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Elizabeth is Missing

93 replies

longwayoff · 08/12/2019 22:14

Excellent and very sad production. Glenda Jackson is superb.

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 09/12/2019 09:36

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Susiesoap7 · 09/12/2019 09:51

Brilliant, wonderful acting Glenda jackson

Squigean · 09/12/2019 10:49

I agree that there were no plot holes. (Though recall when the book was new posters on here felt there was too.)

The book is mostly written from Maud's prospective (though not actually in the first person). So if she doesn't recall, you don't know either. The frustration of the 'plot holes' will be the frustration of not remembering.

They may have brought her to the hospital before. We saw her walk out the hospital (just having seen Elizabeth )and tell her daughter Elizabeth was missing. Though I think it was clear enough the son had said no to her visiting.

The bandstand was the last time she saw her sister. She mentioned there was fish and chip and raced her home. Suki told her she couldn't run in the shoes so would follow. (No idea why she went home though - again Maud would never have know this anyway - met him on the way and got pulled home?)

Also why she hadn't worked it out. Well she didnt met Elizabeth till they were both elderly women. Hadn't been in her house or dug the garden and found her compact lid before she was starting to show signs of dementia. You get the idea she suspected Frank (and the lodger) but had nothing to go on - giving the location. It was finding the compact lid that raised the memory of the conversation about the buying the house. Then her living past memories as the present made her recall the 'mad woman' and well as the bird-thing. She repeatedly said she didnt know why she hadn't put it together (the 'mad woman's' comments about birds flying around).

Do think the mad woman's comments were reflective of how no body really listen (or was able to understand) when Maud was talking about Elizabeth being missing was her thinking about Suki being missing.

Both she was the mad woman had something important to communicate but neither could the dementia confused things.

Squigean · 09/12/2019 11:15

Hmm, bit of an essay there. Sorry!!

heath48 · 09/12/2019 15:34

Glenda Jackson was superb,cannot believe how many years it is since she last acted.

A friend of mine was Nanny to her son Daniel Hodges,what seems a lifetime ago.

DarlingNikita · 09/12/2019 16:10

cannot believe how many years it is since she last acted.
She's been away from TV for a long time but has acted on stage more recently; I was lucky enough to see her play Lear about three years ago, which was just magnificent.

I just can't decide if I'd rather have her back as a politician ... Grin

LizzieMacQueen · 09/12/2019 18:44

Brilliant film. So much better than the War of the Worlds and, to me anyway, so little advertising (unlike the WotW). But I didn't recognise Glenda Jackson, disappointed in myself for that.

threesecrets · 09/12/2019 19:46

The book was better.

40somethingJBJ · 09/12/2019 20:21

Absolutely brilliant performance by Glenda Jackson, had me in tears at times as I could really feel her frustration. Great acting by Liv Hill as young Maudie and the rest of the cast too.

diddl · 09/12/2019 20:58

I thought that it was very well done.

So was the "mad woman" non existent?

Or had she seen what had happened & no one would believe her?

Or had Maud seen it & repressed it?

UncleHerbie · 09/12/2019 22:18

Superb TV. The frustration Maud felt reminded me so much of my late mum. Had me bawling. A definite BAFTA winning performance by Miss Jackson

Downton57 · 09/12/2019 22:33

@UncleHerbie I bawled too. Going through this with my own mum and it is breaking my heart. The daughter's terrible distress when Maud doesn't recognise her own granddaughter felt very real.

LIZS · 09/12/2019 22:48

I wondered that too@diddl . It seemed all too vivid to have been her just piecing it together. Was the mad woman a persona for the memory of the murder? Very poignant and classy drama.

elephantoverthehill · 09/12/2019 23:04

It was very good. Glenda showing her acting ability on TV again. The make up artist did a fantastic job Grin. Very hard hitting and realistic drama.

Faffandahalf · 09/12/2019 23:12

No the Mad Woman is real. Isn’t the suggestion that she too is a woman with Alzheimer’s but living in 1949 would not be diagnosed.
She sees the murder happen but when she ‘rants’ about the birds flying (this is the glass dome from the mantle piece that breaks and the stuffed(?) birds fall out) no one understands her.

It’s only 70 years later that Maud understands what she was referring to.

It’s also a nice parallel between Maud and The Mad Woman.

Faffandahalf · 09/12/2019 23:16

I thought the best scene was the bus stop. The poor daughter crying.

soddingsoda · 09/12/2019 23:31

I look after an elderly family member.

This hit home a lot, and I cried in so many places. Bloody amazing drama and deserves to win all the awards. I loved that it was from Maud's point of view and harrowing what life is like with dementia. She reckonised her memory was going hence writing the post it notes - you could tell she was still the same woman as before still wanting her independence and her rights. Her poor daughter, the one doing the day to day and yet her brother not supporting her in the ways he could. So often I have family saying 'i'm here for you, anything you need', but busy with their day to day and not wanting to help with the bad bits i.e. telling maud that she needs to move out for her own wellbeing. I loved the Grandaughter - apart from her style as I haven't met a teenager who dresses like that in donkey years (crimpled hair) - comm'on Gran i've got you fish and chips and their special relationship until Maud forgets who she is.

It took me a while to realise how Maud figured out how her sister died and why Elizabeth was living in what should have been her sisters house.

The scene where Maud wets herself really got to me; the embarrassment and when her daughter locks her in the house (surely if it's got that bad either her or her grandaughter could have stayed over night).

It was an extremely hard watch but probably the best drama i've watched all year.

incognitomum · 09/12/2019 23:57

I was transfixed. I love Glenda Jackson anyway but this was something else. The daughter and granddaughter were excellent actors too.

I cried at the bus stop scene. Amazing depiction.

diddl · 10/12/2019 07:59

For me it would make more sense that the "mad woman" was real as Alzheimer's doesn't mean that you forget everything, does it?

So all of Maud's memories wouldn't be false-especially of a long time ago.

I wasn't sure though about when Maud realised that she hadn't known Helen-does that happen?

Is the book still worth a read would anyone say?

(Got it ready to buy!!)

Aventurine · 10/12/2019 09:23

This was excellent. Reminded me of the character with dementia in Started Early took my Dog by Kate Atkinson. Also written from her point of view.

7Days · 10/12/2019 11:38

The book is worth it, definitely.

funmummy48 · 10/12/2019 15:16

I had no idea this had been on TV until it was mentioned here! I read the book ages ago and have just watched it. It was fab and as others have said, what an outstanding performance by Glenda Jackson.

cheesydoesit · 10/12/2019 17:05

I've just seen this on Iplayer and I will watch it tonight once the kids are in bed. I read the book when it first came out and loved it. I'll have to dig it out again. I'm so glad the TV version has got good reviews.

PuppyMonkey · 10/12/2019 17:18

I cry quite easily at soppy stuff on TV/films etc, but usually just a tear or two running down one eye. This made me actually sob out loud. The scene with her daughter at the bus stop I mean. So moving.Sad

Deathraystare · 10/12/2019 17:23

It was fantastic. Glad I watched it. Worrying about my Aunt's memory now. I might have to start putting post it notes around for her.

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