That was an excellent one.

Admirable film.

A Masterpiece!

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Contrary to the title, "Ordinary People" is about a teenager named Conrad Jarrett and his dysfunctional family who find relief in a talented new psychiatrist who goes by the name of Dr. Beger. The first part of the film takes place in Chicago while the latter portion takes place in Houston. In the broader context, one cannot help but admire how well "Ordinary People" captures the 80s. The American suburbs today look largely the same as they are portrayed in this 1980 film even after almost 40 years have passed. The sports oriented culture remains. The country clubs of the elite continue to reside in isolated affluent neighborhoods. Although the world has changed a great deal since the 80's, if one wants to truly vision what a suburban family tried to look like at this time, this film offers a rare and poignant glance. However, keeping up the appearance of normalcy can take its toll on a family.That is the main underling problem with the Jarretts at the opening of the film. Conrad is the surviving son in the Jarrett family, who's eldest son died in what is revealed to be a sailing accident. Conrad had just attempted suicide. After a stay at an institution, he begins to visit Dr. Beger who helps the adolescent overcome his clear post-traumatic stress disorder and survivor's guilt. Thanks to Dr. Beger's kind attention, Conrad's father is also able to reconnect with his struggling son and the two form a unique bond that eventually comes to heads with Conrad's mother. Conrad's mother is more concerned with maintaining a sense of normalcy and decency than confronting the dark events that happened to her precious family. This conflict of values serves as the culmination of this fascinating film that properly addresses mental illness at a time when it was not so openly discussed. It is easy to see why "Ordinary People" received so much critical acclaim, including four Academy Awards, two of which were awarded to Mary Tyler Moore and Timothy Hutton. Robert Redford won an Academy Award for best director thanks to this film. It essentially launched his career as an extraordinary directorial debut. "Ordinary People" is an important film because it confronted the misguided nature in which many American suburban families approached mental illness at the time. However, the enduring legacy of "Ordinary People" indicates that maybe mental illness will always be misunderstood in some way. Not much has changed. People will always attempt to appear "ordinary" for their neighbors without truly understanding what the word even means. After all, if it is true that mental illness affects a great majority of families at one point or another, is it not ordinary? The most powerful moment in the film happens at a McDonalds where Conrad begins to describe what it feels like to endure suicidal depression. "Uh … I don't know. It was like … falling into a hole. It keeps getting bigger and bigger and you can't escape. All of a sudden, it's inside … and you're the hole. You're trapped. And it's all over. Something like that. It's not really scary … except when you think back on it. 'Cause you know what you were feeling'".

The novel is a psychological drama about a family seemingly having everything yet torn apart at the seams. The Jarretts are well settled and well fixed in the Chicagoland suburbs until a boating accident leaves one son dead and the other son mentally at wits end because he is of the opinion he could have saved his brother had he tried harder. Once the younger son is hospitalized for a suicide attempt the film opens as the bitter mother brilliantly portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore deals with her anxiety toward her now mentally at wits end son brilliantly portrayed by Timothy Hutton. His well meaning father played by Donald Sutherland recruits the aid of a psychiatrist played by Judd Hirsch to complete the principal cast. Supporting the younger son in his quest to return to normalcy are M. Emmett Walsh as his school coach and Elizabeth McGovern as agirl of his age interested in his company. Driving yet another wedge between father and mother beyond how to best deal with their one surviving son is their socieoconomic background differences which slowly come to light as the film brilliantly progresses. Because more commercial films include travelogues of the city of Chicago not of suburban Chicagoland another strong point of the film is its excellent travelogue of suburban Chicagoland's gold coast northern suburbs.

This film deserves more respect! the comment of worst academy award winner is so fightable:)! Shakespeare in love people!!!!! Ordinary people is a ten all the way down the line. I have noticed that a lot of the very best perfect lil films out there really upset people, especially drama's. Is a film bad cause it's upsetting. The movie itself answers you "let me tell you something about feelings, don't always expect them to tickle." and also when Conrad says "i'm supposed to feel better, right?" and dr. berger answers "not necessarily." Also hated I feel are slice of life films which really this is not, but also most non fantasies are. Slice of life to me feels like when there isn't really much of a script perhaps and the pace is rather slow and it just shows day to day life. This story is powerful well written and scripted and yes scary, you have to climb into the Jarrets pain, which is ultimately left still unresolved, especially for Beth.I love this film it deserved best picture and Timothy Hutton deserved best actor.Timothy's father actor Jim Hutton had recently passed when the young actor took this role, I feel that has to be in there, also it is HUGE that actor Robert Redfords directing helped gets the amazing performances we see on the screen. The 4 main actors despite the heaviness which they tackle so bravely are a total treat to watch. It is my wish that this giant of a film reach at least an 8.1 in the near future. The book and the movie has helped so many people grow and heal. it is very special!

The accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father, and the guilt-ridden younger son.Robert Redford and Timothy Hutton both won Academy Awards for their respective debuts: Redford as Best Director and Hutton, in his first film (he had previously appeared on television), as Best Supporting Actor. The film marked Mary Tyler Moore's career breakout from the personality of her other two famous roles as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Moore's complex performance was well-received and obtained a nomination for Best Actress. The film also won Best Picture for 1980.Roger Ebert gave it four stars, calling it "one of the year's best films, probably of the decade" and later named it the fifth best film of the year 1980. Gene Siskel likewise ranked it the second best film of 1980. Both of them ended up giving "Raging Bull" a higher slot on the year's list, which is probably correct. The movie is a bit dry, and maybe does not age as well as it could.