Our next Film Society movie, The Great Escaper, gives an opportunity to see two legends of cinema, Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson, in both of their final roles.
Caine plays 89-year-old self-described “coffin-dodger,” Bernard Jordan, with Jackson playing his loving wife Irene. The couple have rarely spent a moment apart since the end of the Second World War, and live in a retirement home in the south of England where they deal with the realities of medical issues and old age.
The Great Escaper is what the real-life Bernard (Bernie) Jordan was dubbed when, in 2014, he and Irene conspired to liberate him from their nursing home so he could attend the 70th Anniversary Commemoration of D-Day. It’s a bit of a slow-speed escape, but he manages to make it to the ferry carrying veterans to Normandy. Bernie is overwhelmed by the return to France; he's denied himself these memories for an exceptionally long time. He finds a friend in Arthur, a former RAF pilot, as they gradually reopen war wounds together. Bernie achingly reflects on his wartime losses, while also remembering his initial courtship with Irene.
Irene, who is dealing with a terminal illness, remains in the care facility, interacting with the staff, but remaining mum about Bernie’s “disappearance.” The story also incorporates her war-time experience; she, too, faces inner demons connected to the war. And she knows Bernie has long suffered from PTSD and hopes he can find closure on something that has haunted him for decades.
Meanwhile, Bernie has become an unintentional celebrity, making headline news while everyone searches for him, before the truth inevitably surfaces.
Caine and Jackson are so lovely together in these roles as an elderly couple looking out for each other – kind and loving, funny and saucy. It’s a must-see.
The Great Escaper plays at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Classic.
