Evening Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Her greatest secret was her greatest gift.
The love which binds mother and daughter — seen through the prism of one mother's life as it crests with optimism, navigates a turning point, and ebbs to its close. Overcome by the power of memory, Ann Lord reveals a long-held secret to her concerned daughters; Constance, a content wife and mother, and Nina, a restless single woman. Both are bedside when Ann calls out for the man she loved more than any other. But who is this "Harris," wonder her daughters, and what is he to our mother? While Constance and Nina try to take stock of Ann's life and their own lives, their mother is tended to by a night nurse as she journeys in her mind back to a summer weekend some fifty years before, when she was Ann Grant, a young woman who has come from New York City to be maid of honor at the high-society Newport wedding of her dearest friend from college, Lila Wittenborn. The bride-to-be is jittery, and turns to her maid of honor rather than her own mother for support. Ann stays close to her friend, yet is even closer to Lila's irrepressible brother Buddy. Unexpected feelings surge forth once Ann meets wedding guest Harris Arden, a lifelong friend and intimate of the Wittenborn family. Ann's love for Harris will change her life, and those of her daughters, forever.
| Claire Danes | Young Ann |
| Toni Collette | Nina |
| Vanessa Redgrave | Ann Grant Lord |
| Patrick Wilson | Harris Arden |
| Hugh Dancy | Buddy Wittenborn |
| Natasha Richardson | Constance Lord |
| Mamie Gummer | Young Lila Wittenborn |
| Eileen Atkins | Mrs. Brown |
| Meryl Streep | Lila Wittenborn |
| Glenn Close | Mrs. Wittenborn |
| Jason Anthony | The Plunge Group |
| Barry Bostwick | |
| David Call | Pip |
| Blaise Corrigan | Hit and run driver |
| John Currie | Ring Bearer |
| Lajos Koltai |
6.70 out of 10 (2440 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Wonderful!
posted on 16 Aug 2009I thought the movie was excellent! Very well done. Amazing cast! Someone commented that Vanessa Redgrave spends the majority of the movie in bed... well... she is sick. If you have heard anything about the movie, you would know that. I thought her performance was awesome. It is from the same author of "The Hours" so if you have seen that, you should expect this NOT be your typical love story. I laughed, I cried, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hugh Dancy did a superb job with his character. Clair Danes, Toni Collette, Natasha Richardson, and Patrick Wilson all gave awesome performances! I would recommend this movie to anyone, it is an original story and just lovely.
BOOOoooorrring...walked out
posted on 14 Aug 2009very boring. had to walk out and i waited until close to the end when claires daughter tells her boyfriend she is pregnant. OK so i only went to this movie to see claire danes. so beautiful. am an old "my so called life fan." and why does beautiful claire danes look so ugly and different as an old woman. yet Lila looks the same. why did they do that to claire? so unrealistic. and why does old claire look more healthy than the night nurse? not believable. and why does harris not look nor act all that great yet they claim he is so handsome that everyone was in love with him. and why does he not look like the same person at all when claire sees him years later in the rain? and why/how would beautiful claire have such an ugly daughter? the one who needs braces. and i didn't like the closes ups in bed when the woman's faces looked so ugly, several scenes of this with different people. did not help me feel closer nor depth of moment, only distracted at the extreme ugliness. and i was not sitting in front of the theater, was near the back. OK its so, boring, pointless. really
Breathtaking views and Breathtaking performances
posted on 30 Jul 2009Saw this Saturday night at the Provincetown Film Festival, and it's a stick-to-your-bones movie -- it's really stayed with me. Adapted very smartly from what is probably an excellent novel, it's a back-and-forth-in-time drama with fully rounded characters, thoughtful rumination on life choices, and, I'm not exaggerating. one of the greatest casts ever assembled in 100+ years of movie-making. Wonderful work from everyone, led by a luminous Vanessa Redgrave as a dying, deluded Newport matron, and Claire Danes as her much younger self. Meryl Streep's daughter Mamie Gummer is, like Mama, the real deal; Patrick Wilson looks like Paul Newman circa 1958 and doesn't overplay the charm; and what a pleasure to see such excellent stage actors as Barry Bostwick and Eileen Atkins contributing sharp, detailed cameos. Hugh Dancy, also from the stage, doesn't bring much edge to the somewhat clichéd role of an unhappy rich wastrel, and the family issues are resolved perhaps more neatly than real life would allow. But it's a deliberately paced, visually gorgeous meditation on real life issues, and you can cry at it and not feel like you're being recklessly manipulated. Also, what a sumptuous parade of 1940s/50s automobiles.
