I’ve got a film for you—celebrating mature perspective.

I’ll See You in My Dreams, starring Blythe Danner and Sam Elliott, is a Hollywood anomaly: a character-driven film created for thinking audiences with a mature perspective. No fast action, no violence, no sex. I don’t think I’ve seen anything so subtle or so obviously aimed at a 55+ audience.

This is a film that would bore the pants off a young person. (And it would be their loss, but they can come back and see it in another 20, 30, or 40 years!)

The blurb on the back says one thing about Blythe’s character, (long-retired, widowed, 70-something woman) including “seeking out new experiences and finding love in places she never expected,” with the cover designed like a romantic “dramedy.” Here’s what I think the film is about—it’s about learning to live well in the face of repeated and inevitable loss.

That sounds incredibly depressing when I say it that way, but let’s be frank: it’s the reality of living long lives. Someone around us is always dying. The shape and range of our physical, social, and intellectual lives largely diminishes. Our definitions of what’s OK to include, and what we’re willing to allow ourselves to be and do, narrows. Repetition and boredom can be the warp and the woof of aging in America, even when one has money.

There is a lot of simple conversation in the film. Understated exchanges. Few words, simple actions, into which we as the audience can insert our life experience and resonate deeply. I laughed, I cried, I got it.

This is a chance to celebrate that there are things you get to understand and enjoy that are beyond the young! This film celebrates its aging characters. It celebrates their vibrant hearts, their vulnerabilities, and the courage involved in making simple daily choices in the face of not knowing who, what, or how long.

May Hollywood produce many more films with this kind of simple, deep, substance, featuring older characters! It will give longer careers to talented performers, and refreshing entertainment to we viewers with a mature perspective!

Coach’s Challenge: Notice something about yourself or your life that is different than it was 20 years ago. Now, spend the week finding authentic ways to appreciate that difference. And leave me a comment below letting me know what you think!

Film trailer: