I'll See You in My Dreams

A film set in California. Carol is in her seventies. Her husband died twenty years ago and she has lived in the same house in the same order since. Morning coffee, the crossword, a glass of wine in the afternoon and her dog. The dog dies. It is the first thing to fall outside the order. Carol has three friends; they all live in a retirement community and try to persuade her to move there. She does not want to. She starts talking to the young man who cleans her pool. An odd but genuine friendship forms: karaoke, walks at night and long silences. At the same time a man from the community takes an interest. Carol goes on a date for the first time in years and says herself how strange it is. What the film describes is not a second beginning but how strong habit is. All of her choices swing between trying something new and going back to what was. Blythe Danner plays Carol, Martin Starr the pool cleaner, June Squibb, Rhea Perlman and Mary Kay Place her friends, and Sam Elliott the man who takes an interest. Brett Haley directed. A warm choice for anyone who likes calm character films. For a viewer waiting for events, the film dwells on ordinary detail and never raises the pace.