On Golden Pond (1981)
A film dealing with themes of old age, the approach of death
and the lack of communication in family relationships, On
Golden Pond was a bitter-sweet comedy/drama in which Henry
Fonda played Norman Thayer, a crotchety retired professor who
returns with his wife (Katharine Hepburn) to Golden Pond, their
idyllic lakeside cottage in New England, USA, to spend the 48th
summer of their married life together.
Though his 80th birthday is imminent, time has done little to
mellow Thayer and he becomes even more irascible with the arrival
of his daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda) with her future husband Bill
(Dabney Coleman) and his foul-mouthed 13-year-old son Billy (Doug
McKeon).
Chelsea has been unable to communicate with her father for most
of her life. In return, Norman has constantly under-estimated and
undermined her - and it is only after she leaves for Europe with
Bill and leaves young Billy behind that we see why.
Norman Thayer always wanted a son, and the touching friendship
that develops between the 13-year-old and the octogenarian makes
this abundantly clear. Indeed it is their relationship (which
blossoms during a series of fishing trips, one of which almost
ends in tragedy when their boat capsizes) that is the mainstay of
the film.
The most touching sequences are reserved for the end of the
film when Chelsea (now married to Bill) returns to Golden Pond to
collect Billy and finally manages to arrive at some sort of mutual
understanding with her father.
Having made peace with his daughter and bid his newly-acquired
family adieu, Norman collapses while alone with his wife and
enacts a near-death scene of great poignancy, which no doubt
helped to clinch Fonda's first-ever Oscar.
Sadly, Henry Fonda died nine months after the film's release.
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