A Trip to Bountiful

Movie
German title	A Trip to Bountiful
Original title	The Trip to Bountiful
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1985
length	107 minutes
Age rating	FSK 6
Rod
Director	Peter Masterson
script	Horton Foote
production	Horton Foote ; Sterling Van Wagenen
music	JAC Redford
camera	Fred Murphy
cut	Jay friend
occupation
	Geraldine Page : Mrs. Carrie Watts; John Heard : Ludie Watts; Carlin Glynn : Jessie Mae; Rebecca De Mornay : Thelma; Kevin Cooney : Roy; Richard Bradford : Sheriff; Norman Bennett : First Bus Ticket Man; Harvey Lewis : Second Bus Ticket Man; Kirk Sisco : Train Ticket Agent; Dave Tanner : Billy Davis; Gil Glasgow : Station Master Gerard; Mary Kay Mars : Rosella; Alexandra Masterson : waitress;

A Trip to Bountiful is an American drama from 1985 . It is the remake of the television film of the same name from 1953. The film was shown on German television under the title Heimweh nach Bountiful .

action

Retired Carrie Watts lives with her son Ludie and his wife Jessie Mae Watts in Houston , Texas . She is a bit bumbling, forgetful and can remember her past better than the present. She dreams of the good old days and actually just wants to go back to her old home, which she once had to leave to live in the city. However, she prevents Jessie Mae, her daughter-in-law, who patronizes Carrie and demands absolute obedience from her, from realizing this dream.

Ludie always has to mediate between the argument between the two women, although he has his own problems with his job. When Ludie and Jessie Mae are out of the house one day, Carrie takes the chance and flees.

At the bus station, however, she learns that there is no longer a single bus connection to Bountiful, Texas. You have to choose between Harrison and Cotton. She buys a ticket to Harrison for $ 3.50 and waits for her bus. But after a short time Carrie has to hide from Ludie and Jessie Mae. While he is looking for his mother, she prefers to hand over the task to the police. After they both disappear and continue looking, Carrie leaves.

On the way she meets the young Thelma who is on her way to see her family. Her husband has just been drafted into the military. Carrie's husband was also drafted into the military and survived, which is why she now comforts Thelma and assures her that everything will be fine. Carrie now tells about her life: Her daughter passed away. Her husband died when her son was ten years old and she was never allowed to marry the man she loved so much, Ray John Morrie.

Arriving at the Harrison bus station, Carrie suddenly realizes that she has no more place to stay for the night. She had actually planned to stay with her beloved childhood friend Kelly Davis. But she was found dead two days earlier. You don't know when she died because she lived alone.

Carrie cannot afford a hotel room - her money was in her handbag, which is now on the return trip on the bus. The bus driver is quickly informed and Carrie waits for her handbag in the bus station. Thelma has to drive on and says goodbye to Carrie, all the best on her way home. But the good is a long time coming, because although she receives her handbag after a few hours, the sheriff prevents her from continuing her journey. He was told by the Houston police to hold the old lady until Ludie and Jesse Mae appear.

Carrie can't anymore. She howls, after all, she has only one wish before she dies: to go back to the house of her childhood. Then you can do whatever you want with her. But she had to keep this promise she made to herself, otherwise she could not die in peace. Just before she collapses, the sheriff takes heart and helps the desperate woman. He drives you to the place of your childhood and youth. Although everything is abandoned and dilapidated, she immediately feels at home. All the good memories suddenly come up again.

Shortly afterwards, Ludie appears, he too has memories of the house of his childhood. They are not good ones, however. Rather, he feels the burden of the past and the regret that his father died when he was only ten years old. Mother and son are now on the veranda together, wondering what happened to their life, how they left the rural tranquility to live in the big city.

But complaining does not help, life must go on. For example, to achieve future peace with Jesse Mae, smaller rules are now being worked out. If Carrie promises to be a little less stubborn, Jesse Mae assures her that she will get better and not patronize Carrie anymore. With a heavy heart, Carrie leaves the house of her past and follows Ludie and Jesse Mae to the car.

background

The film had its world premiere on December 20, 1985 in New York City . It grossed just over $ 7.4 million. In Germany, the film opened in cinemas on July 7, 1988. It has been available on VHS since October 5th, 1988 .

The original film adaptation, broadcast in 1953, was directed by Vincent J. Donehue . In it Lillian Gish Carrie Watts, Eileen Heckart Jesse Mae and John Beal Ludie played. The film premiered on March 1, 1953 when it aired on NBC . It was later adapted as a play. It celebrated its stage premiere on November 3, 1953, again with Lilian Gish in the lead role.

criticism

Vincent Canby of the New York Times praised this "perfect little, detailed" film beyond measure. It just works. Foote simply delivered a "funny, exquisitely played film adaptation of his own play". "The entire cast is excellent" and Geraldine Page "was never better" than in this film. You play it "at the same time funny and cunning, sentimental and unexpectedly hard."

In Time magazine slating Richard Schickel the film. The story of the play is "in a substantially empty drama." The director could not capture with "his devastatingly realistic style" all the "sensitive moods and feelings" and worst of all is Geraldine Page. Their exaggerated “theatrical play” has almost “nothing at all to do with the actual art of film”.

The lexicon of international films saw the literary film adaptation as a woman portrait staged in "soft tones and slow rhythm." In addition, it is a "chamber play with sentimental accents, which impresses with excellent actors and human attitude."