Some redeeming value, but would not watch again.
posted on 24 Jul 2009Things to like about this movie:
Vanessa Redgrave. Toni Collette.
The house in Newport. The 50's wardrobe.
The scene about "the note." Poor Buddy. (Stop drinking!)
Things not to like about this movie:
The poorly developed love story between Ann and Harris.
The poorly developed character of Harris.
Not enough Meryl Streep.
Natasha Richardson's teeth were distracting (Get those veneers reworked girl!)
Having to listen to Claire Danes sing.
Glenn Close was scary. (I'm sorry to say that.)
Finally, I have to say that I REALLY wanted to like this movie. But, I didn't quite like it as much as I thought I would. Too bad, with the wonderful cast and setting they had to work with.
Moving
posted on 18 Jul 2009This story goes back and forth in time--through dreamlike memories of a dying woman--as she tries to piece together an important chapter of her life. Claire Danes plays the young "Ann" during a weekend in 1953 when she is the Maid of Honor at her best friend's wedding. There she meets a man, Harris, with whom she unexpectedly falls in love. Their moments together--what ultimately only seem like moments in a very long life--are romantic and memorable, and they forever have stars in the sky to remind them of one another after they travel separate paths through adulthood. For the aged Ann (played by Vanessa Redgrave), Harris was the one that got away.
Ann's adult daughters, (Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson) keeping vigil at her deathbed, clearly love their mother and were clearly loved by her. The daughters each face their own (relatively mundane) struggles, but struggles nonetheless, and want very much for their mother to provide the answers and continue to show them the way toward fulfillment.
This is a beautiful movie, and I recommend especially for mothers, daughters, sisters and best friends. I loved it.
Don't expect the book
posted on 13 Jul 2009Since starting to read the book this movie is based on, I'm having mixed feelings about the filmed result. I learned some time ago to see the movie adaptation of a book before I read the book, because I found that if I read the book first I was inevitably disappointed in the film. This would undoubtedly have been true here, whereas in the case of Atonement, which is probably the best filmed adaptation of a book I've ever seen, it would probably not have mattered.I'm trying to figure out what the cause is, and I suspect that I have to point my finger squarely at Michael Cunningham. Much as I respect him for The Hours (which I have not read but which I saw and was awed by) I cannot escape the feeling that he not so much adapted Susan Minton's book as he did take a few of the characters and the basic premise and write his own movie out of it.It's not that I dislike the movie. I actually love the movie, which is why, since I started reading the novel, I'm feeling disturbed about the whole thing. I feel disloyal to Ms. Minton for enjoying the movie which was so thooughly a departure from her work. Reading it, I can understand why she had such a struggle adapting it. Unlike what one reviewer of the movie said, it's not so much that some novels don't deserve to be a movie; it's more like some books just can't make the transition. Ms. Minton's novel operates on a level so personal and intimate to her central character, so internally, that it seems impossible to me to place it in a physical realm. Even though a lot of the book is memory of real events, it is memory, and so fragmented and ethereal as to be, I feel, not filmable. I think that Ms. Minton's work is a real work of literature, but cannot make the transition to film, which in no way detracts from its value.I cannot yet report that Evening, the film, does not represent Evening, the novel, in any more than the most superficial way, since I'm only halfway through, but the original would have to make a tremendous leap to resemble the film that follows at this point. I guess I'm writing this because I feel that if you're going to adapt a novel, adapt it, but don't make it something else that it's not. I'm not sure if Michael Cunningham has done anything wholly original, but from what I can see so far the things he has done are all based on someone else's work. We would not have The Hours if Virginia Woolf had not written Mrs. Dalloway, and we would not have Evening, in its distressed form, if Susan Minton had not had so much trouble doing what probably should not have been attempted in the first place. But it's too much to say that it would be better if Ms. Minton had left well enough alone, because Evening, the film, is a satisfactory and beautiful work of its own.Thus my confusion, mixed feelings, sense of disloyalty, and ultimate conclusion that, in this case, the novel cannot be the film and vice versa, and my eventual gratitude to both writers for doing what they did, so that we have both works as they are.
