The Trip to Bountiful (Review)

The Trip to Bountiful (1985) is a film that is clearly takes a number of cues from its theatrical origins. We open on the three members of the Watts family in their suffocatingly small home: Mrs. Watts (Geraldine Page), an old woman who is at war with Jessie Mae (Carlin Glynn), her authoritarian daughter in law; all the while her son Ludie (John Heard) tries and fails to mediate the open antagonism between his mother and wife. The crux of the issue is that Mrs. Watts wants to return to hew hometown of Bountiful, but is stopped every time she tries to leave. Still, she is determined to return to Bountiful, and with the help of a solitary traveller (Rebecca De Mornay) she succeeds. But things have changed since she left, and the Watts family is forced to confront both their painful pasts and their uncertain futures.

This is a film that rests almost entirely on the shoulders of its small cast delivering compelling and emotional performances. Luckily, Geraldine Page provides an incredible performance and grounds what might otherwise be an overly nostalgic film in a bedrock foundation of melancholy and wit. Mrs. Potts’s life was not a happy one, and even the most stone-hearted viewer might find themselves misty-eyed at her recounting of lost love and broken dreams. That’s not to say that the rest of the cast are slouches; the kindness of the people she meets prevent the story from reaching the kind of depressing morass that it might otherwise have been. Ludie is also possessing of a certain sadness that is only hinted at until the final act, where John Heard provides an excellent monologue. If you’ve ever seen your father cry, you’ll recognize the raw despair that he delivers.

Its cinematography is less arresting, but does an effective job of capturing the Texas countryside at its loneliest and most beautiful. Like many adaptations of theatrical productions, the more technical aspects of the film take backseat to the performances that it frames, and the editing is unambitious.

The Trip to Bountiful is a great movie to watch on a rainy day, and a must-watch for the filmmaker who is curious about what separates a sad performance from a heart-wrenching one. I give it a solid 8 out of 12 stars.