Brave (no spoilers)
Posted on June 28th, 2012
Cute movie. Adorable, strong heroine. Historically whack-a-doodle, chock full of Scottish stereotypes, but whatever. It was an incredibly tight, well-constructed story and I was amazed at the craft that went into it.
But: it was not a movie that women who struggle with their relationships with their mothers should see without warning. Even knowing the mother/daughter relationship was at the core of the story, I cried like I was at therapy. Because it was like therapy (albeit significantly cheaper: $17.50 for 100 minutes vs. $180 for 60 minutes): the mourning of the relationship with my mother than I’ll never have because of her narcissism, the fear I won’t be the mother I should be to Pea, and just the sadness of the whole mess of my family. I pretty much was sidelined for the rest of the day, sorting out the emotional fallout.
(Also: 6 previews. WTF?)
I saw it today, sandwiched between my 14 and 15 yo daughters. Honestly, I started crying at the opening scene, where the daughter was still little. And I kind of never stopped. My girls laughed at me. But 15 yo later admitted that there were parts that were VERY sad to her … I won’t say which here, bc it would be a spoiler.
The first scene got me, too!
You are not your mother.
Thank heaven.
I saw it with my little one last week and didn’t realize going in that it was going to be about the mother/daughter relationship. H didn’t understand the fighting between them and was concerned about why they were and kept asking afterward why they didn’t like each other. It was kind of a sticky thing to have to explain. Still, good movie and it was nice to spend an afternoon in the theater with the little one. Who keeps offering me pretend “magic cakes.”
No pretend cakes here (yet), but we’ve (she’s) drawn a LOT of bears and Merida. (The curls crack me up — she had to figure out how to draw curly hair to do it.)
I have only sons, but I wept, too – even though it is a quintessentially mother-daughter relationship. Sigh. I want a baby girl one day.
I was scared to have a daughter, but it actually is a lot of fun…at least now! (I’m scared for the next 15 years.)
It has stayed fun for me! (For the most part.)
Loved Brave, and the previews made me want to watch ALL THE MOVIES.
Especially the Transylvania Hotel movie.
Agreed! I really want to see that, too!