Traumatic History and the Prosthesis of Myth in Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives

This chapter examines Wyler’s first post-war film, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and argues that in it, he rehabilitates classical Hollywood cinema through the use “reborn realism.” It also reflects on how Wyler’s path to “reborn realism” relates to notions of cinematic modernism. This chapter reveals how Wyler’s double and even triple plot structure of multiple returning servicemen explores the thematic connections between work and marriage in post-war America, and, by removing the fantasy of idealized, fictional masculinity, Wyler also exposes the reality of damaged and vulnerable masculinity. Author: Carol Donelan