Ellen Burstyn in 2009 (Pictured) plays Alice. Image sourced via google images.

Alice’s husband dies and she leaves town with her son, as a widow. She’s hoping a new life is on the horizon.

Probably far from Alice’s mind is having a meaningful relationship with another man, in the drama Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974, USA)

Her former relationship with her husband was hardly a meaningful one. More mundane and he spoke about his family’s faults, which at those times did not make for peace in the home. It was hard graft there.

Perhaps she needs a change from that pressure, but why would she want another relationship after finding the previous one an emotional struggle?

But could a meeting with a guy as a nightclub singer pave the way for a more meaningful relationship?He makes life seem romantic…but it is more about his ego than genuine.

She was taken in by this younger man who causes trouble. Maybe she liked to have a genuine guy (so it seemed), but wound up with a rogue charmer with issues instead.

Why did life throw her that curve ball? Why would life throw it to a person in need?

The guy who charmed his way into her life was a fake. Funny thing is she kind of liked him. That he made her forget that she is actually vulnerable and susceptible—to a male’s charms—who makes no bones about liking her. She is glad to see the back of him, though.

As resilient as ever, she moves on, back on the road, headed for another town, to an unknown destination. To perhaps another unknown male, to make her feel better or worse.

She lives by a sliver of hope, that something good will turn up along the way. We, the audience, feel for her. Will a hopeless life turn into something meaningful?

A meaningful relationship—where couples consider one another’s feelings, for one thing—isn’t perfect, but if you have it, certainly better than a meaningless one.