The Fundy Film Society

I’ll See You in My Dreams

Premiering at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, director Brett Haley’s I’ll See You in My Dreams is a funny, touching, and romantic comedy-drama that follows a retired schoolteacher as she discovers new friendships, adventures and heartaches in her twilight years.

A long-time widow and empty-nester, Carol Petersen (Blythe Danner, Sylvia, Meet the Parents) enjoys a pleasantly placid every¬day routine of playing bridge with friends, tending her garden, watching TV and relaxing with a glass of wine. But when her beloved dog becomes ill and has to be put down, Carol is confronted with the loneliness at the core of her seemingly comfortable and tranquil life. With the help of her best friends—played by the stellar trio of June Squibb (Nebraska), Rhea Perlman and Mary Kay Place—Carol decides to embrace the world, embarking on an unlikely friendship with her young pool maintenance man (Martin Starr), pursuing a new love interest (Sam Elliott, Grandma, Up in the Air), and reconnecting with her daughter (Malin Akerman, The Bang Bang Club).

Taking advantage of a rare leading role, the marvelous Danner endows Carol with a lifetime’s worth of wisdom and experience, and her outstanding work is matched by the rest of the sterling supporting cast. Sensitive, nuanced and affectingly sincere, I’ll See You in My Dreams is a revelatory tale about love among the not-so-young.

“Now after 43 years in feature films, Danner has gotten the opportunity to show what she can do, and in I’ll See You in My Dreams, she is simply jaw-dropping, just wonderful.” (Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle)

“Director Brett Haley (…) has managed to create a film about those final years that gets to the heart of things like loss and love without patronizing or parody. No small thing to create a movie whose cast is mostly in their 70s yet whose story is so relatable whatever your age.” (Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times)