Diane Lane stars in Secretariat, a story about a remarkable woman, Penny Chenery-Tweedy, in the tough and male-dominated sport of horse racing. A story extremely well known in the US of A, as Big Red is the equivalent of Phar Lap here…
Secretariat is a rare sort of a film.
Rare because it is unusual these days to see a film, based in truth, that has no violence, no sex scenes and/or nudity. There is nothing to scare you, shock you or enrage you. This is film you could take your children, grandparents, or friends to. It is, for want of a better title, a family film. And to my mind one of the rarest of films around at present.
The story is about a remarkable woman, Penny Chenery-Tweedy, in the tough and male-dominated sport of horse racing. As her aging father (the lovely Scott Glen) loses his hold on reality and the running of his stud farm, she steps in where her academic brother will not. She already has a home of her own, and is the typical suburban housewife to a successful husband, and mother to four children. That she should want anything outside of that is confusing to all around her.
She has two remarkable pieces of luck. She wins Big Red, the horse she will eventually call Secretariat, in a coin toss and she convinces the flamboyantly-retired Lucien Laurin to come back to racing and train Big Red as she is convinced he has the makings of a true racehorse. As is to be expected, she runs into problems from all sides, with $6 million dollars of death duties due after her father passes away. She cunningly finds a way around this ‘small’ setback – and I would rather not give too much away.
The horse is not as good as she thinks – it turns out he is much, much better. This story is extremely well known in the US of A, as Big Red is the equivalent of Phar Lap here.
They attempt the 1973 Triple Crown; three races over a 6-week period, which hasn’t been achieved in twenty-five years. The story hangs on five (human) characters with Diane Lane’s Penny the linchpin of it all. She plays the character with quiet reserve which can appear a bit staid at times, but occasionally you get to see the price she pays for making the hard decisions between her family and her business, with one pivotal scene where bad weather prevents her from flying to see her oldest daughter in her play. Her son holds the phone up so she can hear her daughter but the terrible sadness she feels at missing this moment is too much for her and she crumbles.
And she is an absolute beauty that woman. I swear she is one of those remarkable women who simply get more beautiful as she gets older. Or maybe it is just that the time period of this film is very kind visually to women – the costumes are sublime. Diane Lane has just become the new Neutrogena Ambassador – lucky them!
John Malkovich is the frosty but sassy Lucien Laurin, horse trainer extraordinaire. He is an eccentric with a fondness for loud attire and jaunty hats!
Nelsan Ellis plays Eddie Sweat – Big Red’s groom – a role he plays much straighter than his character Lafayette, from True Blood. It is a quiet glimpse into the racism that still existed in the time. He never gets to watch the races from the grandstand. And yet he slept near Big Red in his stables his whole racing career.
Dylan Walsh plays Penny’s mostly supportive husband Jack Tweedy. He gets to be ‘supportive’ of her until her ‘hobby’ starts to interfere with her ‘real’ job (being a mother and wife). Margo Martindale plays Miss Ham, Penny Chenery-Tweedy’s right hand woman who ran the stud for her father before her – and it was she, who gave Secretariat his name after the first 11 suggestions were turned down.
Big Red himself was well known as a real character of a horse. An avid rider myself all through my childhood I can attest to his charismatic persona! I am loathe to tell any more of the story and it may appear on the surface that this is a straightforward story of a horse that wins some races, with an unusually strong female owner, but it is never that simple.
The ending is truly remarkable, and one that made sure there were very few dry eyes in the house the night I saw it. It is a lovely film. You will leave feeling lighter and happier. A nostalgic, gentle, look at a more straightforward time.
By Anya Brighouse, 25 January 2010.
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