One True Thing VHS

Meryl Streep can command the screen in nearly any role and does so yet as as dying mother, Kate Gulden, who has put aside any passion for working outside the home in order to focus on her family. Her daughter, Ellen, is exactly the opposite, with all the ambition that she thinks her mother lacks. She is a rising star as a writer in New York and has questionable ethics, willing to do nearly anything to get ahead. She also has a reputation for being cold and unfeeling.Ellen has never truly respected her mother but always adored her father, a college professor who seemed so much more heroic and larger than life than her mother. It is only when Ellen comes home, at her father George's insistence that she help take care of her mother that Ellen starts to see the family dynamics that eluded her all these years.Rather than being a "simple housewife" Ellen begins to realize that her Kate Gulden is not only the heart of the home but perhaps the strongest one there. She is a major part of the community and doesn't just keep house but makes sure that those she loves are treated to warmth and love beyond what her father can provide. He is only able to be successful because she is there to watch his back. When Ellen tries to keep house like her mother she quickly becomes overwhelmed and understands that baking a meal or decorating a Christmas tree involves far more than going through the motions. These supposedly easy activities take true caring and commitment to others' happiness.If you've read the book - as I have- perhaps you'll get additional pleasure from watching Streep and Zellweiger in their roles (William Hurt is also excellent). Some have called Zellweger stiff in her part but she is playing a woman who is shut off from her emotions and has a hard time facing harsh truths. Wouldn't such a woman be a bit restrained, apparently emotionless at times? She even turns away from her mother's pain until forced to confront it. In a way, only by taking care of her mother as she dies is Ellen able to evolve and soften, seeing how her mother is not as simple or restricted as Ellen always believed. Kate's life is indeed rich and complex - perhaps far more than Ellen's work and ambitions.If you haven't read the book the ending may be a stunner. For that reason, I won't disclose anything about that. My favorite lines are:""It's so much easier to be happy. It's so much easier to choose to love the things that you have, instead of always yearning for what you're missing, or what it is that you're imagining you're missing. It is so much more peaceful." These lines make clear why Ellen's mother has chosen her path in life and I wish I could remember those lines every day of MY life rather than yearning for more.I watch this film regularly and am always transformed by it.

I loved this movie. Please buy it and watch it!!!!!

Career hungry young woman is confronted with the competing loyalties of her family and career.I saw this movie in the theatre when it came out and again now. So my review kinda mixes reactions from both experiences. I can distinctly remember feeling touched by a mainstream movie showing the uncomfortablness but yet love of a grown kid taking care of its parent(s) in the bathtub scene. It was the same the second time around. I mean our sensibilities are that it is very wrong to see our parents naked and vulnerable. But then our love for our parents kicks in when we have to help them do simple things like take a bath or help them to the bathroom. And from watching my mother do the same for her mother when my grandmother moved in I know 1) how very hard it is and 2) how important it is to overcome your objections on many levels. Anyway it is a reality for many people. Some people just shove their aging parents in nursing homes to be "maintained" until they die. Others bite the very hard bullet and take care of their parents as they should and nobody else can. And it is VERY VERY hard. But I should mention that this movie was more about a parent that fell ill than just got old.Anyway I remember then and now also having equally strong emotions about the weird way this movie handled the dad's infidelity. It was so . . . men will be men. It was liberal moralizing. And it was all too close to the Bill and Hillary Clinton mess for me. It was as if Hollywood was putting its agents out there to make the public OK with Hillary standing by her man as he walked all over her. It was wrong. The movie dealt with this incorrectly too.But in addition to the above the movie was more simple than that. It showed how fake American families had become chasing the ironic Hollywood image of a life of the "perfect American family". It did this on so many levels. Even the Streep character's trip to her friend who had to movie back in with her mom as her husband left her achieved all of this. I mean for a time I can distinctly remember being influenced by the push for all families to be 2 parent 2 kids and 2 kids who went to the best school and had the most important best jobs scene. The SUV. Perfect Ralph Lauren clothes. Five course dinners at night. Involved in every extra-curricular and community activity around. But yet happy, well connect, well grounded families. You were pushed to be inhuman in a way. Robots. Fake. Plastic. But this movie showed that that is really all just temporary at best if you ever really achieved it at all. You could see this in how weak the "strong demanding father figure" was. You saw it in the daughter's relationships. You saw it in the son's career choice. You saw it in the marriage of the parents. You saw it in the "friendships" of the dad.And after all that was exposed you saw how we all just eventually come back to the sameness . . . death. maybe grounded in death is a morbid way of putting it.I'm sure some people will read into this how women are the backbone to families. How strong the mother was when everyone thought she was weak and stupid. And of course her suicide at the end was a big cheering moment for what was back then a big push to make assisted suicide OK. It wasn't then and isn't now. I feel that that really just showed another fake persona in this movie. Someone who wanted to make the perfect dinners, have the perfect house, have the perfect furnishings/clothes . . . criticism of Marth Stewart . . . of sorts . . . but when she realized she was too was as human as the rest of us she couldn't take it and instead of turning to booze like her husband or "being strong" and dealing with what God put upon her she downed a bottle of morphene to escape it all. Don't get me wrong I am not saying she had it easy by any means whatsoever. But suicide is weak, not strength.It was all spelling out how unrealistic American culture had become just as much as American Beauty did around the time this movie was released.

Having gone through this with a family member (the cancer, not the surprise details in the end), I found this movie to gently hit upon the little details that are often not discussed. As a fan of psychological studies, this movie brilliantly portrays each family members' struggle and the seeds of healing from a loss of someone they failed to appreciate. A realistic and much more subtle terms of endearment. William Hurt and Renee Zellweger are excellent in this movie.

I loved this movie .. so heartfelt and gives a perspective about dealing with the duties of caring for a loved who is terminally il

Superb acting, captivating story. Painful and beautiful at the same time.A great movie I highly recommend.

Hermosa película. Lástima que no tenga subtítulos en español.

This family crisis story could have been a mawkish, sentimental, overwrought film but is saved by superb performances by Renee Zellwegger and Meryl Streep playing disaffected daughter (Zellwegger) having to return home from stimulating job in New York to look after her dying mother (Streep). The selfish father, played by William Hurt, more concerned with his academic prowess than his family, is also well played but Hurt slightly overdoes the role. The carefully considered acting ensures that each character is convincing and plausible, making the film a compelling watch. The only disappointment is a rather abrupt ending leaving a slight doubt about the premise worked through the whole film and on which the denouement depends.This is a domestic story, a tragedy with a wholesome ending, the two actresses bringing such verisimilitude to their roles that the film can be recommended on their acting alone.

No film has ever made me cry like this one has....but if you liked it you will love Finding a Guy Like Gilbert by Penelope Winters...not yet made into film but the book is lovely, simply told tale of love lost, found and demons conquered....

All wonderful actors,of course, with a wonderful, mature story to tell. Not action packed, but very deep indeed. For the thinker, and student of human nature. Good education for adult family members.I enjoyed it, but some may be less appreciative if seeking pleasure and entertainment only.Can't wait to watch it again.

WARNING!This dvd is 5 minutes shorter version from the original film.Just be sure before buying this dvd.UK company cut out 5 minutes for no reason.