"20thC Women" Stars Annette Bening, BIlly Crudup & Elle Fanning

"20th C Women" is a coming of age story rooted in the 1970's.  This semi-autobiographical, nostalgic, philosophical picture stars the multiple Golden Globe winning & Oscar nominated actress Annette Bening as Dorothea, the single mother of 15 year old boy, Jamie (Lucas Zumann.)  Bening is the reason to see this tedious & uneventful movie that strives for loftiness but is a laden mess.  The film is in  disarray as is the home where Dorothea & her son live which is under perpetual renovation.  The repairs are being made by the male tenant, William (a terrific Billy Crudup.)  The other tenant is Abbie (Greta Gerwig) who plays her typical eccentric & irritating character.  Jamie's unrequited infatuation is 17 yr old Julie (Elle Fanning) his childhood friend.  Julie oftentimes climbs through his window to sleep in a confidential & platonic friendship.  Fanning is charming & convincing in her innocent/not so innocent ingenue role (playing to her typecasting.)  Dorothea is an intelligent, independent woman who realizes how ill equipt she is to raise her son without support.  Her well-meaning, misstep is turning to  Abbie & Julie as mentors.  Julie, wise beyond her years (with a mom who is a psychologist) tells her they're not right for job (how right she is.)  Julie suggests William as a role model for Jamie.  The movie starts with a car engulfed in flames.  It belongs to Dorothea who was grocery shopping with Jamie when it auto-combusts.  She invites a fireman to her home for dinner.  Her table has an open door for an ever changing grouping.  The story is character driven.  It's a fluctuating genre that never fully gets into gear.  But Bening's performance as the patient & baffled mother is captivating.  Her devotion to her son, her loneliness and resilience comprise the poignant arc of the film rather than Jamie's traversing the world of adolescence & dawning sexuality.  Still, the nostalgic references to iconic books of this era "Our Bodies Ourselves" & Pres Carter's 1979 "malaise" speech reflect the country's mentality & perhaps the intent of this film. (And why the name Jamie.)  "We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our lives and the loss of a unity of purpose." When Jamie attempts to honestly communicate with his mother as she entreats,  he's rebuked.  "Asking about one's happiness leads straight to depression."  "20th C Women" misses the mark.  I advise the younger, 21st C actresses, Fanning & Gerwig to glean from the heartfelt performance by the wizened & wise Bening.