Compared with other Mike Lee's works, this film is more quiet and restrained, except that after Tom's older brother Rooney lost his wife in winter, his grumpy and arrogant son made a little noise, other times more It shows the inner emotions of the characters and the restrained emotional release. The film mainly revolves around the passage of time, the sadness, loneliness, and anxiety caused by birth, aging, illness and death.
Spring: Engineer Tom and psychologist Jerry are a middle-aged couple living in London. Their lives were uneventful, without major contradictions and without the passions of their youth. Jerry's colleague, the now single woman Mary is a lonely, anxious, sensitive, and lacking self-confidence woman. She came to Jerry's house as a guest, and when she was drunk, she confessed her feelings to Jerry and Tom, expressed her loneliness, and vented her dissatisfaction with life. The departure of her boyfriend and her age made her nervous. Mary's self-venting makes the atmosphere extremely awkward, especially for Tom. In the end she fell asleep on the bed drunk...
Summer: Tom welcomes his old friend Ken over to his house. The two recalled the past time together, and Ken expressed his resentment that there are young people in the bar today, and he can't enjoy it. All troubles are due to the passage of time. At the family reunion, Mary is late, Ken has always had a soft spot for Mary, but Mary has no feelings for Ken or even hates Ken's approach. At the same time, Mary is very interested in Jerry's son Joe, she said something extremely ambiguous to Joe, but Joe politely refused. When Mary asked Jo how old she thought she was, Jo started 50 and up.…without mercy. Age became the reason for rejection at this time, and the passage of time made my heart twist like a knife. Mary drove Joe and Ken off. The three of them were very happy in the car. Mary's attentiveness to Joe, disgust for Ken, and Ken's cute dog-licking character were simply embarrassing.
Autumn: Joe brings his girlfriend Katie to his parents' house, and Mary is jealous and aggressive in her conversation with Katie, again making the atmosphere awkward. It's hard to say whether Mary is jealous because she likes Joe or envious because she sees a new couple, anxious and helpless about her old and single situation. In short, she has become an unwelcome person, an old woman who lacks self-control, is extremely egoistic, and has a low emotional intelligence, and even Jerry is disappointed in her. The reason why Mary often comes to the Toms' house as a guest is largely due to her yearning for family, which she has never had. She is eager to feel the atmosphere of the family, but her eccentric personality makes her unable to be truly accepted.
Winter: Tom's brother Rooney's wife is gone, and the winter is filled with the sad smell of death, and everyone looks pale. Rooney's bald son leaves after making a scene in front of his family. Others went out to help Rooney with his wife's funeral. Mary, who came over without saying hello, bumped into Rooney, who was at home alone. One lost his wife, the other was single, two lonely and sad souls in the same room, not much conversation, but not embarrassment. At the dinner table, Mary listened to everyone's conversation, couldn't get in, just sat quietly, like an outsider. Rooney next to her looked at her, wondering how it would end.
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