From NetFlix:
With daughters Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) by her bedside, terminally ill matriarch Ann Grant (Vanessa Redgrave) recounts a passionate romance that took place 50 years in the past yet defined the rest of her life. Claire Danes stars as a younger Ann, and Patrick Wilson portrays her lover. This adaptation of Susan Minot’s best-seller also features the megawatt talents of Meryl Streep and Glenn Close.
For all the big name stars (and their real-life children) in this film, the acceptably interesting story could have been told a lot better. Wife Kathy and neighbor Bev (a MovieFan) called a halt to watching it about a quarter of the way through. On my own I slogged through the rest just to see how it all ended. You have better things to do with your time than to watch this slow boat to old age.
I respectfully disagree with almost eveything you say.
“. . . the . . .story could have been told a lot better.” But–you don’t tell us how!!
I saw this movie on the “big screen” when it came out. I surely did not find it boring. Did people stop watching 1/4 of the way through due to boredom–or due to the clear indication that there would be no happy ending?
Having sat for various periods of time with two friends–one my best–as their cancer odysseys neared and then reached their end–one 43 years old, the other 52–I cannot say that there was one boring moment. I thought Vanessa Redgrave did a masterful piece of acting–the dying woman whose only possible recourse to get through her ordeal was to think of a far happier past–and perhaps embellish it a good deal. I thought she was wonderful.
This was not an “action” movie. This movie portrayed what a lot of us live through–with loved ones and others–and more intimately, what the dying woman might be thinking about. What else is she to do in those awful dying days and weeks? That the romance of many years ago was perhaps not just as we hear of it doesn’t matter–it’s what it meant–and now means– to the dying patient. As I said, if she has embellished it in her mind to get her through the basically terrifying days, so be it.
Meryl Streep’s role is minor–the former friend who comes rushing to visit her once dear friend before she dies. I’m sorry I don’t emember Glenn Closes’s role.
I remember clearly, however, being fascinated by the movie. Perhaps as a cancer survivor, I put myself in Vanessa’s (Ann’s) place — if I hadn’t been so fortunate. The two daughters are interesting character studies–so very different from one another, yet with the same mother.