Few writers have understood the interaction between aging, love and regret like the French writer Colette. (She's already the subject of some great discussions at VibrantNation.com. Her novel, Chéri, described the love affair between an aging Parisian courtesan (Léa de Lonval) and the 18-year old son (the title's Chéri) of a long-time rival.

Miramax Films is about to release a big-budget film version of Chéri, full of rich roles for women over 50, included not as grandmothers or queens but as intelligent, passionate, self-made women struggling with the roles of love and sex in the second half of their lives.

Michelle Pfeiffer (now 51) plays Lea and Kathy Bates (who is a very vibrant 60) plays her wicked, sensual rival and the mother of the man-child Chéri. As the movie begins, both women are contemplating retirement from their long-time roles as courtesans-- self-made gold diggers who hoard cash, houses and jewelry bestowed over the years by their rich lovers. But Lea embarks on one last great affair, with her old rival's son.

While Michelle Pfeiffer looks too amazing to be considered a poster child for women over 50, she is in fact a woman over 50 and her willingness to play a role where she is ultimately seen as an aging caretaker takes some courage--on her part and Hollywood's. In a profound final scene, she tells Chéri, who is now 25 and married but returns to declare his love for her, "You found an old woman."

As written by Colette and adapted by screenwriter Christopher Hampton (he also wrote scripts for Dangerous Liaisons and Atonement), that line is rich in more ways than the shallow Chéri can recognize: Lea is old in years, but she is also old in her patient love for Chéri, her willingness to let him go, her awareness that time takes all earthly treasures away, and in the way she accepts that Chéri can never marry her...a fact with tragic consequences revealed in the film's last line.

VibrantNation.com had the chance to interview the filmmakers and Michelle Pfeiffer last week, and some of their comments revealed how they (and Hollywood) may be developing a new approach to older women:

Screenwriter Christopher Hampton told me: "I think it's a tough subject...for a woman turning 50...the subject of a woman turning 50." I had two reactions to this comment. First, that nothing could be less tough for an actress than playing what she is in real life. But second, that age may be the only characteristic that Hollywood does not allow actors to portray. The role of a 50-year old character might be played by a 70-year old or a 35-year old, but a 50-year old actress is putting herself on the line to be...just what she is.

When I asked the English director Stephen Frears (who most recently directed The Queen) what was different about Michelle Pfeiffer in Cheri from the actress he first worked with on Dangerous Liaisons (when Pfeiffer was barely 30), his answer disclosed his awareness that aging is about a lot more than age: "Well, everything is the answer. She couldn't have played a 50-year old woman. I can't reduce it to more than that. Women of that age have learnt much more than women of younger" ages.

And Michelle Pfeiffer added: "You almost become more of who you are the older that you get."

Based on what I know, Chéri is a film that Vibrant Women will enjoy and recommend to others. And that is the only way Hollywood will ever expand the roles and movies it makes for women over 50. more flash forward»