Une femme cherche son destin

Now, Voyager may at first glance look like a 1940s Hollywood melodrama, some would even say it's penny-dreadful. Yet you really can't erase the time gap without knowing the context. In the Protectorate, we mostly had a hard time with stars like Bette Davis, but nowadays it is not a problem to study at least something about the author of the novel's subject, isn't it. Olive Higgins Prouty became famous for her drama "Stella Dallas" (1923), a story that inspired stage and film adaptations (including a modern one with Bette Midler). She went on to write a pentalogy of so-called "Vale novels" from 1931 to 1951, of which "Now, Voyager" is the third volume. Prouty's work has traditionally been praised for its emphasis on psychotherapy, which she derived from her own experience. Prouty was also a personality who greatly influenced Sylvia Plath and if we put all this together, the resulting film becomes more understandable. Let's not be fooled by the packaging. (15/09/2019)

Bette Davis showcases her mastery in a movie that couldn't captivate me at all. Its heroine is great, even her male counterpart is good, but overall the film just bored me and I didn't find anything in it that sufficiently caught my attention. However, the transformation from an ugly duckling to a beautiful one was worth it. (11/09/2014)