One True Thing

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Terri N Nov 30 I really liked this movie. Solid acting. And a difficult subject. A satisfactory ending while not being too cloying. It spoke to me which I cannot say of most of what I’ve seen. See more Jerod S @jeroduptown 01/26/2024 Solid acting and a gritty subject, One True Thing tells of Streep's journey through cancer and how it affects her family. When the pain became too much, her life was ended short and the framework for the film is Zellweger's interview with the investigator. See more 09/19/2023 There’s one true thing and that’s family Carl Franklin directs Renee Zelwegger, the late William Hurt, and Meryl Streep Zelwegger plays Ellen and Streep plays Kate Gulden, her mother Ellen was never close to her yet Kate was the matriarch Ellen’s a successful journalist in NYC but has to drop everything after her mother is diagnosed with cancer Her father doesn’t see her for what she is and Ellen has no idea how to be the mother of the house Secrets and revelations start popping up the more time she spends with her parents There’s truly some solid performances by everyone But this is so depressing it’ll make you feel not so blissful after it’s over It’s also 2 hours too long so 90 min would’ve sufficed It’s tough to sit through so have the tissues ready to wipe your eyes See more Nisha Y 05/24/2023 Little more than a made for tv movie on a low budget with a bad script. What were these actors thinking when they took the job? The plot has big holes and the interview with the lawyer that enables Renee Z extra screen time in close-ups has no narrative use. It's agenda to give voice to unappreciated house wives is extremely dated and drenched in cliches. See more 06/09/2022 Ellen Gulden (Renée Zellweger) is a career woman writing for a magazine who can't understand her mother (Meryl Streep) while looking up toher father, George (William Hurt), a fellow writer and literature professor. Yet when her mother gets sick with cancer, she must come home and learn to love her. This will force her to evaluate how she sees her father, as she discovers several long buried secrets from her mother. It also means giving up her life, a fact that she resents. The film was directed by Carl Franklin and written by Karen Croner, whose script was based on One True Thing by Anna Quindlen, a book based on her real life experiences. I usually avoid dramas like this, but I can recognize when a movie is well made. See more john e 05/13/2022 Meryl Streep has received an unprecedented 21 Oscar nominations. That's 9 more than any other actor has ever received. It was for this reason that I set my 2022 goal of viewing all her performances that I hadn't already seen. One of her Oscar nominated acting performances was in 1998's "One True Thing". And very deservedly so. Ellen Gulden (Renee Zellweger) is a writer in New York City. She follows in the footsteps of the father she idolizes, George Gulden (William Hurt), who is a published novelist and now a professor at Princeton University. When her mother, Kate (Meryl Streep), is diagnosed with cancer, Ellen is asked by her father to move back home to help take care of her. Reluctantly Kate agrees to do so, but her decision is more about pleasing her father than actually helping her mother. Ellen's mother is an individual who seeks to bring joy, companionship, and empathy to others. When Ellen grew up, she saw her mother's existence as silly and one undeserving of respect or appreciation. But as Ellen spends more time with her mother Kate (and with Kate's close friends), her understanding of life, and what is truly important, begins to change. Ellen begins to learn all her mother is, as she simultaneously comes to understand all her father isn't. This film is not perfect. It relies much too much on exposition as it opens to establish its characters and starting point. But that's easily forgiven once the story starts unfolding. The acting is superb. Streep radiates the human experience throughout her character's decline, just as Zellweger portrays the anguish of having to re-evaluate all her character had previously determined were examples of a successful life. Hurt has the unenviable job of playing a character that, without Kate's light, is quite frankly a loser. I am not ashamed to say that I cried often during the second half of this movie. It brilliantly expresses the universal experience of when a child comes to understand that her parents are just as human and fallible as she is. Huge kudos to the film's Director Hal Franklin and the amazing cast for such a moving experience. See more Read all reviews

One True Thing

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