Isn´t Jessica Lange a little bit young...
To be playing Christine Baranski´s stepmom. They are the same age
shareI was thinking the same thing...
shareI think there was a big age difference between Lange's character and the husband - hence Baranski's dislike for her.
shareRight. At the memorial service, the daughter says that her father had lived in Santa Barbara for 60 years and then had been away for the last 20, the number of years the stepmother had already identified as how long she and her husband had shared the Idaho home. So he was at least 80 when he died--a lot older than his second wife.
My stepmother is only 14 years older than me.
I found that very confusing and distracting also. They're about the same age that they could be sisters -- Christine is 56, and Jessica is 59. Perhaps Jessica was a "trophy wife," but it's hard to say because we never saw the two together. Regardless, it was one of many plot points that seemed to be a stretch to say the least.
shareI didn't think it was a stretch at all. Many men, when they remarry, find a much younger wife, "trophy" or not. The closeness in age was only one of the reasons Francine hated Arvilla, and I found it completely believable.
shareYou make a very good point. I still found the tension between Francine and Arvilla rather forced, but I'm seeing their similarities in age less of a problem now. Thanks for opening my mind!
shareYou're welcome! You also made a good point. I had another thought -- Francine appeared to be an only child, so perhaps after her mother died she wanted to be her father's "only girl," so to speak. I don't mean that in a perverted way, just that she seemed extremely selfish, spoiled, and used to having her way all the time, to put it mildly!
shareYes, Francine certainly was selfish, and she clearly insisted on controlling her world down to the last detail. She very much believed in making appearances and establishing herself with the upper crust of society. I wish they had developed that character more.
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Definitely, I always love Christine's performances and this role was no exception. Would've been great to know more about her....that brat. LOL!
"everyday above ground is a good one"~SFU
You betcha! Christine is so good at playing the villainess. I wish there had been more scenes with her and Jessica together, rather than the bits at the beginning and ending and the phone exchanges.
shareI agree. Notice that the daughter refers to her father as "Daddy", a coy and almost flirtatious name for a parent, usually abandoned for a more mature "Dad" when a child grows up. Obviously she was clingy!
I hope I did not offend any readers out there who still call their male partent by a child's term of endearment. It's kinda cute in some ways. Kinda. In an Anna Nicole sort of frame. Just try not to sit on his lap when you do it.
"When you throw dirt, you lose ground" --old proverbshare
His daughter said: "Many of you remember Daddy from the 60 years he spent in Santa Barbara, but he's been away for the last 20."
So he had to be at least 80.
I think it unfair to say that she was a trophy wife, though. What's 20 years age difference between older adults, anyway?
Obviously, they had a lot in common and they both loved to travel, something he didn't get to do with his first wife as he was stuck in Santa Barbara the whole 60 years.
It wasn't until the new wife that he was able to live that "on the go" lifestyle, which was another source of contention between daughter and step-mother.
I didn't say Arvilla was a "trophy wife," in fact I think she most definitely was not, although she was and IS very beautiful. I got the feeling that Joe probably fell in love with her more because of her sense of adventure and desire to travel than because of her looks. As you say, he was stuck in one place for 60 years with a sick/dying wife who didn't sound at all adventurous, and a whiny selfish daughter.
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