Happy Sunday everyone. I’ve got another film for you this week and I’ve picked it for today because Bette Midler is 80 tomorrow (December 1) but obviously Diane Keaton died back in October.
Firstly, I apologise for the rubbish print of that trailer video, but it does give you the sort of vibe that (most of) the movie has going on. The First Wives Club is based on a book of the same name, and is the story of three college friends and new divorcées who are seeking revenge on their husbands who have left them for younger women. I remember the first time I saw the movie I actually didn’t see the start of it, so when I watched it again – in full for the first time – I was surprised that it has quite a bleak start where a fourth friend commits suicide because of her ex-husband has just remarried a much younger woman and that the three protagonists had lost touch and only reconnected at her funeral. But given that part of the plot needs the ex-husbands to not know the other husbands, it does make sense even if it is a bit bleak. But lets skip over that because the joy of this movie is the comedy of the women working together to get their revenge.
As well as Bette Midler and Diane Keaton it’s got Goldie Hawn completing the trio but also Maggie Smith, Sarah Jessica Parker, Victor Garber and a whole host faces that you’ll have seen in loads of other things too. Because I’m the age I am, and I first saw this so long ago (we’re talking more than 20 years) it’s kind of hard for me to work out how it will land now with with a first time viewer, but it’s a total comfort movie for me. I have been known to record it anytime I see it on the TV so that I can watch it again. I don’t have it handy at the moment – but that’s only because we had an “upgrade” on the TiVo box a few weeks back and it deleted everything that was on there and I’m still rebuilding the collection (don’t get me started).
Anyway it’s currently available on streaming service but I’m hoping it will pop up on TV again soon. And because clips of it are in the trailer, I feel like it’s ok for me to leave you today with the end sequence of the film – the performance of Leslie Gore’s You Don’t Own Me by the trio – it doesn’t spoil any of plot for you and it’s just wonderful. Although there are a few continuity errors in there if you know where to look but for me that’s just part of the fun!
Happy Sunday – and happy birthday to Ms Midler tomorrow!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 