A while back, I promised myself that I would watch every single Winona Ryder film, and Mermaids (1990) was near the top of that list. I knew nothing of the plot beforehand, and it turned out to be a fitting film for a cozy Friday night in. This quirky comedy-drama begins in Oklahoma in 1963; along the way, Mrs. Flax (played by Cher) and her two daughters Charlotte (Winona Ryder) and Kate (Christina Ricci) move to a small town in Massachusetts due to Rachel’s tendency to drop everything and leave after every short-lived fling she has.
Mermaids has its fair share of flaws. Charlotte is incredibly awkward, which gives her a cute, confused kind of aura. I could never understand her obsession with Catholicism and fervent desire to become a nun, all the while lusting after the local caretaker. This strange paradox was never truly explained, and I would have even liked to see it somehow connected to Charlotte’s estranged father, but the two storylines never really merged. Yet somehow, it resulted in a more enticing character.
I didn’t think I would enjoy the film until around halfway in. This family is portrayed as so eccentric, and you can’t really anticipate what will unfold in the next scene. But this movie crept up on me, and the next thing I knew, I was unexpectedly appreciating its sweetness. Because maybe not everything needs to make sense. Take Charlotte—she is just blossoming into a teenager. She is an emotionally vulnerable shell one minute, and an open book the next. She has dreams and desires, many of which cannot be explained, but maybe there does not need to be a reason for her feelings. She is just as confused as any other teenager out there, and that’s completely okay. Her eccentricity and naiveté should be embraced—at the end of the day, Charlotte just wants to love and be loved.
I believe Mermaids is also an insightful study on the mother-daughter relationship. I can’t find an explanation for why Mrs. Flax acts the way she does and insists on leaving normality behind, but despite (or should I say, thanks to) their clashing personalities, she and Charlotte complement each other in the most compelling way. In a pivotal argument scene, both their deepest motives are realized. Underneath all their exaggerated traits is the unmistakable mother-daughter dynamic. Mrs. Flax just wants what’s best for Charlotte, and Charlotte just wants to be seen. And they both still have so much to learn from one another.
art of film 