Love her as an actress... Extremely versatile, but she wasn't believable in the role of the rocking-out mother... I had trouble with this... Age? Maybe.... It just didn't feel right with me. Other than that, great movie..
shareI completely agree. I love her and I loved the movie, but there was something awkward about her role. Can't put my finger on it...
shareI agree, too. She wasn't believable. I can't say why, though because her acting was good as always. Maybe it's because I've seen too many pictures of her IRL looking very lady-like.
shareI believe it's the age. Another actress well into her fifties playing the mother of an elementary school aged child. Susan Sarandon did this into her sixties. Ridiculous casting. More believable with male actors but not very. Wonder if it's actors vanity or just poor casting. Plenty of appropriate aged actors to play parents of young children.
shareThe whole point is that Maisie's parents are supposed to be aging and past their prime. Did that fly right past you? And Julianne has a 10 year old daughter in real life. And she's only 52, not well into her 50s!
Shaking my head.
They have two other versions of this movie with mothers in their forties which is more appropriate. And the whole point of the movie is a child dealing with narcissistic irresponsible parents. Stand by my opinion. Hollywood is using too old actors for parents of young children. The age difference in romantic relationships is off as well.
shareYou're a moron. More and more women are having children in their 40s, especially women who have careers (LIKE JULIANNE HERSELF IN REAL LIFE).
shareI completely disagree that it is unrealistic to have older actors playing the parents of younger children. My parents are 64 and 66 and I am 25 which means my dad was 41 years old when I was born. So when I was Maisie's age my dad was 48 years old. So I am a prime example of someone who was born to older parents. So before you say it's unrealistic consider that there are actually real people who have young kids later in life. However, due to the increased risks associated with pregnancies in older woman it is not advised.
Regards,
Katherine
its not her age, she is supposed to be older. its her character. shes a mother in her 50s and completely irresponsible. and she claimed to marry lincoln for maisie, but got jealous when maisie warmed up to him. moore isnt too old for the part, her character is too old for her behavior. and thats what maisie knew.
shareI largely agree with you. Julianne Moore in reality is too old for such a young daughter. In the movie's defence though, some smoke-&-mirrors are used to make her appear like a somewhat washed-up 40 year old.
I do not agree that the character (Susanna) is too old for that lifestyle though. There are many rockin' grandma's still around in real life. I'll just throw in a few names:
Cher
Aretha Franklin
Debbie Harry (Blondie)
The Wilson sisters (Heart)
There are many more, especially in the C-league where Susanna seemed to hover. They just keep on rockin' along into midlife and beyond, for good or for bad. Mostly bad, but the above-mentioned rockers or blues belters have the chutzpah to pull it off.
Please click on "reply" at the post you're responding to. Thanks.share
Julianne's daughter in real life is only 11. Only a few years older than the Maisie character. It's rubbish to say she's too old to have a young child, especially in this day and age when more and more women opt to have a career before having children.
shareFair enough. I agree, and the facts don't lie. The character Maisie is somewhat younger than 11 y.o. though, and 5 or 6 years is significant in terms of the receding years of a woman's biological clock. Julianne Moore's real age (and her children's ages) is a moot point as far as the movie What Maisie Knew is concerned though. The case that I made above, is that her character, Susanna, is presented as a 40-ish mother. (That a 50+ year old manages that, is thanks to her natural looks, as well as the contributions of crew working behind the screens - but even that is a mere footnote in the debate.) So my point is: the believability of Susanna as a mother of a young daughter is all that really matters. And in my opinion, the movie producers and Julianne Moore succeeded in pulling that off, quite convincingly.
I never once thought, "geez, Susanna is a bit too old to have such a young daughter", while sitting in the cinema. Julianne Moore's real age is actually not even relevant. The character is highly authentic.
Please click on "reply" at the post you're responding to. Thanks.share
I completely bought Julianne and the burned-out rock star, but I do wish they had developed her character a bit more (Moore?).
shareBecause Julianne is so sweet and beautiful. And I'm afraid it's getting to the point where she will take any role. She is in the 50's zone so she's gonna be a mom or single older woman in every role. There is not a single movie I don't cry with Julianne I love her that much.
shareAw, that's very sweet! Julianne doesn't do a lot of comedies (exceptions like "Crazy, Stupid, Love" aside) and she plays many tormented characters, so I can see being reduced to tears by her performances. She's certainly done the same for me.
It is unfortunate she isn't getting the roles she deserves, and it's even more unfortunate that the roles will very likely be smaller and less significant from here on out because that's the reality for most women of a certain age in Hollywood. First she had the nerve to turn 30, and then she just kept getting older. When will actresses ever learn that they cannot age in this industry?
I agree - in fact I posted about it before I saw your thread. Moore was 51, and she looked 51. In reality, a girl Maisie's age would overwhelmingly likely be Moore's GRANDdaughter. Stretched the limits of plausibility for me to the point it affected my enjoyment of the film.
shareI don't think it stretches the limits of plausibility at all! I know women who've had kids in their mid 40s - in fact, I think it makes it more believable the way she acted towards Maisie - people I know who've had kids late have told me it's even harder for them to adjust to kids because they've grown so used to their adult life without them, usually partying a lot like a 20-something, and it's a shock to have to deal with that kind of responsibility at a later stage. Not sure if that's the same for everyone, probably not, but I think it would make sense in this scenario. Especially because she's had that rock band lifestyle, which would make it more likely she'd put off having kids, and then perhaps she'd assumed she couldn't get pregnant anymore due to her age and Maisie was an accident. That happens fairly often too.
The fact is, it is possible to get pregnant up until you hit menopause - it's harder but it certainly doesn't stretch the limits of plausibility!
I think Susanna is supposed to be a bit off and disconnected from adult responsibilities. I also caught some scenes which, in my experience as a drug user–parents' child, imply she is into drugs and alcohol. Moore is awesome as always and hadn't much space to develop her character so much.
Maisie seems to be the focus in the narrative. Onata, the little girl playing Maisie rocked.
I hate that jerk of a father though.
I really enjoyed her character in the way that I hated her when she was being an absolute *beep* but couldn't help but feel bad for her at times--that was good acting. However when she was supposed to do the "rocking out" thing, it looked very contrived, unrehearsed, as if it was an Acting 101 exercise and the teacher abruptly tells you "be a rockstar". In the Trivia it says Julianne took some inspiration from female musicians but I don't know--it felt like watching my mother... Still liked the movie though and didn't have a huge problem with Julianne.
share