True Love
by Flick Chick Vique
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Evening earns 4 Red Vines for being a beautiful ode to romance |
Unrequited love. Ever since I was a girl, it always seemed like the most powerful
love on earth. To love someone forever, with no chance of ever uniting with him
seemed to be the stuff so many of my favorite romantic movies were made of.
To this day I cannot watch Splendor in the Grass without bawling my head off!
As an adult, I now know that there is an even deeper love and a stronger bond:
that of a mother for her child and a child for his/her mother. Evening is a sonnet
for both kinds of love and so much more.
The first thing you’ll fall in love with is the cast. My, oh my! Evening boasts a cross
continental cast of female acting icons! And it’s a special mother-daughter treat that
two of the legendary actresses are playing alongside their diva in training daughters!
Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) is dying. Daughters Nina (Toni Collette) and Constance
(Redgrave’s real life daughter, Natasha Richardson) keep a loving vigil by their
mother’s bed during her last days. As Ann’s mind begins to shut down, she
reminisces about the love that got away, Harris.
The movie alternates between the lives of the sisters and their mother’s care to
flashbacks of Ann’s life in full bloom during the 50’s. (You’re going to love the
fashions and fabulous cars!) Back then she was a bohemian New York City girl with
a desire to be a singer. She goes to Newport to be the Maid of Honor at her best
friend’s high society wedding. But the wedding is the least of what happens that
fateful weekend.
Claire Danes plays Vanessa Redgrave’s Ann, in her youthful chanteuse days. She
brings a natural, easygoing manner to the part and who knew she could sing so
well?! My first thought was, “Where has the time gone? She’s so grown up!”
Playing her best friend Lila is Mamie Gummer. Not much of a stage name but it’s
the real deal, as is she. For you see, she is Meryl Streep’s real-life daughter-just
with her dad’s last name! But she’s Meryl’s daughter through and through. As a
confused bride, she is fragile and determined. Towards the end of the film, the
senior Lila visits her friend on her deathbed. Playing the older Lila is none other
than Meryl herself! Needless to say, Ms. Streep makes the most of her precious
on screen time.
Glenn Close as Lila’s mother of the bride doesn’t have much more face time than
Meryl but she has the most dramatic moment of all the women. Her gut-wrenching
break down is the scene that will haunt most.
Of course men are the motivation for all the turmoil in the women’s lives but there’s
no question they play second fiddle in this veritable chick fest. Hugh Dancy
(Blood and Chocolate) is properly sympathetic as Lila’s wayward brother with a
secret. I didn’t really have a problem with Patrick Wilson’s (Running with Scissors,
Little Children) Harris but I think if the character isn’t written as this amazing man’s
man that anyone and everyone would instantly fall for, then he has to at least look
like that kind of guy. Wilson, while better looking than the average bear, didn’t wow
me in the looks department.
This movie is definitely a chick flick but not in the corny, trashy Hollywood sense
like that dreadful Because I Said So. You won’t find any comic relief in this poignant
romance. What you will find is breathtaking cinematography thanks to Gyula Pados
and gripping direction by Lajos Koltai. Think of them as a kind of Hungarian born
Merchant-Ivory team. I say that because that’s what Evening reminded me of.
Those beautiful, lush romantic dramas, rich in period detail and first-rate
performances, have always been the hallmark of a Merchant-Ivory film. I finer
compliment I cannot give to Evening.
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