Ordinary People (1980)

This is another simple but excellent film.
Here, Conrad Jarrett (Timothy Hutton) is just trying to get through the day. He should be a senior in high school but instead he has to repeat his junior year. His older brother died nearly a year ago in a tragic boating accident and then he tried to commit suicide so he's just out from spending four months in a mental hospital where the poor young man received shock treatment.
He is going through the motions, studying and swimming, but he is still haunted and finally decides to see a therapist, Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch). He wants to be more in control.
His parents are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Calvin (Donald Sutherland) is kind, caring and concerned while his mother, Beth (Mary Tyler Moore) is still and unfeeling and every time she tries to talk to her son she takes the conversation in the wrong direction.
The film slowly unfolds over the next few months, over the holidays. Conrad quits the swim team while Beth just wants to go away for the holidays like they always do. Oh boy, is she livid when she finds out from her friend that Conrad quit the swim team and she didn't know anything about it.
Conrad always cautiously starts a relationship with Jeannine (a pre-Downton Abbey Elizabeth McGovern), who actually has a personality. He also meets with his old friend Karen (Dinah Manoff) from the hospital who seems to be doing well, busy with the drama club, something that she tells him twice.
Everything comes to a head when Beth and Calvin are in Houston for the new year and Conrad remains in Chicago with his grandparents and he hears that Karen succeeded in committing suicide. He starts screaming and gets Dr. Berger out of bed in the middle of the night and finally the truth comes out. We learn the truth about the accident on the boat. In fact, it's a downright miracle that Conrad didn't die as well. The weather was dreadful and a part of the boat got jammed so the tiny boat overturned. Buck (Scott Doebler) couldn't hang on so he drowned. Instead of going to look for him, Conrad clung to the boat. But he must live with the consequences. His mother doesn't relate to him; she's scared of her own emotions and of caring ever again. She is also cruel enough to say that Buck would have never been in the hospital. She couldn't stand the mess from Conrad's attempt to die. They had to replace the grout in the bathroom. He ruined her towels. And she can't stand how concerned Calvin always is and how he now tries to wrap his life around his last remaining child.
Her best scene comes when she starts to pack her bags and doesn't want to cry but the tears can't help but leak out anyway.
She leaves for awhile which is probably for the best. Conrad and Calvin truly do love each other and they will be okay.
Hutton absolutely deserved an Oscar for this role and Tyler Moore is also brilliant. Sutherland should have at least received a nomination. This film shows that going to a therapist is nothing to be ashamed of, as much as Beth feels that it is a private thing. Talking does help and shutting others out ultimately doesn't do much good. You should be in control of your own life but also be aware of others around you and their feelings. Watching this film makes me glad that I have empathy for others. Grade: A