Themes: Women's Friendship, Mothers and Daughters, Golden Years
Main Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Ashley Judd, Fionnula Flanagan, Maggie Smith, Cherry Jones, Shirley Knight, James Garner
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 116 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Screenwriter Callie Khouri makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of a pair of popular novels by author Rebecca Wells, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere. Sandra Bullock stars as Sidda Lee Walker, a New York playwright who opens a can of emotional worms with her estranged, boozy mother, Vivi (Ellen Burstyn), when she discusses her painful childhood and particularly Vivi's less-than-enviable mothering skills in a Time magazine article. The eccentric Louisiana drama queen Vivi has already been barred from her daughter's oft-delayed wedding to her fiancé, Connor (Angus Macfadyen), so the article sends her into a rage. Coming to the rescue of the relationship are Necie (Shirley Knight), Caro (Maggie Smith), and Teensy (Fionnula Flanagan), a trio of bickering women, who, along with Vivi, formed a secret society of feminist empowerment and friendship 60 years earlier that they dubbed the "Ya-Ya Sisterhood." The Ya-Yas kidnap Sidda and bring her home to Louisiana, where they reveal to Sidda via a carefully maintained scrapbook her mother's painful past (with Vivi portrayed in flashback by Ashley Judd), effecting a rapprochement between mother and daughter. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood also stars James Garner. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Review
Another popular women's novel joins the sorority of Southern chick flicks with Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which counts Fried Green Tomatoes and How to Make an American Quilt among its precursors. It commits few obvious gaffes, but in a genre this familiar, with such select appeal, a film needs at least one strong departure to attain distinction. Without that, it's too much of the generic recipe, equal parts regional whimsy and tepid melodrama. One problem is that the film hasn't much to do with the sisterhood in question, nor the perfunctory mysticism that binds it together. Hence, the viewer struggles to integrate this gaggle of quirky yentas into the worthier tale of mental instability passed through the generations. It's a shame that director Callie Khouri can't make better use of Ashley Judd and the risks she takes as a mother coming unglued. Instead of the incisive directness one might expect from the scribe who wrote Thelma & Louise, Khouri fumbles Judd's illness by failing to attribute it to anything concrete, generating doubt toward the character rather than a needed sympathy. Meanwhile, Khouri opts to handle the present tense in a manner just this side of broad comedy. Picky fans may quibble with other alterations to Rebecca Wells' material, such as softening James Garner's character from dysfunctional collaborator to guiltless victim. The less discriminating ones will probably be as content as need be, and savor the film's soul-searching agenda. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Angus MacFadyen - Connor McGill; Allison Bertolino - Little Sidda Lee Walker; Caitlin Wachs - Little Vivi Abbott; Jacqueline McKenzie - Younger Teensy; Katy Selverstone - Younger Caro; Kiersten Warren - Younger Necie; Leslie Silva - Willetta; Matthew Settle - Jack; Gina McKee - Genevieve; David Lee Smith - Younger Shep Walker; Ron Dortch - Chaney; Frederick Koehler - Pete Abbott; David Rasche - Taylor Abbott; Mark Joy - Mr. Whitman; Boyd Kestner; Mark Jeffrey Miller - Lyle; Taj Mahal - Swing Band Singer; Deborah Hobart - Aunt Louise; Michael Moyer - Pawn Broker; Nina Repeta - Lady at Gas Station; Ursula Burton - Sister Solange; Ann Savoy - Chanteuse; Don Baker - Confessional Priest; Austin R. Cooper - Little Shep Jr.; Sarah Huck - Lulu; Alex Cooper - Baylor; Alyssa May Gold - Little Teensy; Mary Katherine Weiss - Little Caro; Nicki Tschudi - Little Necie; Clint Lienau - James Jr.; David Bridgewater - Dr. Beau Poche; Sarallen - Older Willetta; Veda Wilson - Shirley; Michael Mattison - Officer Roscoe Jenkins; Barbara Weetman - Female Interviewer; Suellen Yates - Stage Manager; E. Michael Hewett - Airplane Man; Robert Longstreet - Pilot; Gillian Johnson - Younger Chick
Credit
John Jensen - Art Director, Scott Elias - Associate Producer, Tom Proper - Associate Producer, Carl Fischer - Boom Operator, Avy Kaufman - Casting, Marty Cherrix - Casting, Allan Kaufman - Consultant/advisor, Debra Baum - Consultant/advisor, Gary Jones - Costume Designer, Cheryle Cravedi - Costume Designer, Joyce Marling - Costume Designer, Michaell Keith Taylor Jr. - Costume Designer, Joel Voorhies - Costume Designer, Matthew Rowland - First Assistant Director, Callie Khouri - Director, Andrew Marcus - Editor, E.K. Gaylord II - Executive Producer, Mary McLaglen - Executive Producer, Bette Midler - Executive Producer, Lisa Stewart - Executive Producer, Rita Parillo - Hair Styles, Lana Sharpe - Hair Styles, Lona Vigi - Hair Styles, E. Michael Hewett - Location Manager, T-Bone Burnett - Composer (Music Score), David Mansfield - Composer (Music Score), Darrell