Sarah, Plain and Tall is based on the Newbery Award-winning book by Patricia MacLachlan. I've never read it all the way through, despite the fact that it's like the shortest novel ever. When this movie was about to air, my mom got all excited and was all "oh look, this book is being made into a movie, let's watch!" I watched. I was bored. Nearly fifteen years later, I watched it again -- this time, I wasn't overwhelmed with love for it or anything, but I had more appreciation for it. It's not bad. It's sweet, it's simple, and it's poetic.
And it almost made me cry. Almost.
Widower Jacob Witting (Christopher Walken) lives on a farm with his two young children, Anna and Caleb. One day, he puts an advertisement in the paper, asking for someone to come be a mother to his kids. Sarah Wheaton (Glenn Close) responds. She lives on the east coast, near the sea. She loves the sea -- the colors, the animals, the salt air. But she also feels a need for a little adventure. She's not getting any younger, and her brother -- who she's been living with -- has recently married. She decides to take up Jacob on his offer and give it a one month trial.
When she arrives on the farm, she's got her work cut out for her. Jacob is a kind man... a little bit of control freak, maybe... but he's never gotten over the death of his wife. Anna is wary of Sarah, and refuses to get attached to her because she knows that Sarah might decide to leave. Anna misses her own mother very much, and is upset because Jacob put away all of the mother's belongings after she died, and Anna would like to see them hanging around the house... the way things used to be. Caleb is thrilled to be getting a mother, and attaches himself to Sarah right away. He knows that she could leave, but he is very optimistic.
As the days go by, Sarah begins to have a major influence on the household. She gets Jacob to see that he needs to properly grieve for his wife. She sees the importance of putting out Anna's mother's belongings, and manages to get them out without Jacob having a stroke over it. She teaches the children new songs. She tells them about the ocean. Sarah really misses her home, and whenever she talks about it, the kids start to worry because they're afraid Sarah will want to go back to the coast. Eventually, though, Sarah discovers that the country has many wonderful things to offer, and while it may not be the home she grew up in, there's nothing wrong with making a new home.
Oh yeah, and Sarah and Jacob? There's a little love story brewing there. ;)
This movie was followed by two sequels, one in 1993 and one in 1999. By then, there was another child thrown into the mix, but they got all the same actors to do the sequels, I believe. I have the 1993 one somewhere. I might just decide to watch it.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is available on DVD and VHS in Canada.
