Peege is a 1973 short film (28 minutes) directed by Randal Kleiser.
It is Christmas Day. A suburban family—mom, dad, three sons—make their annual trip to see the dad's mother, whom the family calls "Peege". Peege (Jeanette Nolan) is in a nursing home. Once vital and full of zest for life, Peege has sunk into dementia. Now blind, toothless, and incontinent, she sits in a chair in her room and stares out the window all day long.
It is painfully obvious that the family finds the visits to Peege uncomfortable and depressing, and they only go out of a sense of obligation. Most affected by the visit is Greg, the oldest son, now a grad student (Bruce Davison). While the rest of the family plainly don't want to go and would like to make a graceful exit as soon as possible, Greg is overcome by memories of the good times he shared with his grandma in years past.
Bruce Davison had already hit the big time with Willard and would go on to a very successful career as a character actor. Randal Kleiser, who was a USC film school grad student at the time, based Peege on his own family and specifically a melancholy visit to his infirm grandmother, who was in fact called "Peege". Just five years later Kleiser directed the massive smash hit Grease.
Tropes:
- And Starring: After the minor players in the cast are all credited, Barbara Rush (Ethel, the mom) get an "And Barbara Rush" credit in larger type at the end.
- Bittersweet Ending: Peege isn't going to get any better and may not live that much longer, but the smile on her face at the end reveals that Greg got through to her one last time and made her happy.
- Bleak Abyss Retirement Home: There's no sign of overt Elder Abuse but the old folks' home is depressing. The mom remarks that "This place always smells so bad." Greg notes that the presents the family gives Peege are never there when they come back; it seems that the staff at the home routinely steals them.
- Christmas Episode: Out of a sense of obligation, a family makes a somewhat unwilling Christmas Day visit to an elderly grandma.
- Establishing Character Moment: While the banter in the car reveals younger sons Damien and Jerry as annoying little creeps, oldest son Greg stares out the window pensively. He is much more sensitive than his brothers.
- Flashback: Interspersed throughout the film are a series of flashbacks where Greg remembers the fun times with Peege, when they'd dance to music on her old record player and she'd give him ice cream and birthday cake, when she'd tell jokes while they watched old horror movies on TV.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: An example from Real Life rather than fantasy like how this trope is usually used. As Greg talks emotionally with Peege, trying to break through the fog of dementia, he says "I know that somewhere inside there is the grandma I remember."
- The Ken Burns Effect: As the end credits roll, the camera pans over and zooms in on a series of still photos of Peege and young Greg.
- Scatterbrained Senior: A very sad Real Life example. While not quite catatonic, Peege is only capable of brief responses like "yes", "no", or "I remember." She has the dazed Thousand-Yard Stare of a senior trapped in dementia, and the things she does say she says in an affectless tone that suggests she doesn't really understand what's going on. Greg succeeds in breaking through to her at the end by talking to her sincerely instead of talking at her like the rest of the family does.
- Time-Passes Montage: One of the flashbacks is also a Time-Passes Montage, showing Peege and Greg dancing together first when he was a preschooler, then when he was an older boy, then when he was in his early teens.
