Kramer vs Kramer
Released in 1979 Robert Benton's heartbreaking adaptation Kramer Vs Kramer, an Avery Corman novel, about the aftermath of divorce is this week's must see movie.
When dutiful wife and mother Joanna (Meryl Streep) decides to leave Ted (Dustin Hoffman), an advertising executive, she also leaves him with the responsibility of caring for their young son, Billy (Justin Henry).
The situation proves to be especially difficult since the workaholic father has never really taken care of the boy and, in truth, barely knows him.
Things are rough at first, but as the two become accustomed to life without Joanna and Ted's caretaking skills improve, father and son finally develop a relationship.
As Ted devotes more time to his son and less to his work, however, the latter suffers, and Ted's subsequent firing coincides with the return of Joanna, who wants her son back.
Kramer Vs Kramer is complex story of families and the complicated world of parenthood as Benton explores on whose shoulders the task of raising a child falls.
This film is still so relevant today, nearly thirty years later, as Fathers for Justice are still demonstrating over equal rights to see their children.
This film had a major social impact as the roles of mothers and fathers were changing throughout the seventies and the film was praised for showing both sides of the argument to gain custody of the child.
But the film's major strong point is the focusing on everyday things and the drama that happens in a household from day to day, the most memorable in which Ted, on his first morning as a single father, tries (and miserably fails) to make french toast for his son.
Kramer vs Kramer dominated the 1979 Academy Awards winning five awards including Best Picture and Best Actor and Actress.
Justin Henry was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor and he was, at the time, the youngest ever recipient of a Oscar nomination.
Hoffman is at his best as the average modern professional whose life is rearranged by his son as he tries to hold onto this most precious of relationships.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Dustin Hoffman