In a Nutshell: A Portrait of Elizabeth Tashjian

Movie cameras and Don Bernier were made for each other. Throw in a lady of thoroughly questionable sanity and voilà - culture for the cultured! The movie gives a fair and honest portrayal of a lady who is an enigma for everyone, herself surely included. It explores the origins of her fascination with nuts, details the turning of her home into a nut museum, and documents the tragic happenstances of her life. Never once does it place judgments - rather, the viewer is left with a muddle of ideas and feelings - and creating that muddle was perhaps the only balanced method that could be used to accurately present Ms. Tashjian's story. I've been thinking about it for months (my surefire sign of good art) and still can't come to any conclusions. Neither can the director or his subject. this is documentary at its height - it's also thoroughly human and as engaging as a fairy tale. ah life is grand. thanks to all the participants in this film for making my life richer.

Acorns. Walnuts. Pecans. Cashews. Uh, Elizabeth Tashjian?

Well, it all depends on how you see things doesn't it? In the world that Don Bernier delightfully lets play across the screen, you have to wonder, who's crazier, the nut lady in the dilapidated mansion? Or us as a society that always seems to want to shutter the weird, the unusual, and the strange, all under the guise that if you don't fit in, then you must be crazy.

This wonderfully charming film tells the dreamy story of an immigrant girl, struck by a fascination with nuts, whose zest and entrepreneurial drive then leads her to turn her huge house into a showcase for "Nuts of the world," and "Voila!" you have your classic American roadside attraction. Of course, the story doesn't end there, as no decent community, let alone a tony town in Connecticut, would ever allow such a thing to continue.

But to see how this sad, but fun story winds up, you'll have to go watch the film. No doubt, you'll be as enamored as I and the many others in the audience were when I saw it at the San Francisco Documentary Festival.

Documentary about an aging single woman, someone without family or resources, a woman who has led a life notable for both her considerable accomplishments and her eccentricities, whose imagination, artistic sensibility, and desire for autonomy have tragically outstripped her capacity to care for herself.

Born into an aristocratic Armenian émigré family on Manhattan's upper west side in 1912, she performed violin recitals at age 9 and won awards for classical paintings at age 21 while studying at the National Academy of Design. She lived in a close bond with her mother, a Christian Science practitioner, until her mother died when Elizabeth was 47. She then took up her mother's practice for a while but says that over time this work tired her too much, so she "retired."

Several years before her mother's death, the two had moved to a Gothic Revival mansion in Old Lyme, Connecticut. There Elizabeth established the "Nut Museum" – a place devoted to the display of various species of nuts. More important, the nuts became a vehicle for conveying her ideas about people, about human evolution and habits. She came to refer to herself as a "nut culturist." Whether she used the nut to concretize some personal judgment about the human condition is not certain. But her love of ideas and the mind sustained her. "I don't live alone," she says at one point, "I have my ideas."

Eking out a living from a few sales of her paintings (Kathryn Hepburn, whose family lived nearby, bought one), museum admission fees and honoraria for occasional appearances on TV shows in the early 80s, she struggled along in her later years, gradually losing her ability to manage money and keep her house in order. At age 90, she was found upstairs in a coma by a neighbor.

Ms. Tashjian defied medical prognosis and recovered. Against her most strenuously expressed, clearly articulated wishes, however, she was made a ward of the court, and a court-appointed conservator arranged for the sale of her house, while insisting that she live in a nursing home.

Fortunately, Christopher Steiner, who teaches museum studies at Connecticut College, discovered Ms. Tashjian's situation just in time to save much of her nut collection and her paintings. Near the end we see her aiding Steiner in the mounting of a very recent exhibition of her work at the college. Another strong supporter has been Christine Woodside, a journalist.

Steiner, Woodside and a neighbor appear often as respectful advocates, though Ms. Tashjian herself takes center stage in much of the footage. And she is beguiling. Thoughtful, well spoken, impish, and a bit of a ham, she commands the screen whenever she appears.

The film is deftly made. Editing is especially effective. Often we hear talking heads while viewing some other scene related to their verbal content. It is a distinct relief not to focus visually all that much on the interviewees themselves. The pleasantly non-intrusive soundtrack features swing music from the 20s among other themes, and even a few of Ms. Tashjian's own compositions.

The aging issues raised in this film are important and tough ones. Ms. Tashjian shows disproportionate difficulty in looking after herself, when compared to the relative preservation of her intellect and her capacity to formulate and articulate clear goals for her own future. It is more her "executive functions" – the capacity to accomplish the little things one sets out to do each day – that appear to be diminished, rather than a more global dementia, as best I can tell through observing her conduct in the film.

If Elizabeth Tashjian had been fortunate enough to have supportive family nearby and adequate resources, she could have continued to live in her house with the assurance of adequate in-home care and other safeguards for her wellbeing. This is the case for many elderly persons who have these supports available to them.

There is good news. Besides the recent exhibition of her work, Ms. Tashjian has recently moved to a cheery private room in her assisted living facility, and she is currently planning to sue the State of Connecticut to reclaim her freedom. My rating: 8/10 (B+). (Seen on 9/30/05 at the Idaho International Film Festival). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.

This Slamdance documentary has to be one of my favorites of 2005. It is funny, interesting and full of emotion. The story of Elizabeth Tashjian (the Nut Lady) is a life adventure. While she had an interesting experiences most of her life,it was opening the Nut Museum that gave her a platform to share her vision with others. Her collection wasn't so much about the nuts themselves but about what we all have in common. This is nothing sort of a tale of survival and creative expression. Hopefully the chance to see this documentary won't be too hard to come by. Seek it out and revel in her Art, her quirkiness, her humanity and the life lessons she can teach all of us. Elizabeth Tashjian teaches us about being individuals, aging gracefully and living until the last moment. Great!!