- 12 years ago
Comedy | Short - 1992
This movie is Wendy Wasserstein's humorous love letter to the theatre and features three generations of actresses in three different eras. Talk show host Charlie Rose also makes an appearance.
Director: Gerald Gutierrez
Writer: Wendy Wasserstein
Stars: Blythe Danner, Nancy Marchand, Cynthia Nixon
This movie is Wendy Wasserstein's humorous love letter to the theatre and features three generations of actresses in three different eras. Talk show host Charlie Rose also makes an appearance.
Director: Gerald Gutierrez
Writer: Wendy Wasserstein
Stars: Blythe Danner, Nancy Marchand, Cynthia Nixon
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00🎵
00:29You said I played her desperately.
00:34Mother, you were brilliant.
00:35I was desperate. Do you know what he said to me as I walked off the stage?
00:38Oh, Anton said to me, people who have long been unhappy never get beyond whistling.
00:43What did he expect me to do? Whistle through the entire play?
00:46Oh, I could play the village idiot.
00:49Oh, that would make him happy. That would make all of Moscow happy.
00:52Especially that cow, Olga Knipper, who's just waiting for me to fail.
00:56She's probably ordered all three sisters' costumes.
00:58I thought you've never been better.
01:00What about my seagull?
01:01You've never been better.
01:02Oh, my cherry orchard. Everyone said that was brilliant.
01:04Tonight was perfect, Mother.
01:05You didn't like my cherry orchard.
01:07Mother, you're impossible.
01:08Oh, I know, my precious. That's why I'm so lucky to have you.
01:11Kiss, kiss, darling.
01:12Oh, thank heaven you never went into the theater.
01:15The theater's for crazy people.
01:18You stay home and raise your children.
01:20I don't have any children. I'm only 16.
01:22But you will have wonderful children one day, darling.
01:25You are perfect. I am your mother.
01:28Oh, go away. We have no clothes on.
01:30Is there any way to greet your mother?
01:33Hello, Mother.
01:34Hello, Grandmother.
01:35Hello, my love.
01:36Wasn't your mother radiant tonight?
01:39My darling, you were absolutely radiant.
01:45Of course, I would have given the role a little more energy,
01:47perhaps a slightly more enthusiastic interpretation.
01:51Yes, but it was me up there, not you, so you couldn't.
01:54But all I'm saying, my angel, is it seemed a tiny bit desperate.
01:59Mother!
02:01If you want to find another actress you like better in another dressing room, do so.
02:05Well, I just...
02:06Oh, I hear that Olga Knipper is brilliant.
02:09And she was so energetic.
02:12She's even sleeping with a playwright.
02:14Perhaps you'd prefer her to be your daughter.
02:16Whatever you do, my darling grandchild, don't become an actress.
02:21They're such high-strung and emotional people.
02:23It's a ridiculous life.
02:25What are you talking about?
02:27It's the best possible life.
02:29I should have stopped you.
02:31I should have spent less time on stage and more time with you.
02:34Nonsense.
02:35If you were with me, who would I have known who went to the theater every night
02:38and magically transformed herself into someone else?
02:43Who would I have known who could make entire rooms of strangers
02:48laugh and cry at the same time?
02:50Mother, you were my idol.
02:53You were everything in life I wanted to be.
02:57But I just wanted to be a better me.
03:00You are better.
03:02Oh, no, no.
03:04You are perfect.
03:07Oh, I am your mother.
03:12Well, I've made up my mind.
03:20I'm going to be an actress.
03:22Are you crazy?
03:24The theater's for crazy people.
03:27I'm going to be an actress.
03:32Lord, help me.
03:34I'm desperate.
03:50I just don't think I was very real.
03:57Our acting teacher says we have to feel it.
04:00In here.
04:01In our guts.
04:03Perhaps your acting teacher would do better in the biology department.
04:08Grandma, for acting to be good, it has to be honest.
04:11On my day, all you had to do was say the lines.
04:14It didn't matter if you were lying through your teeth.
04:18It's just that this is the first time Mother's ever seen me act,
04:20and I wanted it to be perfect.
04:22Grandma, did she come?
04:24Oh, I was early.
04:26She may have slipped in.
04:28Everyone in the theater department here says that when my mother acted,
04:32she was real and true in every single moment.
04:35My darling, if this country were different,
04:39your mother would have been the greatest American actress of her time.
04:43Is that what you do in college?
04:45Sit around and talk about your mother?
04:47You ought to be memorizing Electra.
04:49Why would I want to do that?
04:51How many girls at a Fidel party can actually speak ancient Greek?
04:55I don't go to fraternity parties, Mother.
04:57Oh, I'm sorry.
04:59You know, if you really hated my performance so much,
05:01why don't you just say so instead of making silly conversation?
05:04But I loved your performance.
05:05I was terrible.
05:07Chekhov turned over in his grave.
05:10The entire Moscow Art Theater turned over in their graves.
05:13Well, I loved it.
05:15I loved it, too.
05:17Of course, that tubby Madame R. Cardinal
05:18ought to be arrested by the art police.
05:20Mother, she is the head of the theater department.
05:24And Trigorin.
05:25Well, hopefully he'll graduate from college
05:27and have a happy life as an accountant, huh?
05:30But you, my precious daughter,
05:32you were really very good.
05:36It doesn't matter.
05:38I've already told them I'm not auditioning
05:40for next spring's Midsummer Night's Dream.
05:42And I'm changing my major to biochemistry.
05:45Oh, really?
05:47I have better things to do with my time.
05:50Mother, is this young woman my daughter or an imposter?
05:54I'm not sure either of you are mine.
