Movie review: Complex characters shape 'Stone Angel'

A deeply affecting portrait of a family dealing with aging and mortality.

By COLIN COVERT, Star Tribune

Last update: July 10, 2008 - 4:12 PM

Ready for a summer film that's about actors and plot and character arcs? "The Stone Angel" may be just what you're looking for, a grown-up drama with a splendid cast (Ellen Burstyn, Dylan Baker, Ellen Page and lesser-known standouts), a multigenerational story line and universal real-world themes of family, romance and mortality. It's proof that there are still films available for adults that are made with consummate skill and care -- and an occasional dose of adult sexuality.

Burstyn stars as Hagar, an independent-minded senior citizen who rebels when her son Marvin (Baker) and daughter-in-law Doris (Sheila McCarthy) try to place her in a nursing home. Hagar sets out on a road-tripping getaway, and as she travels she reminisces about her journey from childhood to old age.

As we see in the flashbacks, Hagar (played as a young woman by Christine Horne, an uncanny Burstyn lookalike) was always passionate and self-assured. Her father wanted her to marry well; naturally, Hagar chose a penniless rancher. Her stubborn independence cost her dearly, however, as she married unwisely and denied herself experiences and loves a more flexible person might have enjoyed.

As Hagar reflects on her joys and disappointments, guilt and tragedies, we understand that the forces that shaped her defiant character also made her difficult to live with. Marvin's decision to check her into a nursing home is not all that tough to understand as she subtly undermines his marriage to Doris.

The characters are complex and wonderfully acted right down the line. Page scores in a couple of brief scenes, Burstyn creates a character with many more layers than the typical feisty senior, and Baker offers a full, rounded portrait of a man with few options trying to do the best he can by his aging mother. The actors communicate things with a look, a pause or a burst of forced, too-hearty laughter that dialog alone would struggle to convey. The film never reaches for cheap pathos, yet it's deeply affecting.

Colin Covert • 612-673-7186