White Wall Cinema: HOUSEKEEPING

Perhaps Scotland’s greatest ever director, Bill Forsyth is best known for his smash hit British films Gregory’s Girl and Local Hero, but it’s perhaps his first American film that is his masterpiece.

Based on the novel of the same name by Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping tells the story of two young girls who, after the suicide of their mother, find themselves in the care of their cheerful but decidedly odd aunt Sylvie who is, at best, barely tethered to social norms. The girls, Ruth & Lucille, have then to contend with, not only their own relationship with Sylvie, but also with the concerns of the well meaning but entirely conservative and perplexed residents of the small 1950s Pacific North-western town in which they live. Christine Lahti is exceptional as Sylvie and gives a sublime performance as the eccentric aunt who dares to step outside of the suffocating domesticity that faced women of the era, ‘a woman slightly distracted by the possibilities of life’. 

Filled with Forsyth’s off-beat but exceptionally humanist style, Housekeeping is a wonderfully sad, funny, strange and accurate fable about life, directed with exceptional skill, grace and charm. A haunting comedy that will stay with you for many years to come.  

• DOORS: 7.30pm*
• START TIME: 8pm*
• RUN TIME: 116 mins
• CERT: PG (Under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult)