Loin des yeux, près du coeur

I thought this was an excellent movie. It dealt with very real-life situations in a way that was more human than the way most movies try to deal with similar situations. Susan Sarandon is my favourite actress and never fails to be outstanding. This was no exception. Highly recommended.

As a mother of five I found this movie very enjoyable. The writer got to the heart of motherhood and marriage, and all frustrations that go along with it. I am sure that women watching it could relate to the feeling of wanting a life of their own and the guilt that comes with it. The story was told with sensitivity. Susan Sarandon out-did herself as usual.

Margaret Singer (Susan Sarandon) is a mother of seven sons that is also divorcing her husband Patrick (Sam Shepard) and wants to move to the city for living on her own. Suddenly she hears on TV the news about a bombing at a Marine base in the Middle East where her son Percival is stationed there. All the other sons return home in waiting for positive news about Percival and also Patrick for rejoining his bond with Margaret. The movie then moves back and forth between scenes of the family together at home and flashbacks of Margaret helping her kids grow when they were little. They will all wait the good news, but will it arrive? See the movie.

The reason for seeing this obscure movie is simply for the good feelings it provides. Despite Margaret and her children are all anxious for the news about Percival, they still live a good life: they visit friends, they go out for daily routines and so on. Probably the moment I loved the most is when Izzy (Sean Astin) tried to understand the reason behind the dad's casual blindness and he even succedds in finding some sort of cure for it.

Despite this movie has very few reviews, I highly recommend it because, yes it is about a dysfunctional family, but it manages also to be a great feel good movie.

Being the mother of six children myself(so far)I feel it's great to find a movie where a mother,especially one of many kids,is made visible,as a person in her own right and not just as a bystander and comfort for the rest of the family.Usually it isn't such an attractive theme for a film maker(not being so glamorous and all),but here Susan Sarandon(grown up in a large family herself)portrays a mother of seven sons with great credibility. Maybe not one of those movies you watch for an hour or two of escapism and action,but well worth your time.Maybe I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much if a)it hadn't been a Sarandon movie b)I hadn't had many kids myself. But I can't help liking it.

THIS MOVIE ROCKS!!!!!!!!! If I want to watch a movie about how life COULD be I'll rent Cinderella! It's important to have real life movies once in a while and not just another fairy tale.

This movie is good because you get to see how each person is different and how everyone will face an emergency situation differently than the next person. It's just a story that is being told about an average American family and how they faced the problems that surfaced. The movie contains humor, drama, romance, as well as tragedy. Important family values really shine through in this film. I would and have suggested this movie to many, many people.