Cast great.....plot confusing and slow
posted on 13 Jul 2009I hadn't heard critics' reviews before I went, so I had high hopes, based on the trailer and cast. I kept waiting for it to get more interesting, but was disappointed. The cast, Claire Danes in particular, were very good.*Spoiler* It might have been me, but I thought throughout half of the film that Ann and Buddy were together. I also thought it was strange that she was so open with kissing Harris after she found out that her best friend loved him. Especially the morning after the wedding when they returned in the same clothes.In addition, some of the scenes were confusing...like the butterfly in the house and her leaving. I also thought the night nurse going back and forth between the "angel" character and the nurse was confusing. I didn't like how it ended either.Overall, I loved the cast, loved the concept, but I wish the plot would have been a little better. Two couples actually got up and left in the middle of the film at different times, one young and one old.There's my two cents for what it's worth!
Wake of the living dead
posted on 09 Jul 2009The story itself is somewhat common to a lot of other movies: the family gets together when an older member is about to die and thus learns of hidden history and meaningful experiences. This particular movie had something special because it actually focused on the dying relative rather than on the family gathered around. Said family was no more than two daughters.This film is not the greatest ever, but the acting was top notch. What I especially appreciated was the performance of Vanessa Redgrave, one particular scene, the one when she hallucinates that the love of her life is somewhere in the background smiling at her, was the highlight of the entire movie.Other than that all the actors played really well and if the soundtrack wasn't so terribly melodramatic (pun intended) I would have probably graded the film with a 9.
'Evening' Shines
posted on 09 Jul 2009Halfway through Lajos Koltai's "Evening," a woman on her deathbed asks a figure appearing in her hallucination: "Can you tell me where my life went?" The line could be embarrassingly theatrical, but the woman speaking it is Vanessa Redgrave, delivering it with utter simplicity, and the question tears your heart out.Time and again, the film based on Susan Minot's novel skirts sentimentality and ordinariness, it holds attention, offers admirable performances, and engenders emotional involvement as few recent movies have. With only six months of the year gone, there are now two memorable, meaningful, worthwhile films in theaters, the other, of course, being Sara Polley's "Away from Her." Hollywood might have turned "Evening" into a slick celebrity vehicle with its two pairs of real-life mothers and daughters - Vanessa Redgrave and Natasha Richardson, and Meryl Streep and Mamie Gummer. Richardson is Redgrave's daughter in the film (with a sister played by Tony Collette), and Gummer plays Streep's younger self, while Redgrave's youthful incarnation is Claire Danes.Add Glenn Close, Eileen Atkins, Hugh Dancy, Patrick Wilson, and a large cast - yes, it could have turned into a multiple star platform. Instead, Koltai - the brilliant Hungarian cinematographer of "Mephisto," and director of "Fateless" - created a subtle ensemble work with a "Continental feel," the story taking place in a high-society Newport environment, in the days leading up to a wedding that is fraught with trouble.Missed connections, wrong choices, and dutiful compliance with social and family pressures present quite a soap opera, but the quality of the writing, Koltai's direction, and selfless acting raise "Evening" way above that level, into the the rarified air of English, French (and a few American) family sagas from a century before its contemporary setting.Complex relationships between mothers and daughters, between friends and lovers, with the addition of a difficult triangle all come across clearly, understandably, captivatingly. Individual tunes are woven into a symphony.And yet, with the all the foregoing emphasis on ensemble and selfless performances, the stars of "Evening" still shine through, Redgrave, Richardson, Gummer (an exciting new discovery, looking vaguely like her mother, but a very different actress), Danes carrying most of the load - until Streep shows up in the final moments and, of course, steals the show. Dancy and Wilson are well worth the price of admission too.As with "Away from Her," "Evening" stays with you at length, inviting a re-thinking its story and characters, and re-experiencing the emotions it raises. At two hours, the film runs a bit long, but the way it stays with you thereafter is welcome among the many movies that go cold long before your popcorn.