05:57Mother, look what the theater did to your life.
06:02It practically destroyed you.
06:06The theater never destroyed my life.
06:09The theater gave me life.
06:13Small and frightened people afraid of communists
06:15and boogie men tried to destroy my life.
06:19My precious, if you don't want to act,
06:21then by all means don't act.
06:24But I cannot tell you what it's like
06:26to be kept from the stage
06:27when every bone in your body is aching to be there.
06:32I can't tell you what it's like
06:34when the privilege of acting and creating
06:36is suddenly taken away.
06:41Don't do to yourself out of fear
06:43what was so painfully done to me.
06:48But what if I'm not very good?
06:52You'll get better.
06:54And someone younger and prettier comes along.
06:57Tear all her hair out.
07:00Your grandmother is a very wise woman.
07:03Thank you for coming, Mommy.
07:06Kiss, kiss, darling.
07:09And now, get dressed.
07:11I have notes for you and the entire company.
07:15Now.
07:16Oh, in fact, I think I'll begin before dinner
07:18by reading the entire play out loud.
07:20Come, sit down.
07:21Seagull, act one.
07:24The park on Soren's estate.
07:26Medvedenko and Masha enter.
07:28Medvedenko, why do you always wear black?
07:31Masha, I'm in mourning for my life.
07:35What the playwright intends...
08:00How much of that clop are you going to put on your hair?
08:19You could grow broccoli up there.
08:21Where's Grandma?
08:22Oh, she's probably taking her 50th curtain call
08:24at the cinema theater.
08:25Oh, don't worry, baby.
08:26She will sweep in momentarily.
08:28Kiss, kiss, darlings, I'm here.
08:30Hi, I'm Charlie Rose.
08:31Oh, hello.
08:33Thank you so much for being with us tonight.
08:36Thanks for coming, Charlie Rose.
08:38I want to give both of you some idea
08:39of the kinds of things we'll be talking about tonight.
08:42Kiss, kiss, darlings, I'm here.
08:44Oh, I'm so sorry I'm late.
08:47I got three standing ovation.
08:50Oh, the traffic from Broadway
08:52to your studio here was miserable.
08:55Mother, this is Charlie Rose,
08:57the host of the program
08:58we're going to be on in three minutes.
09:02So soon?
09:03Well, I suppose I don't have time to change.
09:06Darling, I love your suit.
09:07Did you borrow it from wardrobe?
09:09Of course, with her salary,
09:11she could buy out the entire house of Chanel.
09:14At least I didn't come dressed for the 19th century.
09:17Charlie, do you know
09:19that my daughter has the most wonderful clothes
09:24because she is the most popular television actress in America?
09:29And now she's the three-time winner
09:32of the People's Choice Award.
09:34No, three-time winner of the Emmy Award, Mother,
09:36two-time winner of the People's Choice.
09:38Oh, stop it, Mother.
09:39Grandma, stop it again. I can use this.
09:41Baby, put that camera down.
09:43Isn't my family marvelous?
09:46We're so diverse.
09:47And that is exactly what I want to talk about tonight,
09:50how three women, three generations of the same family,
09:53can achieve so much, each in her own medium.
09:56Grandmother is up for a Tony Award tomorrow night
09:59for her performance in Cherry Orchard.
10:01Mother wins another Emmy for Mary McTeague, Ph.D.
10:05And don't forget my talented granddaughter,
10:08the first prize winner of the Soho Performance Art Award.
10:11You ladies are a triple threat.
10:14I'll let you know when we're ready.
10:18He's adorable.
10:20Maybe you should marry him.
10:22Oh, Mother, I am not going to marry a man
10:24just because I was his guest on a late-night talk show.
10:27But it's a PBS late-night talk show,
10:29so obviously he's intelligent.
10:31Oh, I should have stayed in California
10:33and watched you in your Tony from my pool.
10:35Baby, put that damn camera down.
10:37Why? This is great stuff.
10:39I can use this for my family dysfunction performance piece
10:42next week at the kitchen.
10:43I wish you'd do something worthwhile.
10:45Mother, this is worthwhile!
10:47This is my art. I am breaking forms.
10:50I am exploding texts.
10:52I am challenging the boundaries of video.
10:54You are making home movies, baby.
10:57That ain't art.
10:59Well, you're certainly one to talk.
11:01Mother, just because Mary McTeague
11:04is the top-rated television show in the country
11:06doesn't mean it isn't art.
11:10When I did Shakespeare and Chekhov like you,
11:13I reached only a privileged few.
11:16Now I can make an impact.
11:19Oh, Mother, the theater is stained glass.
11:23It deserves to be preserved.
11:26But for me to continue making it at this time
11:29is selfish and elitist.
11:33Maybe, maybe you're right.
11:37Maybe I am selfish
11:41because I've never missed a performance.
11:45The reason is quite simple.
11:48More than anywhere else in the world,
11:51I want to be there.
11:55Nothing makes me happier than to come in every night
11:59to a dressing room,
12:01knowing that very shortly I'll be on the stage
12:04as someone completely else,
12:06and that I'll be sharing that someone else,
12:08all her hopes, her faults, her humor,
12:13with an audience that is directly in front of me.
12:18You see, I know that every night
12:22that audience and I together
12:24can make something magical happen.
12:28Ladies, we're ready for you on the set.
12:30Oh, my God!
12:34Check your sequence, Mother.
12:36Too much lipstick, Grandma.
12:38How do you tattoo, honey?
12:44I can't tell you how truly proud I am
12:48to be in your company tonight.
12:52Kiss, kiss, darling!
13:13Kiss, kiss, darling!