The Whales of August

"Can one live beyond one's time?" ponders the 93 year old Sarah (Lillian Gish). This summarises one of the key themes in Lindsay Anderson's moving drama The Whales of August, which focuses on the relationship between sisters Sarah and Libby (Bette Davis). Spending the summer in their vacation house in Maine, the two are approaching the end of their lives. Sarah keeps herself busy doing household choirs and looking after her near-blind sister, as she awaits the yearly arrival of the whales who swim close to the shore. While Sarah is positive and open to changes, Libby is bitter, resigned to her looming death, and opposes Sarah's ideas to install a window that would allow the moonlight to shine through the home in the evening.

There is no real plot in The Whales of August, and is instead a moving character piece that allows a quartet of wonderful actors - Vincent Price and Ann Sothern as well as the aforementioned - to flex their muscles again. With about 500 features in total behind them, it's wonderful to see these powerhouses at work. Sothern received the only Oscar nomination, but this is Gish's film (Gish shrugged off her Oscar snub by saying "oh well, at least I don't have to lose to Cher". She was one of the first Hollywood superstars, and displays the same effortless likability that made her a star with the likes of Intolerance - Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916) and Broken Blossoms, or The Yellow Man and the Girl (1919). Post-stroke and looking extremely gaunt, Davis sadly fairs less well, and although I consider her to be possibly the greatest actress to ever grace the screen, her performance lacks any real emotion.

Beyond the performances, the film is contemplative and somewhat sad. Faded memories and old photographs are always something that affect me, and watching Sarah and Libby share anecdotes and knowing what these actresses must have lived through and experienced, I found it hard not to get choked up. It's a meditation on change and if there ever comes a time when you should simply let go and accept what's coming. It would be Gish's last film, and Davis' penultimate, and it's a fitting way for the both of them to go out. Going back to the question in the first line, the answer is yes. There is a time all actors will be cast aside by the studio system in favour of youth, deeming them no longer fit for purpose, but The Whales of August reminds us that cinema will never, ever forget.

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Until tonight, I had not seen this charming film since it was first released in 1987--at that time I was 30. Now I'm quite a few years older [you do the math--:)]. . .I'm not easily brought to tears, not at weddings, not at funerals, not by sad movies. But the beauty of the final moments with the Misses Davis and Gish caused me to tear up and cry like a baby. How wonderful it is to see these two ladies--plus Mr. Price and Ms. Southern--give such moving and real performances, well past the years when most people have retired and decided it was time to sit around and wait for death. If just one person of my age--or any age, older or younger--sees this film and changes a defeatist attitude, then the actors and writer have done their job.

I know my attitude is changed. . .

This film is a warm and thoughtful study of ageing. All the performances seem very fine to me. Lillian Gish has a remarkable range of expressions - her portrayal has both depth and truth. The photography is beautiful and the music is sensitive and responsive to the images.

Lindsay Anderson's The Whales of August stars silent film legend Lillian Gish, in her 95th year, and Bette Davis, 79, as widowed sisters, one warm and supportive, the other cold and cantankerous, who have been coming to a small cottage on the Maine seacoast for sixty years. Every August, they watch the journey of the whales passing in the nearby waters together but the sense is that this may be their last summer together. Knowing that their time is limited, the siblings attempt to resolve long-standing differences but face many obstacles. The Whales of August takes place during the course of a single day and the camera stays mostly inside the house except to follow the sisters on occasional walks to the ocean. It all sounds static but there is a great deal of emotion churning beneath the surface.

Libby (Davis) is nearly blind and very difficult to live with, always talking about how her life is over. Her sister Sarah (Gish) on the other hand is the polar opposite. She is sweet in her sisterly devotion to taking care of Libby and avoiding getting drawn into her moods (she always calls her dear). She brushes her hair, fixes breakfast for her, gets her clothes together and tends to the garden. "Busy, busy, busy" is how Libby talks about her and irritatingly calls her Say-rah throughout the film. Ms. Davis looks gaunt but her face shows a strength that is as craggy as the seacoast rocks. The film also features Vincent Price as Mr. Maranov, a down on his luck but charming Russian refugee whom Libby suspects is trying to worm his way in with them, and Haray Caray, Jr. as Joshua Brackett, a handyman who is forever making a racket in the house.

Also featured is Ann Sothern as Trish, a friend and neighbor who is close to convincing Sarah to leave Libby's care to her daughter until she remembers how Libby supported her when her own husband died. Sarah draws every ounce of emotion from a lovely scene in which she celebrates her 46th wedding anniversary by having an imaginary conversation with Philip, her long deceased husband. "Forty-six years, Phillip", she tells him. "Forty-six red roses; forty-six white. White for truth--red for passion. That's what you always said - passion and truth; that's all we need. I wish you were here, Phillip." Another moving sequence is when Libby brushes her face with a lock of her husband's hair while sitting alone in her bedroom.

I had heard that The Whales of August was little more than a vehicle for two aging stars to sing their swan song; however, I found the screenplay by David Berry to gracefully complement the performances with an emotional honesty that captures the truth of the characters. Not a great deal happens in The Whales of August but that is often true of life. It is a gentle and civilized character study that lets us know it is never too late to bury long-standing grievances and open a picture window to possibility. It may be elegant and old fashioned in its style but it has a grace and beauty that is timeless.

This movie is very slight and quiet and beautiful. There is some of the best cinematography you've ever seen, as the Maine coastline is used to full advantage and you can smell the sea breezes. In a movie like this, you appreciate it even more, because the characters keep talking about what a beautiful day it is, and you get to see what they mean.

As a previous comment mentions, the actors in this movie have hundreds of years of screen time between them, so you know you are in good hands. Lillian Gish is still one of the great beauties of the movies; even at this late age, she was still glowing. Bette Davis had already suffered a stroke so she looks very frail and thin. Last time she had an on-screen sister, Joan Crawford in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"?, they quarreled also, though obviously in a different way. Lillian and Bette get on each others nerves the way family members tend to do without even trying very hard.

Ann Sothern and Vincent Price make impressions in smaller parts and Sothern deserved her nomination, though Gish should have gotten one, too, and that would have been a fitting tribute to one of the pioneers of cinema.