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One of the best movies I’ve ever seen on the subject of divorce and its effects on children, What Maisie Knew is reimagining of the classic Henry James novel which takes the tale and moves it into the modern era where everything that was wrong with marriages of yore remains the same in the 21st century.
The film is told primarily through the perspective of the young girl at the center of the custody battle, Maisie (played by a truly astonishing young actress named Onata Aprile). Maisie is loved by her parents (Steve Coogan and Julianne Moore) but they remain, despite this very obvious love, lousy parents. They are both so juvenile and self-involved at times that you can’t help but think that they need to be parented – while in therapy and generally medicated.
Maisie’s parents both pursue relationships with much younger lovers after their divorce – and while the new step-pesudo-parents may be kindly enough, they aren’t able to understand how Maisie needs to be healed from the trauma of her parents’ break up before she can begin to form other viable relationships. This is, essentially, what the story is about: the breakdown of a young girl’s hope for what could be. Always engaging, and often times devastating, this is movie that virtually everyone can relate to and is likely to become a cult classic.
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Sounds like a great date movie.