In Bill Forsyth‘s film “Housekeeping” (1987), following the suicide of their mother, two young sisters begin life anew, often discontentedly, with a friendly but eccentric aunt, Sylvie. The piece is thoughtful and never pretentiously directed or acted. I don’t know what Marilynn Robinson’s novel, the movie’s source, is actually about, but the film is about lives that are threadbare. This is a theme, and so is that of self-improvement which life of the young understandably demands. . . Forsyth said the movie is “a commercial to get people to read the novel.” A humble opinion. But despite its story not being consistently expert, “Housekeeping”‘s acting by Christine Lahti (Sylvie) and other thespians makes it rather more than such a commercial.