See Also presents: This is My Life (1992).

The rarely screened – but must-see – directorial debut of the late, great Nora Ephron, This is My Life is a film about family, stand-up comedy, ambition and riding in cabs with Carrie Fisher.

Co-written by Nora and her sister Delia based on a novel by Meg Wolitzer, it stars Julia Kavner (the voice of Marge Simpson) as suburban mother Dottie Ingels. She’s raising her daughters Erica (Samantha Mathis) and Opel (a tiny Gabby Hoffman) until the arrival of a surprise inheritance grants her the opportunity to follow her dream of being a stand-up comic. As “Dottie with the dots” blows up – thanks, in part, to her idiosyncratic agent (Dan Aykroyd) and his chain-smoking assistant (Fisher) – the girls are stuck at home with a cornucopia of comics subbing in to care for them as their resentment towards their mother’s fame simmers.

It’s a film about mothers and daughters, the sacrifices success requires, and granting each other a bit of grace.

Join Kate Jinx and Brodie Lancaster, the hosts of the weekly pop culture conversation podcast See Also, for a post-film chat about this warm, funny, unforgettable film.

Duration

125 MINS