Sounds Like Acting Magic~Kathleen Turner Shows Us Timelessness

If you could go back in time, would you do things differently or the same? That is the main theme of the film Peggy Sue Got Married from 1986. Today’s favorite cinematic performance from that film is none other than Kathleen Turner in the title role of Peggy Sue.

I’m Nikki Jacobs--The Sound You Like To Be Around back for yet another Sounds Like Acting Magic where I deconstruct some of my favorite cinematic performances in hopes that fellow actors, voice actors, and I can utilize helpful lessons from acting greats in our creative work.

Here's how the film's plot unfolds.  Peggy Sue attends her 25th high school reunion not expecting to see her philandering and estranged husband there as well. She tries to avoid him, but the tension becomes too much for her. When she is crowned queen of the reunion—a callback to when she and husband were crowned king and queen in high school—she faints. Somehow she is transported back to 1960—their senior year of high school—a pivotal time that set the course for where she is now in her life.

When I saw Kathleen Turner in this film, I saw her portray a whole new side to herself. She had always come across in her prior roles as cool and confident. Turner displays a vast amount of versatility in this role by owning every ounce of vulnerability and insecurity in Peggy Sue. Keep in mind that the setting for the her past is 1960 when things were very restrictive for women. Men were calling the shots on practically everything. Peggy Sue has developed a lot of self-doubt because she was never given the chance to properly find herself in 1960. Women were told then that the ultimate goal was to get married, which became her destination as well. The movie gives her an opportunity to explore what life would be like if she chooses an alternate route.

Now that Peggy Sue has a chance to reclaim her youth and possibly make new decisions for herself, she enjoys the benefit of a 25 year head start on everyone else. Of course, this creates a lot of confusion. Her husband Charlie who, in 1960 is her high school sweetheart, is completely baffled by her. He is used to calling the shots, fixing things, and taking care of things. She does not need him in the same way now—maybe she did not need him in that way then. This totally disorients him. What is so shrewd about Turner’s reactions to the character of Charlie is that she does not derail scenes with bitterness or resentment about things he has done in the future or how he is acting in the past, which is now the present. Instead, she gives Peggy Sue her well earned maturity of 25 years and does not forget to give us something to which we can relate: the truth that pain, insecurity, and not knowing where to go next in life is timeless. It is with us always—no matter what time we are at in our lives.

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