Tuesday
In “Tuesday,” actress Julia Louis Dreyfus brings the character of a mother who has lost her child to life with an incredible amount of vulnerability. The film is different from others like it in that it doesn’t have any background music or overdone drama. Daina Oniunas Pusic, the writer and director, uses strange metaphors to make the characters feel real even in their most painful moments. For example we’ve seen Death portrayed as a beautiful person (Jessica Lange in “All That Jazz”), as well as an English gentleman (Brad Pitt in “Meet Joe Black”); he has even been depicted as wearing robes with hoods and carrying around a scythe (“Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey”). But never before now has anyone shown him off like this lonely parrot who loves hip-hop and sarcasm (voiced by Arinzé Kene).
The title Tuesday does not refer to the second day of the week, rather, it is the name of 15 year old girl living in England with her American mother Zora Louis-Dreyfus. She has an unnamed wasting disease which confines her to bed on the first floor of their house where she is taken care of by hospice nurse Billie Harvey. Attached are photos I took while watching this movie.
Zora spends most days anywhere but home at all hours waiting for billie to arrive then bargaining price on random objects she’s selling at some shop before falling asleep again somewhere else only waking up once night falls when someone asks if they can join us? I say yeah why not so we watch TV together until morning light comes through my window where do these people go after sunrise don’t ask me because i have no clue what happens next
We all know about stages when faced against death according to Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler Ross who described five different emotional responses experienced by terminally ill patients prior to impending loss or during bereavement period after it. But there’s something wrong with Zora she’s stuck in one of them, denial. It hurts too much to be anywhere else; every parent has an unspoken assumption that their kids will outlive them. They are the lightest part of us, the ones who make everything else feel like earth around a black hole, and so it is against nature itself to bury a child.
Tuesday on other hand knows exactly what stage she’s at, acceptance, because when parrot shows up one day without warning or explanation for its presence besides being death personified as avian creature who raps occasionally which seems pretty self-explanatory if you ask me considering birds aren’t known talkers let alone those fluent enough in English give rap performances Tuesday accepts him into her life immediately starting off by making him laugh before realizing how dirty he was then deciding give little scrub sink would do least harm possible given his delicate constitution after hearing some people react badly towards him such asking spit eye out or begging money from passersby instead choosing find out about his perspective tell others so that they might understand where he’s coming from better.
In any case, the parrot is something that Zora responds to as a parent. She will do anything for her child, fight any battle and throw herself at any danger. She holds onto denial so tightly that it makes her believe she can stop the death parrot. Instead, she internalizes it. These stunning visuals work as metaphor, fairy tale and embodiment of Zora’s thoughts and emotions. The CGI of the parrot is excellent, from his bright blue gimlet eye to the ruffles of his feathers and expressive breadth of his wings. Louis-Dreyfus and Petticrew have such great conviction with their interaction with the bird that gives specificity, which grounds a fantastical story physically.
Characters shrink and grow like an Alice in Hades land where there is canny camera placement to guide our perspective. There are also subtle touches. Tuesday looks healthier than she is in the film’s first part because we see her through Zora’s eyes. As Zora moves away from the furious spinning in her head that keeps her from accepting what Tuesday has said.That’s not just near death but as long as it remains true Tuesday still being here means its still Zora’s first duty as a parent to do right by her daughter at whatever cost.Zora needs to be the mother Tuesday deserves because for so long shes been grown up looking after him.
Like “A Monster Calls” before it this movie is frank about the messiness of emotions around death too. We might like to think that our greatest loss would inspire us towards selflessness or purity of heart. Unfortunately, however, we remain imperfect souls. But along with grief we cannot help being selfish angry scared. So films such as these are necessary sometimes. Because devastated selfish angry scared may we all be but least let us not be alone.
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