Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Drama about woman living a secret life; language, drugs.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
My Wonderful Life
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
The title's MY WONDERFUL LIFE, whether an ironic or earnest designation, belongs to Jo (Agathe Buzek), who presides over a large family with her husband Witek (Jacek Braciak). The seemingly happy couple work together at a prep school while caring for her Alzheimer-stricken mother, a teen son, an adult son and his partner, and their incessantly crying 2-year-old. Jo worries about her health and, as if to release some of the pressure, smokes marijuana and has an affair with a goofy fellow teacher. Someone finds out and sends her texts, phone calls, and notes threatening to expose her exploits. Although shaken, she doesn't end her behavior and when the pressures come to a head, the family confronts her.
Is It Any Good?
Although My Wonderful Life tries to depict the struggles of a modern woman in a sprawling dysfunctional family, not much happens. This often feels like a gentle and accepting view of how life's difficulties can bring out the best and worst in us all. Despite the problems -- a boring and prickly marriage, a mother with dementia, one son flunking out of school and another with an entitled wife quick to spout withering comment -- the life described here, a life basically full of love, really isn't that bad. Perhaps the filmmakers want to convey that anyone who lives in a free country and shares a roof overhead and three square meals a day with loved ones, even irritating and selfish loved ones, is still a pretty lucky person enjoying a pretty wonderful life.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about where the director wants our sympathies to lie. Do we disapprove of a woman who is largely unappreciated at home and looks for some distraction outside her marriage? Or does the movie want us to understand her mistakes?
Does the movie suggest that people are neither all good nor all bad? What are some examples of that thinking?
How do you feel about Jo and her family members at the end of the film and why?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : February 28, 2022
- Cast : Agathe Buzek , Jacek Braciak , Adam Woronwicz , Malgorzata Zajaczkowska
- Director : Lukasz Grzegorzek
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Drama
- Run time : 99 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : March 3, 2022
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