Corrina, Corrina

A film set in California in 1959. Manny's wife has died. He writes advertising jingles, cannot get to work, and does not know what to do at home. His daughter Molly does not speak. She has not said a word since her mother's funeral and is silent at school too. They look for a housekeeper. Several come and none of them works out. Corrina is hired. She went to college but cannot find work; domestic service is her only option. She does not talk to Molly on the first day. She just stays near her and waits. From there the film is a slow coming together. A kitchen, a record, a meal, a question and finally a sentence. Molly begins to speak. Something forms between Manny and Corrina as well. Both understand music and they talk in the evenings. Then the surroundings intervene. Neighbours, Corrina's family and Manny's mother; nobody wants this. What the narrative is interested in is not love but permission: how far such a relationship was possible for whom in America in 1959, and who bears the cost. Corrina's line is the best written part. She knows she may also lose her job, and all the risk is hers. The tone is soft. The narrative opens the question of race but does not sharpen it, and that is what the film was most criticised for. The child actor is at the centre. Molly's silence and her first words are the turning point. Whoopi Goldberg, Ray Liotta, Tina Majorino and Don Ameche are in the cast. Jessie Nelson wrote and directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes gentle family drama and the music of the period. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a film that goes deep into its subject; the narrative keeps softening the conflict and the ending comes too easily.