Kate Constable's Blog

Too Hot To Blog

Last week it was too hot to do anything but lie in the coolest room and watch DVDs, so that's what we did. We borrowed Mamma Mia and it was brilliant ; we watched it six or seven times in 24 hours. Glorious Greek island scenery, wonderful Meryl Streep singing her heart out, all the ABBA songs you've ever loved, Colin Firth AND Pierce Brosnan (who, endearingly, can't sing for toffee)... there is an awful lot to love about this film. Yes, it's cheesy, but that's exactly what it wants to be, and it delivers perfectly.

Mamma Mia claims to be a story about a young woman's search for her father and, by implication, her identity. But don't be fooled. The title gives it away: this is a story about mothers, not fathers. Donna, the mother, is the centre of the true love story; her daughter's quest just provides the frame where it can unfold.

That's what I loved most about this film: it's all about middle-aged women, mother-aged women, having an extravagantly good time - dancing, singing, sharing, throwing tantrums, reminiscing, being bawdy: being red-blooded, loving, sexy women. The hens'/bucks' night party scenes are Bacchanalian in their wild, pagan celebration of fertility, and the older women are right there in the midst of the dancing, celebrating their own power. How often do you see middle-aged women in a movie having fun?

So this is a movie that I was happy to buy, happy for my daughters to watch and enjoy, happy to dance round the living-room to, holding their hands. Woo-hoo!