A Filmmaker's Review: "Now, Voyager" (1942)

This movie starring Bette Davis is one of those films which not only features the classic Bette Davis signature style of the classy girl but also features Bette Davis as the actress in a role I've probably never seen her play until now - the paranoid loner. I think that her acting was absolutely impeccable. Along with the storyline, there was a very heartwarming quality that I did not usually associate with the woman badass Bette Davis . But in this role, she presents something very different to her usual requests and therefore, I count it as one of her greatest films even though from what I have seen, not many people talk about this one in comparison to other - more popular - roles of hers.

This film is about a woman who is practically controlled by her mother, not being allowed to do anything or go anywhere or even own anything without her mother's permission. She has become a recluse, hardly ever going outside and she is not allowed friends and certainly not a male friend. The problem is that this is a woman and not a child. The family calls in a therapist and she has a mental breakdown, being taken to a facility in order to recover over the course of a few weeks and, noticing those were the best weeks of her life because she was away from her mother, she continues on. She goes on a cruise without her mother's permission and travels all the way to Brazil, meeting people along the way and having fun, but when she returns, she is all of a sudden under the glare of her horrid, overbearing mother who presents her with constant ridicule and conditional love. Returning to the facility after another mental breakdown, she sees a young girl who reminds her of herself. But it isn't the only reason why she gravitates towards this child.

It is not only Bette Davis's acting that holds up this incredible movie but also the way in which the story is told. Different settings have different emotions and tensions associated with them. The cruise ship represents something whereas, the family home represents something else and then again, Brazil as a place represents something else and finally, the mental facility represents something else. Each of these things help to make not only the story but also centre Bette Davis at the centre of this with her character experiencing these settings as the certain emotions in different ways. For example: she only ever has a nervous breakdown in her family home but the mental facility is associated with her finding herself since each time she comes out she doesn't only come out better but having discovered something she did not previously know about herself and what she was capable of.

The various themes associated with various characters are the same. The way in which the main character experiences these people through emotion and almost these flashbacks to previous parts of the story. For example: the mother represents an act of control, an evil and a way back to having nervous breakdowns that lead the main character back to the facility whereas, the child represents a newness to the main character’s life and represents also the next stage of life in what is considered the more common stages of life for a woman of the character’s age. This is a great way of piecing together the storyline because it doesn’t just feed it to the audience but it forces the audience to make these subconscious connections in the plot. The characters and themes all play a part within this and the storyline is told through the experiences she has with them rather than just a limited perspective of following her, we feel as if we are involved with her.

In conclusion, this is a brilliant picture and I do not know why more people have not seen it. It is one of those films that is under-appreciated and under-valued but when you do find it, you cannot help but watch it not once, not twice but over and over until you understand each piece of the puzzle which creates this very fluent storyline that travels along with its main character and her discovery of the self.