Leonard - Musical Arrangement, Wendy Bell - Makeup, Charlene Roberson - Makeup, Pamela Westmore - Makeup, Anette Haellmigk - Camera Operator, Malcolm MacIntosh - Camera Operator, David James Bomba - Production Designer, John Bailey - Cinematographer, Michael Tackett - Cinematographer, Hunt Lowry - Producer, Bonnie Bruckheimer - Producer, James Edward Ferrell, Jr. - Set Designer, Rob Simons - Set Designer, Creo - Special Effects, Mike Piersante - Sound Mixer, Frank Wolf - Sound Mixer, Petur Hliddal - Sound/Sound Designer, John Martin - Stunts, Karen Brigman - Stunts, Carol Lin James - Stunts, Donna Evans Merlo - Stunts, Tree O'Toole - Stunts, M. James Arnett - Stunts Coordinator, Mary McLaglen - Unit Production Manager, Mark Andrus - Screenwriter, Callie Khouri - Screenwriter, Darrell Leonard - Additional Music, Pat Story - Unit Publicist, Tammy Christine Arnold - Dialogue Coach, Lilene Mansell - Dialogue Coach, Ann Trulove - Associate Editor, Frank Godwin - First Assistant Camera, Peter Kuttner - First Assistant Camera, Walter "Chunky" Huse - Key Grip, Nick Viterelli - Music Editor, Robbie Beck - Properties Master, Kevin E. Carpenter - Re-Recording Mixer, Gregory H. Watkins - Re-Recording Mixer, Michael J. Leone - Script Supervisor, Jennifer Giancola - Second Assistant Director, Scott A. Jennings - Sound Effects Director, Richard Burton - Sound Effects Director, Walter Kiesling - Special Effects Coordinator, David Giammarco - Supervising Sound Editor, Troy Porter - ADR Mixer, Jessica Peel - Assistant Costumer Designer, David Burnett - Assistant Chief Lighting Technician, Geoffrey Ryan - Assistant Location Manager, Ashleigh Tucker - Assistant Production Coordinator, Marilyn Phillips - Assistant Properties, Joe Schiff - Assistant Sound Editor, Dana LeBlanc Frankley - Assistant Sound Editor, Daniel "D.J." Haizlip - Best Boy Grip, Maureen Whalen - Casting Associate, Michael Moyer - Chief Lighting Technician, Jeffrey Schlatter - Construction Coordinator, Bruce Ericksen - Costumes Supervisor, David V. Butler - Dialogue Editor, Kim Drummond - Dialogue Editor, Scott Leftridge - Dolly Grip, Eric Layne - First Assistant Accountant, Alain Romi - First Assistant Editor, Sean Menzies - First Assistant Editor, Mary Jo Lang - Foley Artist, Alyson Moore - Foley Artist, John Rush - Foley Artist, Pauline White Kassulke - Key Costumer, Duane Williamson - Leadman, Nicole Furia - Production Accountant, Derek Smith - Second Assistant Camera, Patrick Borowiak - Second Assistant Camera, Jonathan Capra - Second Second Assistant Director, Raymond Prado - Storyboard Artist, Rebecca Wells - Book Author, Michael Rayle - Cable Person, Thomas C. Ryan - Construction Foreman, Mo Henry - Negative Cutter, Jessica Sheaffer - Production Secretary, Kerry Dean Williams - Supervising ADR Editor, Pacific Title - Title Design, Kaleidoscope Films - Title Design, Jeri Baker-Sadler - Department Head Hair, Felicity Bowring - Department Head Makeup
"Divine Secrets" opens with an introduction to the Ya-Yas as little girls, forging the alliance of friendship and officially giving it the name "Ya-Ya."
Next we see playwright Siddalee Walker (Sandra Bullock), on the verge of releasing her newest play, interviewing with Time Magazine in which she expresses some opinions of her unhappy childhood. The reporter takes Sidda's very minor complaints and turns them into dark secrets about her parents.
Her mother, Viviane Joan Abbott Walker, sees the article, and is extremely offended by it. She launches a war with Sidda, both trying to prove that the other is out of their mind. She takes down all the pictures of Siddalee in her house, and indicates that she never wants to see her daughter again. She refuses to talk to Siddalee, even when Siddalee sends her a wedding invitation with the time and place cut out and torn up tickets to her play.
Siddalee has difficulty understanding her mother's behavior until she is visited in New York City by three of her mother's friends: Aimee "Teensy" Malissa Whitman, Denise "Necie" Rose Kelleher, and Caroline "Caro" Eliza Benett. The four ladies had created the 'Ya-Ya Sisterhood' in their youth as a token of their close friendship, which has lasted through the years.
Through the film we see flashbacks to the Ya-Yas as little girls, as young women, and then as young mothers including a young Siddalee. Sidda learns of her mother Vivi's own difficult childhood with a bitter mother, and the loss of the first great love of her life. In the end, the Ya-Yas explain the true details behind some of Sidda's painful memories and she seems to find an acceptance and understanding of her mother. Meanwhile, we also see Vivi's journey to deal with her painful issues and become the mother she always wanted to be.
Technical
Directed by Callie Khouri
Screenplay by Callie Khouri
Adaptation by Mark Andrus
Based on the novels Divine secrets of the Ya-Ya sisterhood and Little altars everywhere by Rebecca Wells
Produced by Bonnie Brukheimer ans Hunt Lowry
Executive producers : Bette Midler & Mary McLaglen
Executive producers : E.K. Gaylord II & Lisa Stewart
Director of photography : John Bailey, A.S.C.
Production designer : David J. Bomba
Edited by Andrew Marcus
Music by T Bone Burnett
Original score by David Mansfield & T Bone Burnett
