YMMV / Now, Voyager

• Adaptation Displacement: Adapted from one of a series of books by Olive Higgins Prouty. Now, Voyager is no doubt the best known of the series, though the film is far better known.
• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • A good chunk of viewers aren't sure whether Charlotte's decision to take Tina under her wing was at least partially motivated out of a desire to see Jerry again. Of course she did see a lot of herself in Tina long before she even met the girl, so it's left open. The end however states that she only wanted to help Tina and never intended to get Jerry - so it's unknown if she always felt that way or started out as the former before becoming this.
  • Jerry doesn't divorce his abusive wife Isabelle. Is it because he doesn't want to do her the dishonour of being a divorcee? Or is he afraid that he'll lose Tina and won't be able to help her if Isabelle has her fully under her control?
  • Charlotte's mother falls down the stairs after an argument with her daughter. Was that a deliberate fall as a way of punishing Charlotte for rebelling?
• Awesome Moments:
  • Charlotte managing to sass her mother after the latter nearly forces her to revert to the way she was before.
  Mrs Vale: Please remember you're a guest here, Charlotte.
  Charlotte: Well, if I am one, then please treat me like one, mother.
  • She's later given a taunt of financial abuse, with her mother threatening to stop her allowance. Charlotte happily says she has a good $5000 saved up and wouldn't mind trying to make it on her own.
  • At the end of the night, Charlotte manages to do the impossible and impress her mother against her will; by simply being herself (and indeed dressing in the glamorous way her mother tried to forbid) she manages to get Elliot Livingston interested in her. Her mother's controlling nature gives way to her ambition, and she actually starts being somewhat nicer to her daughter afterwards.
  • The epilogue reveals that Charlotte will be using her inheritance to expand Cascade and help provide mental health care for more people. She's also being put on the board of directors.
• Escapist Character: Although Charlotte is in rather a pitiful situation at the start of the film, she's already extremely wealthy and living in a Big Fancy House. A makeover makes her a glamorous beauty, and she has an Unlimited Wardrobe of beautiful evening gowns. She's able to get her abusive mother to back off while suffering no ill consequences, and is independent enough to break an engagement she doesn't want. On top of that, she gets a massive inheritance and becomes an Instant Expert at the field she chooses to go into.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: A chunk of the audience seem to prefer Dr Jaquith as a romantic partner for Charlotte, finding Jerry a little dull in comparison to the charming Jaquith. Bette Davis herself said that she imagined Charlotte marrying Dr Jaquith after the film ended, as Jerry was 'too weak' for Charlotte.
• Funny Moments:
  • June and Lisa seeing the new Charlotte bidding goodbye charismatically to about half the cruise ship passengers, dumbfounded that this is the same Maiden Aunt they used to make fun of.
  June: Mother, pinch me.
  Lisa: I'm too busy pinching myself.
  • The nurse Dora admitting she spiked Charlotte's mother's medicine with a little sherry to prevent her from giving Charlotte too much of a hard time after the dinner party.
  Charlotte: Dora, I suspect you're a treasure.
  • After Charlotte tells her mother she's broken her engagement to Elliot, she's asked what she expects to do with her life - and gets the following deadpan response.
  "Get a cat and a parrot, and live alone in single blessedness."
  • Charlotte has suddenly become Tina's primary carer without warning, when she came up to Cascade for treatment herself.
  Dr Jaquith: I thought you came up here to have a nervous breakdown.
  Charlotte: I've decided not to have one.
• Girl-Show Ghetto: The film has developed a reputation as the classic 'Women's Film' - for its Wish-Fulfillment plot involving a makeover and a cruise ship romance. It's often forgotten the powerful statements the film makes about mental illness outside of the Jerry/Charlotte romance.
• Harsher in Hindsight: It wouldn't be the last time that Bette Davis played a depressed spinster called Charlotte. And her situation would be considerably less uplifting the next time around.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Charlotte opening up to Jerry about having her illness and that she's just come out of a sanitorium. He doesn't judge at all, and asks if she feels better for having said it. Charlotte then thanks him for how nice he's been to her, and how it's the first time she's felt alive in years.
  • After Charlotte's "immune to happiness" statement, Jerry lists the ways she's made him happy and then sees he's moved her to tears. He cradles her in his arms as she lets loose with a tear jerking line that moves you.
  "You see, no one ever called me 'darling' before."
  • Really the whole character of Lisa, Charlotte's sister-in-law. While Charlotte may think she's had a Friendless Background, Lisa cares about her enough to bring Dr Jaquith from Vermont to Massachusetts to meet her. Lisa visits her in the sanitorium and arranges for her to go on a cruise - knowing Charlotte has never been able to enjoy a vacation before. When the boat gets back, Lisa and June are right there to meet her and see the new Charlotte. It's thanks to Lisa that Charlotte was able to find her way in life.
  • June originally was introduced as an Innocently Insensitive niece who makes fun of Charlotte in what she assumes is a playful way. When she sees the transformed Charlotte and spends time with her, it looks like they've become friends. June is right there to support her at her first dinner party home, complimenting her on the Little Black Dress Mrs Vale disapproved of.
  • There's also the implication that, although she and Jerry had to part before the cruise was over, Charlotte still enjoyed the rest of it and had a good time. The evidence is in the amount of well-wishers saying goodbye when the boat comes into port. According to one of them, Charlotte was the life of the party.
  • Although bittersweet, Elliot and Charlotte ending their engagement simply because they know there's no spark - and with no hurt feelings on either end. Charlotte even cheerfully says she probably won't get married, and Elliot seems accepting of that (rather than mocking her for being an Old Maid).
  • At the end sequence, Charlotte is preparing plans to open a new wing of Cascade - using her family's money to help others suffering from mental illness. Dr Jaquith can only stare at her in pride.
  Charlotte: What are you looking at, Dr Owl?
  Jaquith: I'm just wondering. Are you the same woman who a few months ago hadn't a single interest in the world?
  Charlotte: (smiling) No.
• Hollywood Pudgy: Charlotte, who is described as overweight, is portrayed by the svelte Bette Davis (albeit in an unflattering dress). There is mention of her losing lots of weight during her stay in the hospital, but that change is merely conveyed by swapping the unflattering dress for a fitting one. Bette Davis apparently wanted to be padded to look even heavier for the 'before' scenes, but the studio considered it too grotesque. This accounts for the numerous lines calling Charlotte's pre-makeover self fat.
• Iron Woobie: Charlotte once she's come home from her cruise faces her mother trying to suppress her into the way she was before and realising she can't be with the man she really loves. She just keeps pushing on and carves out a good life for herself.
• It Was His Sled: Charlotte and Jerry don't end up together. It doesn't help that the movie's most famous quote is affirming this.
• Love to Hate: Gladys Cooper's performance as Charlotte's abusive mother is seen as one of the most effective in film history.
• Narm: When Charlotte is showing Dr Jaquith her journal, she gets extremely dramatic - "oh you must...pry" - in a way that the scene doesn't call for.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Lee Patrick as Jerry's friend Deb, who only has one significant scene on the cruise, but is responsible for telling Charlotte the extent of Jerry's abuse at Isabelle's hands.
  • Mary Wickes is also brilliant as the nurse Dora, only appearing in about three scenes, but with a memorable Servile Snarker persona.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: For some, the extended subplot where Charlotte considers marrying Elliot. It bloats the film's running time, meaning that it takes longer to get to the more important sequence where Charlotte becomes Tina's carer. While it does provide some important character development for Charlotte - realising she doesn't have to marry someone she doesn't love - a lot of time is spent with an obvious Romantic False Lead.
• Signature Scene: Jerry and Charlotte lighting up cigarettes, Jerry lighting two at once, and making peace with the fact they can't be together. And then Charlotte saying "don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars."
• Tear Jerker:
  • Charlotte's life at the beginning of the film - she's a Vague Age from mid twenties to early thirties (Bette Davis was thirty-three) - and she's been under the thumb of a cruel mother who views her as little more than an employee to be ordered about. She had a chance at happiness once but her mother vetoed the marriage.
