(The review that follows is by a student from Beijing Normal University Zhuhai. She spent a summer semester at the College of Mount Saint Vincent writing about writers in New York, including herself.)
TRAGEDY by Marry
Long Day's Journey Into Night, directed by Sidney Lumet, is a great movie (based on Eugene O'Neill's play of the same name). This drama, an autobiographical one, shows the tragedy in real life.
The film begins with a dialogue between a couple. It looks like a very harmonious family. However, the younger son, Edmund, has a bitter quarrel with his father, Tyrone. The truth is coming. Tyrone is an actor who has been successful playing one character in his career. The mother, Mary, has a morphine addiction. The older brother, Jamie, is an alcoholic, although his father hopes he can be a great actor. The truth is that he is a total loser. Edmund wants to be an artist, but his tuberculosis makes him become very negative. So, this is a very complex family that knows failure. What a tragic family!
In this movie, I want to emphasize the character whose name is Mary. She is a mother and a wife, but she also is a woman. Her husband has always let her down. A woman who has lost her baby can be like someone who is dead. Her problem is that she cannot get out of being stuck. She tries to find some warmth in her cold husband who doesn't really care about her. Her heart is broken. So she has to live with her memories and self-deception. What a tragedy!
The four people in this family are the root of one another's misfortune. Tyrone's work makes him become mean and cold. Tyrone's behavior makes Mary upset and crazy. Mary's behavior always hurts her sons. This family seems to live in hell. Unfortunately, nobody can flee. They know they are unhappy,ut they don't do anything about it. Maybe they used to try, but finally they have given up.
At the end of this movie, Mary recalls her happiest time when she was young. I think the director wants to tell us that love had appeared many years ago in this family. However, they destroy their happiness and love by themselves. The ending makes me feel very sad with some emotion I cannot describe carefully. This kind of family is very usual in real life. Family members can hurt each other like Tyrone's family–so tragic!
–Marry
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