Review of Now, Voyager (1942) by Robin P — 03 Mar 2011

A moving "weepie" in which a dowdy, self-proclaimed "spinster aunt", played by the glorious Bette Davis, learns to value herself and demand respect from her tyrannical mother.

Charlotte Vale starts out in the film looking like a granny--dowdy clothes, thick eyebrows, and ugly glasses. She has accepted a cloistered life as her domineering mother's servant. On the verge of a nervous breakdown, she goes away to a clinic where a doctor (Claude Rains) encourages her to seek her own destiny. This, of course, means a makeover and pleasure cruise to South America--and boy, does it do wonders for Charlotte. During the cruise, Charlotte meets and falls for an unhappily married man. Although the two cannot be together, his affection for her helps Charlotte gain confidence and self-possession. When she returns to her mother's home (or mansion, more precisely--the Vale's are a blue-blooded Boston family), she tells her mother that she is not independent and will do as she likes. Mom doesn't like this one bit, and she's not impressed with her daughter's new look. But over time she comes to accept the new Charlotte.

Now, Voyager is, in many ways, a traditional romance. However, the importance of the (unrequited) love story, to me, was overshadowed by other steps Charlotte takes to reorder her life--such as standing up to her mother, and taking a young girl who is very much like Charlotte under her wing. At the end of the day, this is a movie about a woman given a second chance at claiming life for herself--with or without a man by her side.