☛ Cette critique est aussi disponible en français [➦].
Translated by Florence Bois-Villeneuve.
Elle (Lily Tomlin), a lesbian poet in her sixties, cuts up her credit cards, leaves her young girlfriend of the moment, beats up a guy, gets a tattoo from a friend and drives a 1955 Dodge Royal… Grandma could easily have been a stereotypical light comedy about a grandmother clinging to her youth in a leather jacket. Yet Paul Weitz’s film steers clear of clichés to deliver a touching, authentic tragicomedy.
The grandmother’s irreverence can be savoured at every turn as she takes offence at her granddaughter Sage’s (Julia Garner) lack of feminist culture. We meet the young woman on the morning when she asks her grandmother for $630 for the abortion she’s scheduled for that evening. After a speech on the freedom of life, the understanding Elle admits to her granddaughter that she doesn’t have a penny to her name and sends the teenager off in search of charity from some old acquaintances.
So we meet her tattoo artist friend Deathy (Laverne Cox), her recent date Olivia (Judy Greer), a cafe owner - named after monkeys who masturbate all the time - Carla (Elizabeth Peña), and a childhood sweetheart named Karl (Sam Eliott). Thanks to this predominantly queer and female cast, the supporting roles offer a remarkable range of performances. Only when she runs out of options will the grandmother push her granddaughter to confront her own mother, Judy (Marcia Gay Harden). She’s an intimidating businesswoman, and we understand that she used a donor to give birth to Sage, as she didn’t have time to develop a romantic relationship.
The classic family structure is anything but prevalent in Grandma, as Judy herself was adopted by Elle and her recently deceased partner Vi. Paul Weitz paints a family portrait of strained, aching ties. Between the mourning of a parent, Elle’s distance from her adopted daughter, Sage’s single-parent upbringing and the teenager’s unwanted pregnancy, the protagonists are driven to listen to and support each other.
Paul Weitz had previously worked with the majority of Grandma’s cast on other projects, but his reunion with Lily Tomlin was particularly noteworthy. The actress received a Best Actress nomination at the 2016 Golden Globes for this poignant role, which she plays with great impetuosity. The film itself earned a place in the National Board of Review’s top 10 best independent films of 2015.
Reference
Creation : Paul Weitz
Tittle : Grandma
Date : 2015This movie is available on Prime Video.