Expectations
posted on 25 Jun 2009It just didn't hit it for me. I was expecting so much, what with some of the greatest actresses of our time. It didn't fulfill my expectations. Glenn Close and Meryl Streep were my two favorites, but I wished they had bigger roles. I never really knew what it was about, seeing as the previews just showed little tiny glimpses. Vanessa Redgrave was all right as Ann, but I think that Claire Danes was not good in the least. She just wasn't quite right for me. Young Lila was good enough for me, and she bore a striking (and I mean STRIKING) resemblance to Meryl Streep. I just think that the movie holds itself in too high of esteem. I know, it would be very intimidating to act alongside with Meryl, Vanessa, and Glenn. Eileen Atkins parts where she was wearing the dress just made no sense to me. I just didn't like it. It slightly ruins Michael Cunningham's reputation for me. I think that he should stick to writing novels, seeing as 'The Hours' was so amazing and Pullitzer-Prize winning. Screen writing doesn't suit everyone in the world, he is no exception. The material is overdone. I found myself laughing at inappropriate spots. I was confused as to who Hugh Dancy's character was: was he young Ann's lover, or just friend. (Now, Hugh gave the best and most believable performance. Oscar worthy, in my opinion.) The character of Harris, played terribly by what's-his-name, was tired and done before. For such strong and intense love between Ann and Harris, I felt it was very rushed. They met once, kissed, and then shared the 'greatest love in all of eternity'. Just didn't click. It seemed like someone threw up a love story. Want to see a good love story, then watch 'The Notebook'. The flashbacks in that film work. The loves aren't rushed. In 'Evening', it just seems so pretentious. If you want to see good performances from Meryl, Claire, Eileen Atkins, Toni Collette(who was no good in this movie),and good plots, watch 'The Hours'.
Mistakes, regrets, and forgiveness
posted on 24 Jun 2009Vanessa Redgrave plays the part of Ann who lays dying while being cared for by her two daughters. Regrets from her past begin to haunt Ann and she shares bits and pieces of a weekend that changed her life forever. Flashbacks show Ann as a young girl who is at her friend Lila's wedding where she meeets a man named Harris. Another major character is Buddy (played wonderfully by Hugh Darcy) who is Lila's brother and Ann's friend.
Gradually their story unfolds and Ann relives the interactions of the wedding weekend which impact her for a lifetime. The character of Lila is played by Mamie Gummer as a young girl, and later as her real-life mother Meryl Streep when she comes to tell her dying friend, Ann, goodbye. Vanessa Redgrave's real-life daughter also plays her daughter Constance in the movie. This is a beautiful film of complex relationships which will be enjoyed by some and reviled by others. It is one which I will long remember.
Finally, a thoughtful movie that leaves you with hope...
