Jilting of Granny Weatherall
Katherine Ann Porter’s short film adaptation of The Jilting of Granny Weatherall is widely considered as being one of the greatest classics in short filmmaking. And the reputation is far from being undeserved. Granny, (Geraldine Fitzgerald) is a matriarch who, on the last day of her life, summons up for evaluation the successes and failures of her long years. Even though she has “seen it all”, “weathered it all”, one single event in her life is the focus of the entire movie. On her death bed she recalls the time when she was jilted by her husband to be, George. She wants so much to see him again, just to tell him that she has had a good life, a good husband, great children, and that she has forgotten him. But obviously, she has not forgotten George, reason why his name is mentioned so often in the movie. Ironically, Granny will be jilted one last time, as George does not really “show up”, every time he does he is either a ghost or has his back turned to Granny. The visions of Granny, both real or the result of her imagination give to the movie a sense of mystery, of depth in the plot. This is a movie that really is about symbolism. From the beginning, there is this intense feeling that som . . .
On the other hand, we have to wonder WHY? Why indeed does such a brave woman have to go through all this pain? We have a feeling that she does not deserve such pain and suffering. We cannot help but fall in love with the performance by Geraldine Fitzgerald. That is certainly where she gets that almost pathological obsession for work. There probably could not be a better casting for the different characters. We feel so close and full of admiration for a woman whose life has been everything but easy. NDIAYE ENGLISH 102 job of reminding us that this was before anything else a very sad story even though it had some entertaining passages. After a life of sacrifice, that would have been the least of the things that should have happened for her. Granny was determined, even obsessed by making a white cake. On one hand, we cannot help but enjoy the story itself. A happy ending to the story probably would have made it somewhat ordinary, when in fact it is not. The choice of colors itself by the director (Randa Haines) adds to the sad appeal of the movie. Orphan when she was just making her way through young womanhood, she has had to work very hard in her life. As an example, the priest standing in front of Granny’s deathbed looked himself like death… From that point on, it was obvious that Granny was living the last moments of her life. Maybe Katherine Ann Porter’s goal was to remind us that life was not always fair, that it could be in fact very cruel, even to the best amongst us.
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