Many films have dealt with the effects our parents have on us, not many deal with a mother quite like Vivi Walker (Ellen Burstyn/Ashely Judd) in Callie Khouri's Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. A cross between Scarlett O'Hara and Joan Crawford, Vivi is the main character and the movie attempts to chronicle a series of events during her life from the 1930s to the present and how they affect her oldest daughter. The film delivers emotional warmth and a few laughs and is very watch able despite being an obvious "chick flick" in the vein of Fried Greeen Tomatoes.
Siddalee Walker (Sandra Bullock) is Vivi's oldest daughter, a New York City author whose novel about her hard childhood growing up with an alcoholic mother in Louisiana is about to be made into a play. She is being interviewed by Time magazine as the movie opens and by the time the article makes it to the press it clearly holds Siddalee's dearest mother Vivi in the most unflattering light. Thus begins the whole premise of the movie, the feud between Vivi and Siddalee. But what about the Ya Ya sisterhood? That is the second main theme of the film, the bond of childhood friendships amongst the four women who formed a sisterhood as young children. Now, they are clearly entering old age, one of the ladies, Caro (Maggie Smith) lugs around an oxygen tank with her. This is the ailing Golden Girls or the Designing Woman at 75.
The movie goes in and out of current time to the 1930s when the ya-yas were girls to the 50s and 60s when they were older and had children. A lot of the story revolves around the trials and tribulations of Vivi Walker as a young woman.
The story is choppy and all over the place at times, sometimes it feels tedious but the majority of the time it can be followed and it contains warmth and emotion, something a lot of the films this summer have been devoid of. One major complaint would be the lack of development for the male characters in the film. Siddalee's fiancée and Vivi's husband are both just empty characters to fill the roles. I guess that's what happens in a film directed and written by a woman for the most part, for women.
The acting is good for the most part, Maggie Smith breaks her stale British accent. Ellen Burstyn tackles the role of old aged Vivi with strong determination. Ashley Judd shines in the role of the young Vivi. It is great to see her actually play a role where she is not just playing the leading lady of some kind of thriller but actually acting and she shows she does have acting talent. Her performance of Vivi is mindful of Jessica Lange's Oscar-winning performance of a similar type of woman in Blue Sky. Maybe this role will help place Judd in meatier roles in the future.
The average male will be itching to get out of the theater if he ends up in one where this film is playing. Woman of all ages and men who enjoy films with emotion and heart will be the most likely to find Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood an enjoyable film. Clearly not for most moviegoers, it is ideal for someone looking to escape the barrage of summer action/adventure or silly comedy films that are dominating the multiplex this summer.
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