posted on 19 Jun 2009"We are mysterious creatures, aren't we? And in the end, so much of it doesn't even matter." So says Meryl Streep in Evening, easily one of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking movies I've ever seen. That doesn't mean it's the best... but it does mean it's good.It's the story of Ann Grant, a dying old woman who continues to mutter random sayings that her confused and stressed daughters can't make anything of. But in Ann's mind, she is remembering back to the evening that defined her years and years ago. Meanwhile, her daughters must learn the lesson that their mother never did before it's too late.The acting is all fantastic, but really how could you go wrong with this cast. Toni Collette does a wonderful job as the confused daughter of Ann who has to watch her mother die before her eyes... while something equally dramatic is taking place inside her. Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep and Eileen Atkins are all wonderful, as usual. The only real disappointment of this film was the small size of Glenn Close's role. She easily has the smallest role in the film, a tragedy since she is one of the greatest actresses alive. However, she still has one of the most affecting scenes in the film, a tribute to her amazing ability. Natasha Richardson is also likable, as always.The best acting in the film, though, easily goes to up-and-coming star Hugh Dancy. He was phenomenal and every second he was on screen was brilliance. Mr. Dancy portrayed the angst and emotion of his character (the best character in the movie) unlike anything I've ever seen before. He out-acted all of the amazing women surrounding him, and that is truly a feat. I'm rooting for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for him for this role.In the end, Evening is about life and the way we choose to live it. The film's cleverness is derived from the way it defies all of our expectations. The characters are not at all who they seem to be at first glance, and by the end you've realized quite a few things about both them and yourself. The film is rather slow in some parts, and that is a downside. However, it never distorts the message, which is clear: Live your life. Don't spend your life worrying and stressing- just go with it. It's a timely message, indeed. 7/10 stars! Jay Addison
Atmospheric, wonderful film, ensemble cast
posted on 18 Jun 2009I read the bad reviews, but I own this HD DVD, because I love the actresses in it. Once I watched it, I knew it would be a "rewatch". I am a fan of "Oscar" films, and love to sink my teeth into a good story. While this one does not qualify as an award winner, the generational storyline, music and solid storyline compliment the exceptional cast, without a doubt. I love the music and flashbacks. It feels like the Hours, Fried Green Tomatoes etc, although not quite as good. Redgrave, Collette, Streep, Close and Danes give fantastic performances. Even if the story lacks in parts, their performances are worth a look, if you're a fan of this genre.
An interesting Evening
posted on 15 Jun 2009I had hope for this film. I pictured a classic that I could watch over and over again, but sadly it wont be like that. This is really two films. The present scene is the best and the flashback could have made it on it's own. Really, the only things to stand out is: The acting (With Redgrave giving the best performance), the cinematography and the music.Present: Redgrave triumphs with a role that offered nothing much. She gives several tender moments that are worth an Oscar. Richardson, who has been denied better roles and awards for far too long, was great as Ann's daughter (As was Toni Collette). Atkins did a fine job, but with the limits she had she did the best that could have possibly been done. Meryl Streep shows up, gives a good performance, and leaves as quickly as she came. The writing is best here.Flashback: Danes gets one good scene in towards the end while she's singing with her children. Other than that, she skips through the picture saying the same things over and over again. Dancy was good, but too many useless scenes and bad lines hurt him badly. Close, who I've never been much of a fan of, gave a good performance as Dancy and Gummer's mother. Her greatest scene is when she's saying nothing at the dinner party. Gummer was wonderful. Wilson did okay. The writing in this half was just bad. The actors were given "timely" lines that didn't seem right coming from most of their mouths. Take, for example, the scene where the group of friends discover a body. One girl looks at it and says "There's blood all over!" The way it was delivered made it sound as if we were watching Hamlet since that's the tone she used.The most tender moment in the film doesn't come from the young lovers, but from Redgrave, who imagines she sees Wilson in the hallway and gives a look that's beyond explanation. A must see for the performances (especially Redgrave's), cinematography and music. These three things should be on the ballot come Oscar time.
Stellar Cast Clouds Our Preconceptions of "Evening"
posted on 12 Jun 2009"Evening" is a chick flick. Let's get that out of the way right away. You will be hard pressed to find any straight guys gathering together to see "Evening" at the local multiplex. The only straight guys that will be in then theater for this film are the husbands, friends and boyfriends of the women who want to see this movie.
