deconstructs
working-class mannerisms and discovers the humor and satisfaction derived from
even the most humble or blue-collar of occupations.
As
the film opens, we meet Alice in her nondescript suburban home.
She is trapped in a dead-end marriage with an unloving, reticent husband.
One day, an unexpected but fateful accident leaves her a young widow and
her son without a father. With
limited savings, no means of supporting herself, and her life suddenly thrown
into disarray, Alice decides to return to Monterey, California, where she hopes
to resume a former career as a singer.
Alice
dusts off the family piano, and in a sweetly poignant scene, attempts to
practice and sing, somewhat to her son's consternation.
For better or worse, she soon packs up the essential family belongings
and gets rid of most everything else in an impromptu yard sale.
Then, Alice and her son Tommy (Alfred Lutter) bid farewell to their
friends and old acquaintances and strike out in the family station wagon.
They depart from their New Mexican neighborhood for the promised land of
Monterey, where hopefully a better future awaits them.
Yet
as with any long road trip, optimism and excitement eventually surrender to
boredom of the monotonous, unchanging scenery (in this instance, the
sun-scorched flatlands of the Mid-West). Alice
and Tommy soon resort to petty family bickering, portrayed in a realistic but
sympathetically amusing manner. The
mother-child interactions during these long, hot hours in the station wagon are
hysterical and absolutely priceless. Anyone
who has ever taken impatient children on an extended road trip can certainly
empathize with Alice's fruitless attempts to deal with the whining of an antsy
child bored out of his skull.
Thankfully,
the road trip does end but not yet in Monterey. With the money dwindling away, Alice stops over in Phoenix,
Arizona where she seeks out transient employment as a pub singer.
She even meets a local charmer, Ben (Harvey Keitel), who is perhaps too
good to be true, and for a while, life seems bright.
However, Alice's destiny does not rest in Phoenix, and in the end, she is
forced to leave town with her son quickly and rather distressingly so.
Alice's
dwindling hopes are soon grounded completely in reality by the time she gets to,
well, not Phoenix, but Tucson this time. She
is no longer singing. For her new
gig, Alice becomes a waitress at Mel and Ruby's Cafe, a true madhouse of a
diner. In the company of two
eccentric waitresses, the smart-alecky Flo (Diane Ladd) and the spaced-out biker
chick Vera (Valerie Curtin), not to mention the eternally-exasperated Mel
himself (Vic Tayback), Alice has her hands full maintaining her composure while
trying to save up enough cash to make good on her promise to bring the family
eventually to Monterey.
If
being a waitress is typically this trying and chaotic, then we should all
remember to tip generously. These
young ladies deserve much gratuity for putting up with the myriad crazy antics
and fickle demands of customers, all the while smiling with unfathomable
patience and endearing friendliness.
To
add further spice into the soup, Alice meets a potential new beau, this time in
the guise of hard-working but earnest rancher David (Kris Kristofferson).
He seems caring and attentive enough, even garnering the approval of
Alice's restless and still-bored son. Nonetheless,
Alice, having had poor luck in her relationships of late, is understandably
cautious about warming to David, despite his kindly ways.
Thus,
Alice faces the age-old dilemmas of career or motherhood, independence or
relationship. Certainly, simply
being a waitress is an honest living, but what of Alice's aspirations to become
a singer again? Furthermore,
Alice's growing attachment to David, her developing friendships with the odd
denizens of Mel's Diner, and even the desire to restore for some semblance of
family stability for the sake of her son - all these factors serve complicate
her life. Will Alice ultimately be
happier in Monterey, or is Tucson fairly good enough?
Where then does her heart truly lie?
Alice
Doesn't Live Here Anymore
is a tenderly human and small-scale film with interactions that feel just right
and natural. It may be unlike any
other Scorsese offering, but with a delightfully funny bravura performance by
Ellen Burstyn at its core, this is truly an enjoyable story from start to
finish. The film is poignant and
bittersweet at times but always unwaveringly honest, an intimate portrayal of
ordinary people living out their ordinary if occasionally remarkable lives.
Video
*** ½
Alice
Doesn't Live Here Anymore
is presented in a matted widescreen format preserving the film's original
theatrical aspect ratio. The
picture quality is quite bright and colorful with only a mildly grainy texture.
The transfer is excellent, and the print itself looks fairly pristine.
This is undoubtedly the best presentation of this film thus far in any
format.
Audio
***
The
film is presented in serviceable two-channel monaural with either an English or
French soundtrack. And yes, Ellen
Burstyn does all her own singing in this film.
She has a somewhat timid but sincere voice that fits the persona of a
housewife just trying to eke out an honest living. The Rogers & Hart tune "Where or When" is
prominently featured on the film's soundtrack.
Features
** ½
"Kiss
my grits!"
Alice
Doesn't Live Here Anymore
was the inspiration for the 1970's hit television show Alice. You can hear
more about the show and the film in the selected scene commentary (53 min.) with
contributions from director Martin Scorsese and the film's stars.
Scorsese, known at this stage in his career primarily as a tough guy's
director, relates how he went directly from Mean
Streets to this film with its strongly feminine undercurrents.
He also describes some of his influences from Francis Ford Coppola to
John Cassavetes. Actually, most of
the early comments are from Scorsese, while Ellen Burstyn and Diane Ladd
generally take over afterwards. Ladd
focuses her comments on the humorous qualities of the diner scenes.
Kris Kristofferson only makes a few sparse comments.
Also
on the disc is Second Chances (20
min.), a featurette about the making of the film. This featurette is comprised of interviews with Ellen Burstyn
and Kris Kristofferson and includes supplemental clips and production photos
from the film. The two stars
discuss the era during which the film was made as well as the manner in which
the script was green-lighted by Warner Bros. for production.
Burstyn also relates how she recruited Martin Scorsese to the project.
Coincidentally, Ellen Burstyn still looks gorgeous.
Lastly,
there is a theatrical trailer for the film.
BONUS
TRIVIA: Diane Ladd's daughter,
Laura Dern, appears as a young girl eating an ice cream cone in a scene near the
end of the film.
Summary: