IJW: Family Life (1971) | Review & Analysis | "..a provocative film that levies its foresight against our contemporary and historical failures by making examples of those hypnotized into subordination by cosmetic systems of caste, the fear of social disapproval, and the obsessive need for order.."

[u/CinemaWaves]

Janice (Sandy Ratcliff), a teenager living with her traditional authoritarian parents, finds her homelife tempestuously fracturing after a forced abortion leaves her with feelings of guilt and emotional neglect by her mother (Grace Cave) and father (Bill Dean). Causing a frenetic recourse and declining mental health where madness is her only refuge outside the suffocating infrastructure of those who curse a woman who has unconventional prospects outside the “normal” spheres of social acceptability. The culminating family dysfunction breaches its limits, causing her parents to turn to the public health system for a solution to Janice’s emotional instability, leading to her institutionalization.

Loach effectively fine-tunes the film from its broader dimensions into the more focused captive state of Janice’s reality. Bringing us within a hair’s breadth of her parents’ recoiling absolutism towards her, the narrative finds temporary balance through an unconventional therapy introduced by Dr. Donaldson, a progressive family psychiatrist. His methods seem promising for Janice but enter a stalemate with her parents, who remain steadfast in their refusal to accept any accountability for their family’s dysfunction.

Continue reading at: https://cinemawavesblog.com/film-reviews/family-life-review/

[u/5o7bot]

Family Life (1971) NR

Nothing like it ever, ever before!

A young woman, Janice, is living with her restrictive and conservative parents, who lead a dull working-class life and consider their daughter to be “misbehaving” whenever she’s trying to find her own way in life.

Drama
Director: Ken Loach
Actors: Sandy Ratcliff, Bill Dean, Grace Cave
Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 71% with 53 votes
Runtime: 1:48
TMDB

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