Simply Perfect

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

After working for many years as an actor and screenwriter, Bryan Forbes had a very good start as director in the early 60s, making films as "The L-Shaped Room", "Séance on a Wet Afternoon", "King Rat" and "The Wrong Box", and producing "The Angry Silence". The last great title during this winning streak was the marvelously acted and directed drama "The Whisperers", a fascinating character study, a perceptive portrait of old age on the verge of senility, a rousing combination of lonely people, desperate poor persons, violent rogues and a parade of civil servants, all attempting to survive in a kingdom that once was an empire and now is plagued with struggles and confrontations. In the center Edith Evans shines as Margaret Ross, mother of a criminal son and abandoned by a crook of a husband, who hardly survives creating a fantasy world of palaces, riches and nobility titles, listening to voices in her gloomy apartment, and living on welfare. She creates her Margaret with intelligence, an old woman who faces her tribulations with dignity, as she goes through truly humiliating and cruel situations. Forbes and especially John Barry, who wrote the subtle music commentary, avoided sentimentality and tried to paint a realistic drama as much as the medium and the pressures of the industry allowed them. Then Forbes' career took an unfortunate turn towards big (and too facile) commercial projects, with only a couple of later good efforts as "The Raging Moon" and most notably the controversial first version of "The Stepford Wives", after he made the highly recommended "The Whisperers".

Just watched this for the first time. The description didn't do the movie justice. It advertised as a thriller, and yes, I thought it was going to take that turn more than a few times. First time was when Maggie's thug of a son showed up. The second was right after she was "befriended" at the welfare by the woman sitting next to her. The third and final time was when her waste of a husband Archie got his feet back in her door. I didn't get Margaret or her story until the end of the movie. The finale explained the beginning. We see her back at the dole office in need of money. We see her back at the free reading room warming her foot on the heater pipe. We see her back at the church service singing hymns. The last scene finds her making her tea and reading her paper. When did she start to collect papers and reading materials to "study?" Was it during her marriage or after? Remember how Archie got so upset when he came home after a day of "looking for a job" (placing bets at the sporting office) and there was no paper from the morning for him to "study?" She returned from hospital to find her flat spic-n-span and then Archie comes home; a new start? I think she felt it was. Notice how she kept up the house; found order. It wasn't about happiness or love or even companionship. He hurt her and that wasn't forgotten, but it could be lived with. It was about his physical presence. This was about some lifting of the loneliness, and the lesser need for fantasy. The idea that there would be someone within the walls filled the space the voices used to take up. I wish my thoughts were more clear and I was better at explaining, but I really want to see this movie again, or should I say, I want to watch the character of Margeret again. This is a character that's going to be hard to forget.

Dame Edith Evans wonderfully protrays a fragile human being at the end of her life. What you will come away with from this movie other than the beauty of her performance, is the base nature of most human beings. It is the perfect film for a psych student and is as relevant today as it was then. Human beings haven't changed--if anything, they are more so! What makes us tick is basic selfishness, ego and lust. We seldom truly love another person even when we think we do. Everything we build is for ourselves. All lovers of Ronald Reagan ought to be strapped in their seats for this one! They'll love seeing themselves. If you have longed to believe in the human race, DON'T see this film!! If the truth about us is too hard to take, DON'T see this film. If you feel you are a good person, DON'T see this film! It doesn't pretend to represent anything, it just is. If you think humanity is worth saving, SEE this film! Personally, I pray for global warming. We're just no damn good. We muck up everything and then complain about it.

this is a great performance another example of the academy awards not giving it to the rightful owner...i love kate hepburn but lets face it THIS performance deserved it...this is one of thoses performances that you are so grateful that film can perserve...edith evans is so great and yet so sad in the starring role... it is a most depressing film and one that is not to be seen if one is depressed but for an actor to see a great actress in her glory this is one of those experiences indeed...i always admired edith evans but never more than in this picture..of aging and how awful it can be to anyone so treat yourself to an unusual experience and see the whispers...