Written and directed by James L. Brooks, 1983’s ‘Terms of Endearment’ is a ‘dramedy’ that has stood the test of time.

Starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Jeff Daniels and John Lithgow, the sprawling romance/drama/comedy/terribly-sad-film sees Winger’s ‘Emma’ getting married to Daniel’ ‘Flap’ Horton, much to the chagrin of MacLaine’s Aurora — nevertheless the two get married and begin a life of their own away from Aurora’s over-protective gaze.

Brooks penned the screenplay, but the film is based on the novel of the same name by Larry McMurty (who also wrote the novel that the much maligned sequel film is based on ‘The Evening Star’). Brooks’ adaptation of McMurty’s novel is very witty and sharp, making even detestable characters likeable and complex, as we come to understand that all the primary cast are undergoing their own inner-torments and challenges that aren’t readily apparent.

MacLaine’s Aurora is cold and seeminly unfeeling, holding back a lot of her love from Emma and behaving — at best — coldly towards Flap, her new son-in-law. The film begins with Emma departing the family home to move with her husband to another state where he has found work as a teacher. Aurora doesn’t like Flap, but cannot articulate why further than a few seemingly surface level complaints, but that doesn’t stop Emma from uprooting and beginning her new adventure.

Emma soon finds herself pregnant and away from home, as her husband tries to pay the bills (often failing to do so).

Aurora’s character, once Emma departs, begins to develop complexity as we see her loneliness play out on-screen, masterfully acted by Shirley MacLaine as we see Aurora hosting dinner-parties with men she knows, men who often try to flirt with her and win her good-graces. Aurora has a craving for love and desire, but it’s a one-sided feeling as Aurora seems to have a great inability to show love herself. Enter Jack Nicholson’s Garrett Breedlove; a former astronaut who represents everything Aurora cannot stand — a rude and loathsome man who has a penchant for easy-woman, especially on the younger-side. Garrett brings something out of Aurora, a mischievous that she tries to keep hidden under her cold and frosty demeanor. Aurora finds herself truly attracted to a man after a period of being on her own (I’m not sure if the duration is established in the film).

Meanwhile, Emma begins to have suspicions about her husbands fidelity as their family continues to grow, and finds potential love away from her marriage herself.

Terms of Endearment is at its core a story about finding the things that you need to make yourself whole while navigating the circumstances that life has handed to you (something that is crystallised in the final act). Flap has an unrealised desire for romance that his relationship with Emma cannot satiate, Emma has a similar problem as she finds her marriage becoming complicated and Flap becoming distant, and she herself finds companionship outside of the marriage, and Aurora herself finds her walls being broken-down by a need for intimacy and companionship with Garrett, a man who represents everything she opposes, but gives her a sense of vitality nonetheless.

Emma and Aurora, being the two central characters, are two sides of the same coin — Aurora closes herself off from love and connection, and Emma needs the love of her husband, but cannot find it further past a certain point.

Emma finds herself getting sick, which triggers Aurora (who is already leaving her shell), to come to her aid where the two begin to form a closer bond, but of-course it’s too late in any meaningful sense — my opinion: thirty-something years of coldness can’t be undone by a year or two of caring and reconciliation, familial trauma and load-bearing runs deeper than a screenplay and actors can articulate in a two hour film.

Brooks’ direction is simple and heartfelt, but it’s Andrzej Bartkowisk’s camera-work which elevates this domestic drama to being one of the Greats. There is a nice grain on the film, and the movie is full of warm lived in interiors and autumnal foliage which made me feel a sense of nostalgia.

Michael Gore’s score is beautiful and full of a sense of calm, but also longing. Gore’s arrangements are perfectly suited to the scenes and help heighten the emotional of the moment, which is often painful or bitter-sweet.

Terms of Endearment is a special movie, but it’s also one that is emotionally taxing and by the end I was glad it was over. The characters are so genuine that the climax takes a toll on the viewer, which is a testament to all of the cast and crew working together to craft a truly wonderful film.

5/5.

Callum Berry.