Hot turkey at an icy table

March 11, 1998
Issue 

The Myth of Fingerprints
Directed by Bart Freundlich

Stars Noah Wyle, Roy Scheider, Blythe Danner and Julianne Moore
Released on March 19.

Review by Margaret Allan

"It's about identity and how it's not a constant the way a fingerprint is. People change, and you might not be able to find them by examining just one mark they make in their life — you might have to grow with them and change with them and accept how they change in order to continually find them to be someone you know", says Bart Freundlich, writer and director, explaining the choice of film title.

The experience of a family Thanksgiving meal after several years of absence is the basic story-line of The Myth of Fingerprints. The longer term problems of this dysfunctional family have been exacerbated by the three-year period that has elapsed since the last reunion.

The family of the story — a reasonably well-off middle class family in a small town in the US — experience the pain of being forced by this reunion to confront a past which is full of many, often sad, sometimes bitter, memories.

Mia, the eldest daughter, has a burning anger which masks the vulnerable person within. Julianne Moore brings depth to the role of a bitter woman who is cool to her siblings, her parents and especially her partner. This is a very different character than the warm, mothering figure she plays in Boogie Nights, currently screening at cinemas here.

Son Jake (Michael Vartan) has also brought his partner to meet the family. Jake is dealing with problems of his own, including an inability to commit verbally to Margaret (his lover, played by Hope Davis).

Fans of TV medico soapie ER will recognise Warren (Noah Wyle). The story of the film largely unfolds through his character, whose personal heartache is for an unresolved love affair, ending three years' prior to the reunion.

The youngest of the adult children, Leigh (Laurel Holloman from the delightful The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love), seems to be the only one relatively free of the weighty burden of childhood memories.

Even the parents have their problems. Lena (Blythe Danner) is battling to keep the family together, which is the social role most often carried by women as mothers. Her husband Hal (Roy Scheider) has built an emotional barrier between himself and the world, including all of his children.

Is this an unusual family? Not really. Because families today (of all classes) are bound by societal and personal expectations often out of economic necessity, relationships between family members are often distorted.

It is not surprising that relationships in such conditions are fraught with frustration and anger. The father in The Myth of Fingerprints plays the "traditional" role in promoting conformity and obedience to authority, a result highly valued by those in power.

The conclusion that the filmmakers draw is: "The Myth Of Fingerprints is about returning home to understand why one must leave again, to reckon and account the balance sheet of loss and love that enables us to make our own ways in this world."

Those of us who work towards a world where the needs and wants of people are considered more important than the drive for profits come to a slightly different conclusion. We believe that human relationships should be able to develop beyond the current social constraints of the distorted family relations under capitalism.

In the meantime, however, The Myth of Fingerprints is a very watchable, and often very moving, glimpse of the emotional baggage carried by the members of this family.

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