  • In contrast to how She Cleans Up Nicely is normally used as a positive trope, here the experience is shown to be very distressing and uncomfortable for Charlotte. Having believed herself to be ugly and fat most of her life, everyone staring at her makes her feel worse. Throughout the whole first few days, she seems almost convinced that the other passengers are making fun of her.
  • It's also a very sobering moment when Charlotte tells Jerry that she thinks she's "immune to happiness"; her mother saw to it for the first part of her life, and Jerry leaving to go back to his wife will only continue it.
  • The death of Charlotte's mother still ends up being this, as it sends the woman back into a downward spiral because she believes she killed her. A very sad and unfortunately realistic example of how abuse victims can still care for their tormentors.
• Unbuilt Trope:
  • One of the earliest examples of Beautiful All Along - Charlotte loses her glasses, plucks her eyebrows, styles her hair and wears fashionable clothes. It doesn't automatically improve her life and she's very uncomfortable looking glamorous. More emphasis is on her mental transformation rather than her physical.
  • Likewise the movie employs Good Adultery, Bad Adultery to justify Jerry and Charlotte's affair - Jerry's wife Isabelle is an abuser who manipulated him into marrying her. Yet the lovers still don't end up together, despite this.
• Unnecessary Makeover: Some feel that Tina looks much cuter with her hair down and glasses than when She Cleans Up Nicely for the party.
• Values Dissonance:
  • The biggest obstacle to Jerry and Charlotte being together is that he's already married - to an abusive woman he hates. Divorce was available in the 1940s but still seen as a shameful thing - and a big part of Jerry's character is that he employs Honor Before Reason. It wouldn't be until 1969 that "no fault divorce" - where couples could divorce if they weren't happy - was the legal standard and even then it would take until the end of the 70s before 'better to be divorced than to live in a loveless marriage' to become the common school of thought. It would also have gone without saying that Jerry wouldn't want to potentially traumatize the children with a divorce, which too remained the prevailing school of thought until the 70s.
  • The treatment towards Abusive Parents is subject to this. After her cruise and time at Cascade, Charlotte freely returns to living with the same abuser who caused her nervous breakdown in the first place. Likewise after she finishes her therapy, it's expected that Tina will return home too. Separating the victims from their abusers permanently is never mentioned as an option. The dissonance mentioned above ties into Jerry's decision to stay with Isabelle, despite what an abusive mother she is to Tina. She's also abusive to Jerry, and yet he says there's nothing he can do about his marriage, because she still depends on him. While certainly a realistic attitude an abuse victim might have towards their tomentor, the dissonance comes in when this plot point isn't resolved.
  • Jerry also kisses Charlotte while she's asleep during their night in South America. What was seen as a tender romantic moment in the 40s would nowadays be seen as a huge violation of her consent. You could hand wave it by saying Charlotte was only pretending to be asleep and knew what was happening.
  • Part of Charlotte's rebellion is smoking cigarettes in her room and hiding them from her mother. And once she's gone through her therapy, it's seen as empowering how often she smokes. Indeed, plenty of tender moments between her and Jerry involve them sharing cigarettes.
  • The opening shot of the Vale home focuses on the family name cast into the base of a Black "lawn jockey" statue, now recognized as a racist caricature.
• Values Resonance:
  • The film is very ahead of its time for depictions of mental illness in the 1940s. Charlotte's cruel mother believes it is all nonsense, and she's portrayed as ignorant and heartless for doing so. Charlotte is portrayed as a Woobie who just needs help, but still must make the effort to take control of her own life. A very telling lesson that's relevant today.
  • It's also pretty feminist for a film in the 1940s. Although Charlotte needs a man's help early on, she's able to take control of her life and improve her situation entirely on her own. And she is then able to do the same for another girl in a similar situation to her. The end implies that Charlotte will use her family's wealth to ensure that Cascade gets more funding and is able to help more people. Not to mention that Charlotte puts her own romantic feelings aside so she can continue to help a child in need.