Mary Tyler Moore’s comic timing made her easy company on television. In Ordinary People, she makes a mother’s self-control look exhausting, and finds enough fear beneath the cruelty to keep us from dismissing her.
Fi1m perspective
Mary Tyler Moore makes Beth Jarrett’s self-control in Ordinary People (1980) look exhausting. Keeping difficult feelings contained takes so much effort that there is little ease left for anyone living with her. We found her painful to watch because Moore makes that constant strain so apparent, without asking us to overlook the hurt Beth causes. There is fear here as well as cruelty, and neither cancels out the other. It is a fine performance in a moving family drama, held back a little by a screenplay too eager to explain its people.
Her television work made warmth more familiar territory. Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–66) established her comic reputation, before Mary Richards in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–77) gave her an independent working woman to play. Timing and likeability served her well in those ensembles; on the latter programme, she was also a producer. Beth’s emotional distance makes a considerable change from those parts. Yet the interest of Ordinary People would soon wear off if Moore merely relied on the surprise of seeing her behave coldly.
Robert Redford gives Moore, Donald Sutherland and Timothy Hutton the attention the Jarretts need, refusing to let their comfortable circumstances make their unhappiness seem negligible. Alvin Sargent’s screenplay is less patient about leaving their behaviour unexplained. Its tidiness becomes a particular problem beside Moore, who makes Beth difficult to dismiss without making her easy to understand. At times the film seems to favour those who can talk about their feelings, as though Beth owes everyone a fluency she does not possess.
Moore keeps us considering what is being demanded of this mother, rather than simply waiting for her to become more agreeable. The performance gives us reason to challenge Beth, but little encouragement to feel superior to her. We would have liked more film parts that asked this much of Moore; her dramatic film roles were relatively few. Begin with Ordinary People, and do not expect Beth to make the evening easy.
Biography
Mary Tyler Moore was an American actor best known for her television roles as Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966) and Mary Richards in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977). She was born on 29 December 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, and died on 25 January 2017.
In film, she played Beth Jarrett in Robert Redford’s Ordinary People (1980), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She won seven Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards over the course of her career.
