Mermaids (film)
Encyclopedia
Mermaids is a 1990
comedy
-drama film
directed by Richard Benjamin
and starring Cher
, Bob Hoskins
, Winona Ryder
(who was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
for best supporting actress for her role), and Christina Ricci
in her first film role. The film is based on the 1986 novel of the same title written by Patty Dann
.
in the small town of Eastport, Massachusetts. Charlotte has an obsession with Catholicism
and idolizes the nun
s living in the convent. She is always reminded by Rachel, "Charlotte, we're Jewish." Kate, on the other hand, loves oceans and swimming and apparently learned to do so while still a baby. She won many swimming competitions.
In the new town, Charlotte is especially interested in Joe, the 26-year-old handsome caretaker of the convent and local school bus driver while Rachel falls in love with a local shop owner named Lou. After the assassination of JFK
, Charlotte kisses Joe in the belltower where he rings the church bell. After the encounter, she begins fasting
in order to purge her sinful thoughts. She soon fears that God may be punishing her by making her pregnant, and (unable to talk to her mother about it) steals Rachel's car and runs away. She stops at the house of a 'nuclear perfect family' in Connecticut
, where she tells them her name is Sal Val and other wild stories (which they don't seem to completely believe). She is later picked up by Lou and taken home, where she goes to see an obstetrician and is told she is still a virgin.
At a New Year
's costume party Lou asks Rachel to move in with him but she declines and they have a big fight. She asks Joe for a ride home after which she kisses him. Charlotte sees this and feels that her mother is trying to steal away her love interest. That night she dresses up in Rachel's clothes and make up and she and Kate get drunk on wine. She then takes her to the convent to see Joe. Kate decides to stay behind and collect rocks while Charlotte goes up to the belltower and ends up losing her virginity to him. Unbeknownst to them Kate falls into a river and almost drowns, but is saved by the nuns. Rachel is very angry at the turn of events and she and Charlotte have a big fight. She decides to move again to avoid embarrassment as the whole town is talking about Charlotte and Joe. However in the end Charlotte convinces her to stay in the town at least for another year.
Rachel stays behind and her relationship with Lou progresses. Joe moves away but keeps in touch via postcards, while Charlotte takes Greek myths as her new passion. Kate recovers from her accident (albeit with some deafness), and the movie ends with the family setting the table for dinner (something they never did before Lou came into their lives).
. She had begun shooting the film when Cher
supposedly made a complaint that she couldn’t play her daughter because she was too fair haired and Winona Ryder replaced her. This statement would be rather ironic given that all of Cher's real life children are blond/fair.
This was to be the American film debut for director Lasse Hallström
until he allegedly repeatedly clashed with lead actress Cher and was replaced first by Frank Oz
and then by Richard Benjamin
.
Lloyd sued Orion Pictures
Corporation and Mermaid Productions, reaching a settlement on the second day of the trial, 30 July 1991.
indicating largely positive reviews.
Time Out New York wrote; ‘The film is burdened by curious details and observations, and its preoccupation with all things aquatic (little sister is an ace swimmer, Mom dresses up as a mermaid for New Year's Eve, etc) is overworked. Characterisation suffers, with Charlotte and her mother too self-absorbed to engage our sympathies. Crucially, they just aren't funny’.
Vincent Canby from the New York Times wrote; ‘Mermaids, adapted by the English writer June Roberts from the novel by Patty Dann, is a terribly gentle if wisecracking comedy about the serious business of growing up.’
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
-drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus , based on the novella by Philip Roth, and Westworld .-Life and career:...
and starring Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
, Bob Hoskins
Bob Hoskins
Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
, Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
(who was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for best supporting actress for her role), and Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
in her first film role. The film is based on the 1986 novel of the same title written by Patty Dann
Patty Dann
Patty Dann is an American novelist and nonfiction writer. She wrote Mermaids, a coming-of-age novel about a teenage girl published in 1986. In 1990, it was made into a movie starring Cher, Winona Ryder, Bob Hoskins and Christina Ricci...
.
Synopsis
Mermaids is narrated in the first person by Charlotte Flax, a 15-year-old girl living with her eccentric mother, Rachel (whom she calls "Mrs. Flax"), and sister, Kate. Kate calls her mother by her given name. The narration begins in early fall, 1963, just as Rachel's latest fling with her married employer ends and she decides to relocate once again. This time, she and the girls move into a new home near a conventConvent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
in the small town of Eastport, Massachusetts. Charlotte has an obsession with Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
and idolizes the nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
s living in the convent. She is always reminded by Rachel, "Charlotte, we're Jewish." Kate, on the other hand, loves oceans and swimming and apparently learned to do so while still a baby. She won many swimming competitions.
