The Big Chill (1983) - 1/7/2024
Was that really the best option?
The inspiration to watch this film came from listening to a Rewatchables podcast earlier this year on a long drive. It’s a film I’ve been dying to rewatch for a long time, but haven’t been able to find it anywhere. Low and behold, there’s a lovely Criterion version that I was able to snag and got to have a lovely rewatch of something that I haven’t seen in over a decade.
The first thing I will say, is that this soundtrack fucking rips, but I already knew that. My first knowledge of The Big Chill was the soundtrack, it was one of those CDs my mom had on rotation in the car with just banger after banger. Secondly, this film still rules as hard as I recall. To find the right people on the cusp of breaking out and being able to pull them all together for a friend reunion movie is hard to do.
There are so many moments large and small to love throughout the film. The opening scenes of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” playing behind everyone learning about Alex’s death works on the literal level of passing news, as well as the figurative level of the dark news and gossip surrounding the group. Tom Berenger’s Sam being a sex symbol through his TV character J.T. Lancer, but seemingly impotent at times. Everyone gathered around to watch a Bo Schembechler game with angst against MSU. Jeff Goldblum’s skeeziness. The setting of a small, quiet South Carolina coastal town. Glenn Close being so racked out of her mind that she is unable to sleep. And the real question at the center of it all: do we still work as friends even if we aren’t the same people we were 10 years ago?
While that may be the actual, philosophical question, there are several wild and unanswerable ones. What year did all of these people graduate?1 How many SEC violations can Harold get away with? Did Nick actually deserve to get pulled over by the cops? Is Karen just gonna go straight back to her family after fucking her college friend? And are all of her friends just gonna be okay with that?
While all of those are fun to ponder, there’s one that really stuck out to me more this time around: What the fuck was Sarah (Glenn Close) thinking getting her husband Harold (Kevin Kline) to impregnate Meg (Mary Kay Place)? There’s the talk we get between Harold and Nick on a morning jog about what Harold knows and feels about Alex and Sarah’s past and their feelings between each other. We see that heart wrenching scene of Glenn Close bawling on the shower floor. We know she is going through something profound and difficult. But to offer your husband up on a platter to raw dog one of your best friends so she may get pregnant is wild.
Listen, I understand polyamory, and I am also not one to say what other couples limits are. I do not kink shame and if they are open, that’s fine, but I really don’t think that is the case here. To listen to your friend tell you she’s ovulating, and think, “Hey my husband could help you out,” is just wild. This has all the earmarks of someone who is processing trauma in a very hasty and dramatic fashion. How do we know she’s not going to regret that decision in a couple days, or weeks, or months? How do we know that if Meg does become pregnant, that Sarah won’t secretly disdain her for the rest of her life for bearing kids from her partner? And the more important question: What if she doesn’t become pregnant at all? Then, you just let your dude cum inside your friend, which I don’t think many people can live with.2 When she snaps out of her funk, it’s going to be an interesting wake up call.
Meg being so willing to accept this is wild. I get she likes the idea of having “some of the greatest guys I know” give her a child, but you’re a rich, successful, real-estate attorney. IVF just started in 1978, and it’s 1982.3 You could have easily bought someone’s sperm and done this process yourself. But hey, to each their own I guess.
This is a question that still boggles my mind to this day. The soundtrack is supposed to be the key factor of determining their year. I know Kasdan was writing from his time period at Michigan, but all of these people look I their 20s. There’s no way they were in college when 1968 when Marvin Guy and Aretha were popping off.
Although it was done lovingly to “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman”.
Again, I assume. But after doing some research they were all born the same time/year as Kasdan (late 40s, early 50s). So they would have been in college around that time period. I still find it hard to believe.