The Whales of August is a movie that has only one real distinguishing trait- its acting. The picture has a completey generic story that we've seen before- many times before, in better movies like Bergman's Wild Strawberries. But this movie stars Lillian Gish, Bette Davies, and Vincent Price- not a big deal in the 40's, but this film was made in 1987, when Gish was 94.
Yes, this is a movie about old people, and like so many old people in movies, the only thing they seem to care about is when they are going to die. Perhaps that is the only subject that a younger filmmaker can imagine senior citizens thinking about. I look forward to discovering the later films of Akira Kurosawa, which were made when he was in 80's and 90's.
Anyway, this movie tells the story of two sisters whose age are unspecified, but are clearly very old. They are staying at their summer home in Maine, and are called Sarah (Gish) and Libby (Davis). Libby is oldest and has gone blind, so she is dependant upon her sister for everything. Both are still lucid, but are beginning to withdraw into their own small world. At one point, Sarah seems to have forgotten there were two worlds wars instead of one. The film recounts one eventful day, night and morning in their lives. Libby has essentially decided to give up, and has begun to wait for death, at the same time of the arrival an mysterious and apparently aristocratic fisherman named Mr. Maranov (Price). There is clearly some romantic tension between Maranov and Sarah, which Libby hates, as she basically wants to wallow in her own misery.
The Whales of August is based on a play, and quite obviously so, as almost the entire movie is set inside the sister's house and there are long stretches of dialogue. I was being a little ironic when I said the film portrayed an "eventful" day, as this is the kind of story that teeters on the edge of boredom, intentionally so. It dangerously close to the kind of thing your grandparents like to watch on television, if you get my drift.
But what makes the film worth seeing are the outstanding performances by the three leads. Davis has never been my favorite actress, but any vestiges of her high camp "queen bitch" persona is gone in this role, where is almost unrecognizable. Watching Price play the mysterious Russian coot is a joy- he became so well known for his horror roles that it's easy to forget that he began his career playing "straight" roles in dramatic pictures like Laura. Finally, Gish is pretty amazing as a, yes, strong woman, even at the age of 91. I really liked an admired this character, she is sort of the archetypal grandmother everyone wants to have.
So The Whales of August is not a great film, but it does record great performances, and that is compelling enough for its ninety minuet running time.
The Whales of August (1987)