In the new town, Charlotte is especially interested in Joe, the 26-year-old handsome caretaker of the convent and local school bus driver while Rachel falls in love with a local shop owner named Lou. After the assassination of JFK
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
, Charlotte kisses Joe in the belltower where he rings the church bell. After the encounter, she begins fasting
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
in order to purge her sinful thoughts. She soon fears that God may be punishing her by making her pregnant, and (unable to talk to her mother about it) steals Rachel's car and runs away. She stops at the house of a 'nuclear perfect family' in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, where she tells them her name is Sal Val and other wild stories (which they don't seem to completely believe). She is later picked up by Lou and taken home, where she goes to see an obstetrician and is told she is still a virgin.
At a New Year
New Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
's costume party Lou asks Rachel to move in with him but she declines and they have a big fight. She asks Joe for a ride home after which she kisses him. Charlotte sees this and feels that her mother is trying to steal away her love interest. That night she dresses up in Rachel's clothes and make up and she and Kate get drunk on wine. She then takes her to the convent to see Joe. Kate decides to stay behind and collect rocks while Charlotte goes up to the belltower and ends up losing her virginity to him. Unbeknownst to them Kate falls into a river and almost drowns, but is saved by the nuns. Rachel is very angry at the turn of events and she and Charlotte have a big fight. She decides to move again to avoid embarrassment as the whole town is talking about Charlotte and Joe. However in the end Charlotte convinces her to stay in the town at least for another year.
Rachel stays behind and her relationship with Lou progresses. Joe moves away but keeps in touch via postcards, while Charlotte takes Greek myths as her new passion. Kate recovers from her accident (albeit with some deafness), and the movie ends with the family setting the table for dinner (something they never did before Lou came into their lives).
Cast
- CherCherCher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
as Rachel Flax - Winona RyderWinona RyderWinona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
as Charlotte Flax - Christina RicciChristina RicciChristina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
as Kate Flax - Bob HoskinsBob HoskinsRobert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
as Lou Landsky - Michael SchoefflingMichael SchoefflingMichael Schoeffling is an American former actor, and male model, best known for playing Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles, Kuch in Vision Quest, and Joe in Mermaids.-Early life & education:...
as Joe Porretti - Caroline McWilliamsCaroline McWilliamsCaroline Margaret McWilliams was an American actress best known for her portrayal of Marcy Hill on the television series Benson and Sally on the television series Soap...
as Carrie
Production
The role of Charlotte was initially cast with Emily LloydEmily Lloyd
-Early life:Emily Lloyd Pack was born in London, the daughter of Sheila , now known as , a theatrical agent who was a longtime secretary at Harold Pinter's stage agency, and Roger Lloyd-Pack, a stage actor, well-known as Trigger in the British hit sitcom Only Fools and Horses. Her grandfather,...
. She had begun shooting the film when Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
supposedly made a complaint that she couldn’t play her daughter because she was too fair haired and Winona Ryder replaced her. This statement would be rather ironic given that all of Cher's real life children are blond/fair.
This was to be the American film debut for director Lasse Hallström
Lasse Hallström
Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström is a Swedish film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for My Life as a Dog and later for The Cider House Rules .-Life and career:...
until he allegedly repeatedly clashed with lead actress Cher and was replaced first by Frank Oz
Frank Oz
Frank Oz is a British-born American film director, actor, voice actor and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover in Sesame Street, and for directing films, including the 1986 Little Shop of...
and then by Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin
Richard Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus , based on the novella by Philip Roth, and Westworld .-Life and career:...
.
Lloyd sued Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures Corporation was an American independent production company that produced movies from 1978 until 1998. It was formed in 1978 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and three former top-level executives of United Artists. Although it was never a large motion picture producer, Orion...
Corporation and Mermaid Productions, reaching a settlement on the second day of the trial, 30 July 1991.
Critical response
Mermaids currently holds a rating of 73% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
indicating largely positive reviews.
Time Out New York wrote; ‘The film is burdened by curious details and observations, and its preoccupation with all things aquatic (little sister is an ace swimmer, Mom dresses up as a mermaid for New Year's Eve, etc) is overworked. Characterisation suffers, with Charlotte and her mother too self-absorbed to engage our sympathies. Crucially, they just aren't funny’.
Vincent Canby from the New York Times wrote; ‘Mermaids, adapted by the English writer June Roberts from the novel by Patty Dann, is a terribly gentle if wisecracking comedy about the serious business of growing up.’