First heard the word spinster when I was a kid. My aunt, a beautiful and wonderful human being, had that word hung around her neck. She ended up getting married in her mid-30s and had 3 children.
Gaby (American actor Chelsea Peretti) has never been married. She is turning 39 as her 3-month boyfriend breaks things off on her birthday. Her best friend Amanda (Susan Kent) has 2 children.
Gaby has wonderful rationalisations for why she isn't married. She doesn't seem too interested in kids. Mostly, Gaby is better at knowing what she doesn't want than what she does want. Some of her struggle is not knowing how to get what she wants.
We hear stories on part of why Gaby struggles in relationships. Her father started a new life with a new woman. Her brother Alex (David Rossetti) is divorced from his wife.
Slowly, Gaby comes out of her shell. She pines that she should get a dog and then gets a dog, Trudy. Adele (Nadia Tonen), her niece from her brother, becomes more a part of Gaby's life. She meets a professor Callie (Kate Lynch), who is also unmarried and has no children. Gaby is a caterer who wants to open her own restaurant.
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Gaby gets some flak for being single and childless yet gets to speak up that her life isn't so bad. The more where Gaby takes initiative, the more things happen for her.
Gaby is the centre of the film but smartly, the film doesn't cater to her. The people in her life have their own issues and that helps strengthen Gaby. Kent gets to play a character not pushed off to the side; she is presented as the mommy alternative and as a friend who benefits from having Gaby around.
Spinster reminded me a bit of Parsley Days but not as quirky. Andrea Dorfman wrote and directed Parsley Days and directed Spinster from Jennifer Deyell's script. Didn't realise the Dorfman connection until after viewing the film. Both films have a good Nova Scotia sensibility. Neither film moves at a Hollywood pace of rhythm.
We get to see some great hiking areas along the Atlantic Ocean coast in Nova Scotia.
There is a funny moment that isn't obvious where her brother wants to be a stand-up comedian. Gaby lambasts the idea for him. Peretti does stand-up comedy in real life so that felt funny only because Peretti says the line.
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Spinster is about a woman that a lot of women and some men can relate to in society. Peretti gives Gaby a quiet centre. Dorfman doesn't play Gaby as someone to feel sorry for and that is refreshing. No preaching, no converting; just a story of a person trying to find the next gear in life.
Spinster has played in theatres in Canada and is available in the United States on Amazon Prime Video.
video credit: YouTube/Vertical Entertainment US
photo credit: Spinster film
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