The movie tells the story of two young girls whom their mom brought to her home town in the Pacific Northwest and committed suicide at the same day. The girls stay with their proper and respectable grandmother but after her death, their aunt, eccentric, literally out of this world Sylvie arrived after long time to take care of her nieces. There is a mystery behind Sylvie's smile, behind her strange for the most population of the small town behavior - she collects empty tin cans and used newspapers, she loves to walk alone and to visit train station and a nearby mountain lake. Christine Lahti is the center of the movie as a lonely gentle woman who has lived through many disappointments and failures it seems and learned how to choose what is really important for her and not to pay attention what anyone would think of her. It is easier to live this way but Sylvie will have to learn how to get closer, to connect, and to love again. As time passes, one of the girls, Lucille is embarrassed by her aunt and leaves the house to live a normal life. Her sister, Ruthie, a shy, quiet and insightful girl identifies with Sylvie's longing for freedom and chooses to stay with her. There are gentle kindness, quiet sadness, the spirit of freedom and adventure, unspoken words, bitter disappointments, failures, search for love, for understanding and belonging in this movie. Christine Lahti is great - watching her reminded me of two remarkable movies, "Running On Empty" where Lahti played one of the main characters, the mother and wife in the family that had to be on the run and the devastating and profoundly moving "Vagabond" by Agnes Varda, the tragic search for absolute freedom.

i own "housekeeping" and have watched it more times than I can remember. (as well as read the equally wonderful book)my favorite movie-i doubt any could ever take its place.it is perfect in every way.

Years since I saw it in the moviehouse or video. NOT a comedy in the yuk yuk sense. I only wish I could have been on the set to say, "Bill, Focus more on the girls, not the aunt! You did them both so well!" It was just a question of balance in this absorbing movie. Christine Lahti had such a good, strong performance and Forsyth let her take the movie, or at least gave many viewers the idea that her character's the focus. Stunning scenery, wonderful evocation of family and place, and fascinates with its exploration of watery metaphors for our connection to and removal from people. Very faithful in tone to the book (a must-read by marilyn robinson, BTW), which I read after seeing the movie more than once. I wish I could see it on the big screen again.

'A Tidy Comedy'? Anyone who even *smiled* during the screening of this film needs quality psychiatric help.And I say this as a huge fan of Bill Forsyth. I have seen all of his films, and I spent a great deal of effort tracking down this particular one. Having finally found it, I have to say, it's little wonder that it isn't widely available--it is DIRE.Every director makes a few dud movies, but Forsyth's less brilliant films are still very watchable and above average (e.g. Breaking In). This however, is Bill Forsyth's worst film by *two* orders of magnitude--it's hard to believe he even had anything to do with it. It is *entirely* without merit: affected cardboard acting; excruciatingly boring, uneventful plot; superfluous, meaningless dialogue... just pointless... *pointless*... a complete waste of time! I cannot berate this film enough! In fact, the only thing that kept me going throughout this masterpiece of uninspired tedium (it took me about four sittings to watch it all the way through) was the prospect of giving it the richly deserved roasting that I now submit. I cannot believe that Forsyth read the (justly) obscure book upon which this film is based, and thought it would make an interesting (or even bearable) film--and if the film is anything to go by, the book must be absolutely *mind-numbing*.There's no point in giving a detailed "intelligent" critique of this film--it would be a waste of time. This film is a non-entity. It's like a particularly dull episode of The Waltons, with John Boy's monotonous narrative voice-over replaced by that of the even more robotic Ruthie.It defies belief that all the other reviews of this film are highly positive, the most scathing comment being that it was "uninspiring". Uninspiring? Try: *soul-destroying*. But the plot was only mildly depressing compared to the actual severe depression induced by the complete viewing experience. I have to admit, I experienced a real sense of uplifting *joy* when finally it was all over.I expect that, to the *insane* reviewers who actually enjoyed this film, the intervention of the town's "concerned citizens" at the end might be considered the heartless act of interfering busybodies. I only wish that people of a similar ilk had interfered with the making of this abominable waste of time. Fans of Forsyth: avoid like the *Black* Plague.