Ordinary People (1980) review

This is one of the best films from the 1980's and one of my favorite films ever. I was trying to think of why this film is so good and I think it's the way the story and characters move effortlessly. The movie feels like someone followed a real life family around with a camera and captured the disintegration of that family after a tragedy. The dialogue feels very real, especially the interaction between Conrad and Dr. Berger and the awkward moments with Conrad and his mother Beth.

The movie could have easily been just another sad, white people film like "Manchester by the Sea" where nothing really happens and the story doesn't really unfold so it's not captivating - but it fortunately rises above that. Timothy Hutton does a stellar job as Conrad. His character is so haunted by his brothers death and you can see the emptiness in his eyes and the way he meanders through life like a zombie. Then eventually there is healing after he begins his therapy with Dr. Berger and his character is able to move forward. His acting has so much range and he really goes deep places with the Conrad character, especially when he's telling Jeannine why he attempted suicide. Even the scene where he's gathering the courage to call her up on the phone to ask her out is really great and very believable.

I like how the movie really shows how we all present ourselves a certain way. We are basically all actors in the world and some people, like Beth, have a facade to hide what they are really feeling. She doesn't want the world to see that she can't cope with her son Buck's death and that she blames Conrad who she no longer loves. She and Conrad can't even have a normal conversation because she's not really listening to him - she speaks to him the way a robot would. You see this in the scene where Conrad is telling her he got a 74% on a trigonometry quiz (a low grade that is not something to brag about) and Beth just responds, "did I take trig?" Or in the really great scene where they are talking about pets and Beth is speaking about a neighbor's dog and to get her attention Conrad just barks, "arff!"

The end of the film is truly beautiful too in a wistful way. The mournful look on Donald Sutherland's face is really moving and I love how it just ends gracefully with the father and son telling each other that they love one another.