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“Til death do us part.” The familiar wedding vow, when taken to its logical conclusion and strictly abided by, means that every marriage will ultimately end with a widow or widower, unless you happen to depart this mortal coil at the same moment as your beloved. This is inevitable, and arguably more painstaking than divorce.
For most people, the prospect of widowhood is a stark possibility and one that can often prove to be unbearable. Cinema has captured widows and widowers through film over the past century in emotional, funny, evocative, tragic, existential, and sometimes downright depressing screenplays. There have been some brilliant films that have either featured or concerned the life of a widow or widower, so let’s take a look at the best…
8/8 About Schmidt
Jack Nicholson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his rendition of OAP (old-age pensioner) Warren Schmidt, a recently retired insurance broker in About Schmidt.
Following his wife’s untimely and tragic death, their dream of traveling around in their new motor home is dashed and Warren is left alone, depressed, and without any real sense of worth. This is a funny yet saddening portrayal of life after love, and how retirement can be more difficult than expected. It also has one of the most beautiful yet simple endings in recent decades.
7/8 I, Daniel Blake
In legendary director Ken Loach’s gritty Palme d’Or-winning I, Daniel Blake, Dave Johns plays the titular heart attack survivor. Stuck in a perpetual nightmare of being told he’s not physically able to work, yet ineligible to claim benefits, Daniel’s impoverished struggle inspires him to take action against a flawed governmental system that is devoid of compassion and seemingly flouts its basic duty of care. Having suffered the loss of his beloved wife, Daniel searches to add meaning to his existence.
6/8 Widows
Widows is a film about female empowerment and fearlessness after loss. Starring Viola Davis in the main role of Veronica Rawlings, the Steve McQueen-directed movie, follows a group of grief-stricken women. Following their husbands’ demise during a police shootout after a robbery gone wrong, the widows seek to execute the same robbery their deceased partners were unable to pull off. With a stellar ensemble including Liam Neeson, Michelle Rodriguez, Daniel Kaluuya, Elizabeth Debicki, and Colin Farrell, this is a marvelously acted piece of cinema.
5/8 The Outlaw Josey Welles
Clint Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales is the 1976 screen adaptation of author, Forrest Carter’s novel, Gone to Texas. The Western directed by and starring Eastwood is a tale of retribution, set in motion after a group of Jayhawkers murder Josey’s wife and son. Teaming up with confederate soldiers, Wales plots to take down those that murdered his family, but things don’t go quite as planned…
4/8 Captain Fantastic
A midlife crisis is buying a sports car, getting a girlfriend 20 years your junior, and reinventing your wardrobe, yet the father of six, Ben (Viggo Mortensen) turns that theory on its head in Captain Fantastic. After his wife and the mother of his children dies from a terminal illness, Ben takes drastic measures by uprooting his young family from their home and into the wilderness, where they are exposed to the elements. Taught to be at one with nature, the family learns how to survive in the wild away from the pressures, toxicity, and troubles of modern day society.
3/8 Up
This is undeniably one of Disney’s best standalone films. 2009’s animation Up is a heart-warming, wholesome, and graphically vibrant picture. It concerns elderly widower, Carl Fredricksen who has held a lifelong dream with his wife to visit the famously picturesque Paradise Falls, with his wife tragically dying before they could go.
Up presents the tale of an unlikely friendship between disgruntled Carl and young, precocious, and enthusiastic cub scout, Russell. Carl’s house, with Russell in tow, inadvertently flies away being dragged by hundreds of helium balloons, and so the pair’s adventure begins.
2/8 The Descendants
Spoiler alert! Whether it be jovially cracking wise in a Coen brothers comedy-drama, or playing the smooth-operating Danny Ocean in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s franchise, George Clooney is an actor of great dexterity. However, arguably his most emotive and expressive performance to date comes in the form of 2011’s The Descendants (directed by Alexander Payne, also of About Schmidt).
While for much of the film, Matt King (Clooney) isn’t technically a widower, he spends most of the movie piecing together his failed marriage as his wife lies in a coma. Through the most testing of circumstances, Matt conjures up a truly special bond with his two rather distant daughters.
1/8 Nomadland
Seeing Frances McDormand’s name on a film poster is all the assurance you need to know that it’s probably going to be not just a film of exceptionally high-standard, but of emphatic, wholehearted acting. 2021’s Academy Award-winning Nomadland was no exception to that rule.
McDormand depicts a lonely widow who opts for a life as an itinerant, hitting the highway in her RV and traveling the States, meeting fellow nomads along the way. This is a beautifully poignant, visually stunning piece of filmmaking, an obvious yet thoroughly deserved choice for Best Picture, Director, and Actress in a Leading Role.
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