But I think the term `chick flick' doesn't even begin to paint the whole picture. "Evening" is a beautifully photographed, well-written film starring some of the best actresses of a couple of generations. Anyone who appreciates well-made films should seek this out, whether they are female, male, straight or otherwise. But I have a feeling that no matter how much I try to convince you otherwise, if you are intent on seeing "Die Hard 4", you probably aren't interested in also watching "Evening". Right? Or am I the only freak out there? (See my review of "Live Free or Die Hard" to discover how much of a freak I am).
Ann (Claire Danes) arrives at the Providence estate of her best friend, Lila (Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep's daughter); to serve as Maid of Honor for her friend's wedding. Flash forward fifty years and Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) is on her death bed and telling confusing stories of that weekend fifty years before, confusing her grown daughters, Constance (Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave's daughter) and Nina (Toni Collette). As the daughters try to help their mother rest peacefully, they try to come to terms with their own relationships, both with their mother and with each other. The night nurse (Eileen Atkins) helps Ann deal with the pain, but also serves as a sort of guide to the magical, fateful events so many summers ago. As soon as Ann arrives for the wedding, Buddy (Hugh Dancy), Lila's alcoholic brother, asks Ann to help him stop the wedding. Lila doesn't love her fiancée and should really marry Harris (Patrick Wilson), the son of a former housekeeper. But Lila realizes she must go through with the marriage because her mother (Glenn Close) would have a fit. As Ann and Harris get to know each other, they begin to fall in love, much to both Buddy and Lila's dismay. Many years later, Lila (Meryl Streep) visits Ann on her death bed to provide her with some comfort before her friend passes away.
"Evening", directed by Lajos Koltai (a cinematographer who has worked on many, many Hollywood films) and written by Michael Cunningham ("The Hours") and Susan Minot, based on her novel of the same name, is a well-made film exploring the `mistakes' a couple of women make and how these mistakes effect the rest of their lives.
The multigenerational story is told through a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards. Beginning with Redgrave, as Ann, on her deathbed, we see some of her memories and this seems to be the binding thread to the narrative. As Ann floats in and out of consciousness, she remembers various snippets of this big moment in her life. After this rhythm is established, we realize we are going to watch various moments, told in a pretty free flowing pattern. Yet, the moments from the past are told in chronological order and seem complete, so it is less confusing than it may seem from my description. But these moments are highlights of this event, and some of the connecting bits are left out, some of the less important moments which seem lost to Redgrave's character's memory.
Basically, the story tells of two different events in these character's lives. Lila's wedding was a big event for everyone involved. One woman marries a man she doesn't love, one woman falls in love with another man and an event causes them to remain apart. There is a lot more at work in this story, but this is the gist of it. In the modern day story, Ann's pain medicine causes her to fall in and out of consciousness. In these moments, she talks with her night nurse (Atkins), who at times is a nurse and at others, seems to be a sort of guide into the other world, helping her keep her thoughts and memories as clear as possible. In these moments, her ramblings also cause her daughters (Richardson and Collette) to ask questions about their mother and about their own lives and to make some decisions.
The story is multilayered and shifts back and forth, seemingly at whim, but it is very easy to follow.
The cast for this film is fantastic. Many of the best actresses of three generations are apart of this film, along with two up and coming actors. I know the film is getting some negative reviews and I think perhaps they are letting their expectations get ahead of them. Any film with this cast has to be good, and I think the expectations for this film are high, maybe too high. "Evening" is a very good film. But with a cast like this, many clearly expect it to be a great film. It isn't a great film.
Claire Danes is very good as Ann. As soon as she arrives at the estate of her friend, we get that she is a `free spirit'. She is wearing clothes she found at some shop in the `village'. Naturally, Lila's rich friends assume Anne is talking about a village in Africa or something, but Anne is from New York and is talking about Greenwich Village. More to her credit, she doesn't really care what they think about her, or her clothes. She is there to support her friend, Lila, and her brother, Buddy (Dancy).
