Sweet Nothing in My Ear

Fabulous film dealing with the problems of the deaf.

A family is almost destroyed by the conflicting parents of a deaf child. The father, who can hear, wants his son to have a cochlear implant and the mother, who is deaf, is against this.

Jeff Daniels is absolutely fantastic as the father. I have followed his career and am always amazed that this fine actor has been relegated to such miserable parts and films since playing Shirley MacLaine's ill-fated son-in-law in the memorable "Terms of Endearment."

Marlee Matlin is a terrific actress and she is in fine form as the mother.

We learn that deaf people have a culture of their own and we see how other children can be cruel to a deaf child.

Many of our deaf people wish to cling to this culture that they feel will be threatened by these implants.

This is definitely a mesmerizing film which is not to be missed.

We get nice close-ups of people's faces for minutes at a time. Every once in a while you can see a finger or hand flit by. For a film in which the standard mode of communication is American Sign Language, shouldn't you keep the signed conversation on-screen? Also, were the actors specifically directed to act deadpan? I have seen Marlee Matlin act very expressively before, so some other force must have been at work. During scenes of intense argument and emotion, even depicting a turning point for some of the characters, we have minutes of camera switches between characters' faces. No signing visible on screen. No facial expression to tell you who's angry, who's hurt, who's sympathetic, who cares.

Loved this movie about Deaf and Hearing in the family and the love that flowed throughout. Have watched it several times and have determined this to be one of my classic Hallmark movies, along with the 1985 movie, Love is Never Silent. The storyline was well thought out and the acting was great. In addition to the voicing and speaking, I am glad they also included the reality of using American Sign Language in this movie. I thought the voice overs for the deaf characters in the movie were very smooth with their tonality for age and inflections. You know a movie is good when it ends nicely and then you start wanting to expand it more. It was nice to see how the actors who played the maternal grandparents in this movie had gracefully aged from when they were younger in the movie, Love is Never Silent.". Loved it James Welch Henderson Arkansas. 5/8/21.

Not usually a fan of Hallmark movies, I decided to watch this one anyways and I fell in love from the get go. I felt that this movie was brilliantly written to include all point of views and it handled touchy matters perfectly.

A overall movie shows the struggle of a deaf mother and a hearing father struggling to decide if a cochlear implant is right for their child and while the mother is against it, the father is for it. They try and see each other's views but have a hard time doing so.

Afraid that this movie would offend some viewers who had some personal experiences similar to the movie, I felt relieved to see how they wrote these matters into the story. While it may make some people ponder and feel uncomfortable, it actually puts it all out on the table and forces the viewer to see all views. It hit the target perfectly. Having an implant myself and still using ASL as my first and primary language, I actually felt comfortable rooting for both sides and hoping they would come to a perfect solution.

I will have to say kudos to this well made movie and not to mention that the cast were brilliant as well. A very well done movie. I had to give it a ten star. Very good intro to those who have no idea about issues that can arise in the deaf community. Great job.

I found the following comment on a popular deaf message board run by Amy Cohen, "Deaf World As Eye See It, Bittersweet History of Sweet Nothing In My Ear" and couldn't agree more:

"The choice to voice-over the signing in the Hallmark Production reminded me of old Disney movies in which you would hear the interior monologue of what the pet dog was thinking. Really, what a poor choice on so many levels. Aside from the insult to the Deaf Community, it just didn't work dramatically at all. It was laughable and it made deaf people feel like lesser people. Wow."

What a shame. 20 years ago CBS, the same network, subtitled an episode of "Beauty and the Beast" which starred Terrylene, a deaf actress, along with nine other deaf actors. It worked wonderfully and received a lot of attention and respect for doing so. How far have we regressed since then? How did the deaf who were involved in this production allow this to happen?

The whole point of the movie is lost when the remarkable beauty of sign language, which arises out of its SILENT- VISUALITY is shamefully undercut by SOUND-VOICES and camera frames that chop off the hands. How much longer will the ignorance continue?