Review: 49 Up

It's almost as much about you as it is about them, when you come right down to it.

I've previously raved about 35 Up and 42 Up, the (respectively) fifth and sixth installments in the incomparable Up Series from director Michael Apted. The magic continued in 2006, with the release of 49 Up. In fact, there's probably no other film franchise that has delivered so consistently on its promise to entertain and delight its viewers. I've yet to hear of anyone who's given this amazing documentary series a look without coming away suitably impressed, and so I continue to recommend it every chance I get.

This time around, the Up subjects are staring down the barrel of the big 5-0, and there's a noticeable mellowing to be seen in their attitudes. Several of them are now grandparents, and couldn't be prouder. Some of the marriages from seven years earlier have ended, while others are stronger than ever. One of the men who refused to participate in 42 Up - John, he of the snooty upper class sneer and disdain for the entire proceedings - has returned, once again with the explanation of wanting to draw attention to his favourite charity of choice. All of the other regulars are still in the game, although former "chain-smoking neurotic turned salt of the Earth mom" Suzy vowed on-camera to make this her last appearance. Here's hoping that she changes her mind by 2013!

One of the many emotional scenes comes when wiser-and-more-confident Sue (not to be confused with Suzy) takes film-maker Apted to task for what she perceives to have been an inappropriate question that the director asked her while making 21 Up. At that time, as viewers of that installment will recall, the somewhat plain faced young lady was asked if she'd yet had enough sexual experience to warrant getting married. Presumably that question, and the embarrassment that it caused her both in the moment and ever since, thanks to the film series, was something that she finally got up the nerve to call him on. And to Apted's credit, that exchange made it into the final cut of 49 Up.

The crossover event this time around involved Simon and Paul being re-united (with supportive wives in tow), approximately four decades after they'd both been situated in a charity home together, as recorded in the original 7 Up broadcast. Seeing just how far each of the two men had come from their humble and limiting beginnings, both in terms of finding happiness and some small amount of material wealth, provides one of several emotional payoffs this time around.

Along the same lines, I almost wanted to cheer out loud at the news that physicist nice guy Nick, whose wife had refused to participate after being cast in what she considered a negative light - I'm ungenerous enough to feel that she just didn't like what she saw of her own unvarnished flaws, there on the big screen - was now free of her! Better still, he'd moved on to a much sweeter woman whose biggest worry seemed to be that she'd unintentionally cause Nick to change his ways in his earnest attempts to make her happy! From all appearances, this seemed to be a clear case of him marrying up, made all the more ironic by the fact that apparently Wife # 1 had dumped him!

As always happens when watching one of these updates, it's impossible not to think about your own life, and how you'd come across if someone were interviewing you every seven years along the way. How does your lot compare to Neil's, Bruce's or Jackie's? What's changed in the past seven years that would shock, thrill or sadden someone who'd last checked in on you that long ago? And was your current personality really all that apparent in the seven year old version of you, as seems to be the case with each of the individuals in the Up Series? These are the sorts of questions that few films are ever going to make you consider!

The DVD for 49 Up includes a fascinating interview of Apted by none other than film critic extraordinaire, Roger Ebert. (This must have taken place not long at all before Ebert's first surgery for his ongoing health problems.) Hearing the two men discuss not only the metatextual significance of the series but also the individual subjects and how much they've all come to mean to both of the grey-haired gentlemen was very touching, to say the least. A notion that occurred to me while watching 49 Up - that the entire franchise will make an incredible historical document for generations to come - was touched on by Ebert, and it was fun to watch the director's reaction to a suggestion that his work might hold a relevance long beyond his own natural lifespan.

I hope that all of the necessary stars align such that, five years from now, fans the world over can thrill to the release of 56 Up. Even if that doesn't happen, though, the seven existing chapters in this series have already achieved the status of high art and are true "Must See TV" for students and casual observers of the Human Condition everywhere.

Rating: ****