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Movies by Theme
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| What's eating Gilbert Grape? | Liz Braun
September 2009
Movie Entertainment
Movies about older women and younger men are changing the traditional notion of May-September romance. Mrs. Robinson may have been scandalous back in 1967, but the so-called cougar phenomenon seems to have changed the way society regards such matters. New in town, sailor?
Cheri (2009)
Colette’s novel comes to life with Michelle Pfeiffer as the aging courtesan and Rupert Friend as the foppish youth she’s supposed to educate. Instead, they fall in love. Stephen Frears directs this lavish costume drama.
The Reader (2008)
A teenage boy in West Germany is seduced by an older woman (Kate Winslet, who won an Oscar for her performance), eventually discovering her secrets at a war-crimes trial years later. The film is about guilt, history
La Pianiste (2001)
All about repression, depression, obsession and confession, with Isabelle Huppert as a piano teacher and Benoît Magimel as the younger keyboard genius who catches her eye. Dark and Freudian, with plenty of degrading sexual hobbies. Michael Haneke directs. In French, with English subtitles.
Y tu mama también (2001)
On a road trip, the married Luisa (Maribel Verdú) teaches her teenage companions (Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal) how to be grownups, sexually and emotionally.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Johnny Depp is the young guy and Mary Steenburgen the older woman to whom he delivers groceries, among other things. It’s a film you’ll want to see for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is a young Leonardo DiCaprio playing a mentally handicapped kid.
White Palace (1990)
James Spader gets to narrow his nostrils a lot as a rich young widower who falls for the blue-collar waitress – Susan Sarandon – at his local burger place. All the usual issues of age and socioeconomic status, but really, he should be so lucky.
The Graduate (1967)
Anne Bancroft is the older seductress and Dustin Hoffman the family friend she lures into her bed. Then he falls for her daughter, played by Katharine Ross. Ouch – but in the olden days, sexy older women were punished. Mike Nichols won an Oscar for directing this film
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