Celluloid Empathy: Aging at the Movies

Some days when the grind of handling caregiver challenges, the inevitability of change and passages (here’s a tip of the hat to you, Ted Kennedy, for all your contributions to this country) or simply the new ache in your left knee when you arose this morning, you need a break! As counter-intuitive as it may seem, you can refresh your spirits by watching films that depict old age. Not that this is a sure cure to eliminate your troubles. But the beauty of cinema is its ability to shift your focus and transport you from the small scene called “my problems” to the larger screen of “we are all in this together.”

About one year ago, in her blog “The New Old Age” Jane Gross posted a list of movies that in her words, “thoughtfully depicted old age”. See http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com She got her inspiration from Dr. Dennis McCullough’s book, “My Mother, Your Mother: Embracing “Slow Medicine”, the Compassionate Approach to Caring for Your Aging Loved Ones”. In his book, Dr. McCullough provided his readers with his own original list of favorites films related to aging. For more about Dr. McCullough and the “Slow Medicine” movement, check out his website, www.mymotheryourmother.com

Here’s the combined list, from Ms. Gross and Dr. McCullough. Many of these titles are now available on DVD. Enjoy!
Umberto D. (1952, Dir. Vittorio De Sica)
Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
On Golden Pond (1981, Mark Rydell)
The Trip to Bountiful (1985, Peter Masterson)
Foxfire (1987, Jud Taylor)
The Whales of August (1987, Lindsay Anderson)
Everybody’s Fine (1990, Giuseppe Tornatore)
The Company of Strangers (1991, Cynthia Scott)
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993, Randa Haines)
To Dance With the White Dog (1994, Glenn Jordan)
Buena Vista Social Club (1998, Wim Wenders)
The Straight Story (1999, David Lynch)
Innocence (2000, Paul Cox)
Iris (2001, Richard Eyre)
About Schmidt (2002, Alexander Payne)
Secondhand Lions (2003, Tim McCanlies)
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005, Dan Ireland)
Aurora Borealis (2004, James Burke)
The Savages (2007, Tamara Jenkins)
Away From Her (2006, Sarah Polley)
I Never Sang for My Father (1970, Gilbert Cates)
Antonia’s Line (1995, Marleen Gorris)
Make Way For Tomorrow (1937, Leo McCarey)
Madadayo (1993, Akira Kurosawa)
Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu)
Saraband (2003, Ingmar Bergman)
The Notebook (2004, Nick Cassavetes)
Calendar Girls (2003, Nigel Cole)
Driving Miss Daisy (1989, Bruce Beresford)
Elsa and Fred (2005, Marcos Carnevale)
Harry and Tonto (1974, Paul Mazursky)
Safe House (1998, Eric Steven Stahl)
Tatie Danielle (1991, Etienne Chatiliez)
The Shameless Old Lady (1965, Rene Allio)
Love in the Time of Cholera (2007, Mike Newell)
The Memory of a Killer (2003, Erik Van Looy)
Evening (2007, Lajos Koltai)
Boynton Beach Club (2005, Susan Seidelman)
Cocoon (1985, Ron Howard)
Venus (2006, Roger Michell)
Nobody’s Fool (1994, Robert Benton)
The Battle of Narayama (1983, Shohei Imamura)
The Gin Game (2003, Aaron Brown)
Harold and Maude (1971, Hal Ashby)
The Bucket List (2007, Rob Reiner)
Starting Out in the Evening (2007, Andrew Wagner)
Kotch (1971, Jack Lemmon)
The Lion in Winter (1968, Anthony Harvey)
A Thousand Acres (1997, Jocelyn Moorhouse)
The Sunshine Boys (1975, Herbert Ross)
Dad (1989, Gary David Goldberg)
Tell Me A Riddle (1980, Lee Grant)
Grumpy Old Men (1993, Donald Petri)
Being There (1979, Hal Ashby)
Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975, Sam O’Steen)

Key words: Movies, Films, Old Age, New York Times, The New Old Age, Jane Gross, Dr. Dennis McCullough