Ann quickly suspects something is wrong; Buddy pleads with her to stop the wedding and Ann finds Lila crying on more than one occasion. She quickly learns Harris (Wilson) is the problem. Lila is in love with him, whether she will admit it or not, and as he is the son of a former housekeeper, she can't marry him. Buddy is also a raging alcoholic and everyone tries to control it, taking away his champagne bottles, but Buddy is a grown boy and manages to get through the barriers his family and friends set-up. As Ann gets to know Harris, they become attracted to one another, and Lila and Buddy realize this, setting off a chain of events that will all but guarantee Ann and Harris never get together.
Throughout, Danes portrays Ann as a free spirit, yet a caring young woman. Sure, she makes mistakes, but she recognizes when there is a problem and tries to correct it. But these events seem to stamp the rest of her life. We see brief glimpses of a couple of moments later in her life and they don't seem to be especially happy.
But then, as we watch Ann, as played by Redgrave, we get the sense despite some occasional unhappy moments, she is, overall, very pleased with her life. Redgrave is such an accomplished actress that she can make even a character who is laying in bed for the entire film seem real and interesting and, in a way, lively. Ann is on pain killers so she has lucid moments when she seems more lively and involved in the lives of her daughters and the memories she is living through. When the pain killers take over, she has moments that are more dreamlike; her night nurse appears in a beautiful dress straight out of the 50s. It is a great performance and really helps to make Ann seem more real and more human.
Mamie Gummer, Meryl Streep's daughter, plays Lila in the 50s. It is actually a bit freakish to watch her because she is the spitting image of her mother and even sounds just like her. Her role is a bit difficult to identify with, she is marrying the `right type of man' rather than the man she really loves. I think this is a difficult concept for us to understand as this is, hopefully, not something that is really practiced these days. Because she seems so upset about getting married to this man, we don't really understand why she doesn't just marry Harris. Then, later, when Meryl Streep takes over the role, Streep makes Lila come alive. Streep has one extended scene in the film, but it is a memorable one. As she talks with her old friend, lying together with her in bed, we finally start to see some of the thinking behind this decision made so many years ago.
Toni Collette plays Ann's younger daughter, and the daughter with the most problems. Throughout the film, she has to come to terms with her relationship with her mother, her older sister (Richardson) and her boyfriend. As her mom's story begins to come into focus, and she realizes her mom did love them, and care for them, she makes some decisions which seem as though they will change her life for the better.
Strangely, the two daughters of other actresses in the film come off the weakest. Gummer is good, but it isn't until her mom takes over the role that we really begin to connect with it. And Richardson seems merely bitter or pissed off throughout.
Glenn Close plays Lila's mother, a wealthy woman who probably also married for the wrong reasons. In her few scenes, her character is interesting, but the role is too small to allow her to do anything monumental with it.
Patrick Wilson, who made a splash as the stay at home dad in last year's "Little Children" plays Harris, the man torn between at least three different people. He is good as the son of a former housekeeper who now finds himself invited into this world, he seems to regard this environment with a healthy disdain. When Harris and Ann start to let their mutual attraction guide them, I became more involved in their characters.
Hugh Dancy plays Buddy, the happy drunk who is trying to save his sister from a lifetime of misery. The role is very over the top and seems more than a little cartoony; sure, people act like this, but it is very difficult to make this type of character work. Unfortunately, because the character doesn't seem all that real when he becomes the lynchpin of the entire story, it falls a little flat.
For a long time during the film, I appreciated the performances, but it wasn't until a scene between Wilson and Danes that I started to become emotionally affected by the characters. This scene happens quite late, so it takes a while to become fully involved in the story.
"Evening" is a beautiful film to watch and it is a very good film, but I think many people will expect the film to be great, based on the pedigree of the writer and the actresses involved.
If only....
posted on 31 Aug 2009You should see this film if you have ever said, "If only I had done...." You should see this film if you have ever thought, "If only they would write better roles for women." You should see this film if only to see the wonderful scene between the elderly Lila and the dying Ann. And finally, you should see this film if only to watch the great Vanessa Redgrave. She can out act most people, even with her eyes closed, which they are for most of this movie. Even her face in repose, as she sleeps and dreams, is full of expression.