Review of Strangers in Good Company

This lovely film about a group of elderly women stranded at a decrepit house in the country gives unusual cinematic attention to their thoughts and feelings. We rarely see women of this age on film for any extended length of time, which gives it an intrinsic novelty. These are women from a modest and self-effacing generation; no doubt if a similar film were made ten years from now about a group of Boomer-aged women stranded, it would be much different! The women in this film have been brought up to expect little and be satisfied with humble pleasures. The way they patiently wait and amiably pass the time until they are rescued will die with their generation. The women confess their small pleasures, sorrows and anxieties with each other and give each other gentle sympathy. I was sorry when the film ended and the women vanished into the fog at the end. The fog (which is also present at the beginning of the film) could stand for not only their closeness to death, but also for their cultural invisibility.

My only complaint about this film was about the subtitles. It would have been nice to have watched the film in French with English subtitles.