Doll’s House Connections

I have been attempting to situate Ibsen’s A Doll’s House historically as a hyper-realistic and modern play for its time, and I have also been thinking about what current films that parallel or complement this style.  The closest I got was the the “mumbly” films of Andrew Bujalski (I’ve written about Mutual Appreciation’s merits, but I understand that it’s an acquired taste of film viewing), until I considered the last two films made by Kelly Reichardt: Old Joy, starring Will Oldham (aka musician Bonnie Prince Billy) and Daniel London, and the recent Wendy and Lucy, starring Michelle Williams and a dog that may or may not be called Lucy in real life.  These two films provide a unique viewing experience–I suppose I could oversimplify Wendy and Lucy as a female Into the Wild-type movie, but instead it makes me think of Nora Helmer, after she’s left her husband and family, searching for “absolute freedom” and a means to educate herself by experiences and interactions that were impossible in her dukkehjem.  The trailers are included below.

As usual, A.O Scott wrote a stellar review of this film, complete with Into the Wild reference–I guess I’m not the only one who made that connection.  He concludes:

The strength of this short, simple, perfect story of a young woman and her dog is that this does not seem, by the end, to be an idle or trivial question. What happens to Wendy — and to Lucy — matters a lot, which is to say that “Wendy and Lucy,” for all its modesty, matters a lot too.

I’ve posted the trailer to Old Joy as well, just because I thought it was so good.  One critic describes Kelly Reichardt’s movies as “soft-spoken” eloquence, and I think this encapsulates them well.  The Yo La Tengo soundtrack fits perfectly.

Lastly, in related Ibsen news, Mary-Louise Parker is starring in a new version Hedda Gabler.  The review is not too kind, even criticzing the translation.