Do you cry more when you watch a sad movie alone, with someone you love, or in a movie theater with strangers? Until Harvard does a very specific behavioral study, we’ve got one data set: not only do we cry our goddamn eyes out watching Ordinary People, Rebecca can barely get through her retelling of this multi-Academy-Award-winning classic.
Robert Redford’s directorial debut tells the story of the Jarretts – father Calvin (Donald Sutherland), mother Beth (Mary Tyler Moore), and son Conrad (Timothy Hutton) – trapped in their own silos of grief a year after their eldest son Bucky died in a boating accident, and months since Conrad attempted suicide.
When Conrad starts to visit psychiatrist Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch, donning excellent sweaters) to confront his pain, it’s best that you have a box of Kleenex nearby – even the hardest of hearts doesn’t stand a chance as the healing begins. Jack and Rebecca compose themselves and consider the significance of survivor’s guilt, whose story Ordinary People is telling, and decide that yes, the boat likely is a metaphor.
Content consideration: this episode includes adult language and themes of depression, death, and suicide.
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