FILM: Book Club Challenges Age Stereotypes

Book Club film review by Belle About Town

As promised by the name of this movie, right off the bat we’re watching four girlfriends talking about a book they’re reading. It’s called Book Club after all, so the screenplay writers aren’t about to disappoint us with that one. As with bookclubs in real life, getting together is rarely about discussing the book and soon enough we’re seeing the characters poke fun at eachother, teasing one another about their sex lives inbetween generous white wine top ups thanks to what seems like an endless supply of white wine.

Check and check.

In this film, they’re reading the 50 Shades of Grey series, judging it as hard as anyone of us would IRL. The difference is that we’re peering into the lives of women much older, well into their sixties and seventies.

Label the movie in a blunt pitch-style tagline, and you’d describe it as a septuagenarian Sex and the City. Each character is predictably (or ironically?!) cast: each translates as an older lead on SATC quintessentially white and wealthy – but totally love-challenged. The old formula seems dated now and most are expecting the film industry to create work that features multicultural and sexually diverse characters. Sure, there isn’t a lot of racial or sexual diversity in this film but what does save it is the other kind of diversity it brings to the table: age. All of the actors in this film are iconic ones from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s and to have them cast together in a film like this is one for the books:

Stylishly preppy window Diane (Diane Keaton) is Carrie. She meets Andy Garcia who plays the mysterious and moneyed “Mr. Big” who has plans to sweep Diane off her feet no matter how much her meddling adult children want her to move into the furnished basement.

Seductive and flirty restaurant maven Vivian (Jane Fonda) is Samantha. After a heartbreaking divorce, she’s turned relationship averse and while trying to project a self-preserving business-first, relationship-second motto, she finds herself being seduced by her ex-husband after being apart for decades.

By-the-book and seemingly square judge Sharon (Candice Bergen) is your typical Miranda. She gives online dating app Bumble a try and is pleasantly surprised by the results: multiple hot and heavy dates with tax attorney George (Richard Dreyfuss) and doctor Derek (Wallace Shawn) all the while dodging her ex-husband and his decades-younger fiancé.

Adorably wholesome and miraculously raven-haired Carol (Mary Steenburgen) is 100% SATC’s Charlotte. She and her husband haven’t had sex in six months and she embarks on a hilariously awkward task of instigating a Viagra-fuelled session between the two of them that will help save their marriage.

The wonderful message throughout this film whether made fun of or made legitimate, is that life doesn’t end at 65, even if the kids are all grown up and start having their own kids. Getting older isn’t only about looking after the grandchildren or waiting for death after retirement – in fact, it doesn’t have to be that at all for anyone.

Aging parents aren’t meant to fade and recluse into the furnished basement. On the contrary, they are just as entitled to start a fling with that good-looking entrepreneur, to hook up with people on Bumble, rekindle love and rediscover their younger selves – right now. And it was this along with a reassuring utopian idea that held all of this together: lifelong friendships, flawed or flawless would help you weather the storm whilst going through a life-crisis, whether that happens at 50 years old or 80 years old or any age in between.