MARVIN’S ROOM

 

FOUR STARS - Inspirational

 

 

       The healing power of love is difficult to portray without being overly sentimental or simplistic.   But in “Marvin’s Room,” the love presented is so authentic that its healing balm revives not only the lives of the characters on the screen but of the audience as well.

       Marvin (Hume Cronyn) is a bed-ridden, elderly man who has spent the last twenty years within the care of his oldest daughter, Bessie (Diane Keaton), in his Floridian home.  Bessie states that “Dad is dying real slow, so I don’t miss a thing!”

       But Bessie, having surrendered the plans she had for her life to return to Florida, has also nursed a twenty year resentment of her younger sister Lee (Meryl Streep) for not doing the same.  

       Lee had instead married a man who had physically abused their young son Hank (Leonardo di Caprio).  But out of protection for Hank, Lee had divorced her husband.  Now, many years later, Hank and Lee have developed such a destructive relationship that Hank has reacted by burning down their home.  The authorities respond by hospitalizing him in a mental institution.

       This event leaves Lee and her younger son, Charlie, homeless.  A local convent mercifully takes them in and gives them a large closet-like room to share.

       Into this family of pain a miracle comes.  Like most miracles, it is at first seen as a catastrophe, but the end result is the healing of the family and its individual members.

       The miracle begins when Bessie is diagnosed with leukemia.  Responsible not only for her father Marvin, but also for her aunt Ruth (Gwen Verdon) a wonderfully childlike older woman, Bessie is devastated, not for her own loss of life, but rather for the care of her loved ones.

       When her doctor informs her that the only cure is a bone-marrow transplant, they contact Lee and ask her and her sons to come to Florida to be tested.

       It is then that love begins its transfusing work. 

       Played with veteran acting skill both Keaton and Streep allow us to experience every nuance of their struggle:  the nervous giggles, the desire to please, the competition, the shame, the guilt, the longings.

       Due to the division between the sisters, Bessie has never seen Lee’s sons, her only nephews.  In some humorous and yet devastating scenes, we experience along with Bessie the conflicted relationship of Lee and her sons.  It is obvious that they had so long ago stopped connecting lovingly or honestly that their  relational dance is one of struggle and defensiveness.

       When Bessie begins to connect with Hank, the healing power of love begins.  In ways that parents are often too anxious to allow, extended family members can simply love an adolescent just as they are.

       When Hank discovers Marvin’s tools in his grandfather’s room, Bessie gives them to him.  This simple gift unlocks the discovery that Hank is a gifted mechanic, just like Marvin.  But the problem is that Bessie also needs a gift in return from Hank, his permission to test him for the bone-marrow transplant. 

       It is this convolution which creates the authenticity of the film.  Love is never simple or pure.  There are always other motives, because human beings need each other.  To deny this fact can create such a simplified view of love that it can never be received in all its complexity, nor can it be given in all its intimacy.

       Bessie loves Hank.  She needs his bone marrow tested, which is the catalyst which has brought them together, but she does love him, permission given or not.

       And Bessie loves Lee.  She needed her help long before, and over the years has allowed their stubborn resentment and guilt to keep them apart, but she does love her whether she helps her or not.

       This awareness, that it is in the giving of love that one finds life, is a powerful moment when Bessie and Lee find out that there are no matches for her cancer.

       Bessie, with tears in her eyes tells Lee:  “I’ve been lucky to have so much love in my life.”  And Lee responds, “Yes, Marvin and Ruth love you so much.”

       But Bessie answers:  “No, I’ve been lucky to be able to love them so much.”

       So many miss the healing power of love because their focus is on getting it from someone else, when the power is in the giving. 

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