If you've found yourself here from Facebook, you'll have noticed that the comment that accompanied this movie is "It's about time." This is because the movie falls into the "Movies from the 2 for $1 section at Family Video that Phil rented 8000 times and never watched" category. Seven, eight, nine years later, I finally got around to it. And no crappy VHS this time; online streaming from Netflix on a TV that is at least fifteen years old. So, victory to... me?
Griffiths and Watson give exquisite performances as sisters raised as musicians-- a flautist and cellist, respectively-- but it is Watson's Jacqueline duPré who eclipses her sister's talent and their lives diverge (though they remain as close as they were as children) somewhat expectedly: Griffith's Hilary chooses a husband and family and quiet, bucolic life, while Jackie tours, meets famous people, and eschews the sedentary life in favor of whirlwind tours, hotels, and fancy dress parties.
The film has a latent conflict that doesn't really expose itself until about halfway through: Jackie unexpectedly comes to visit Hilary and her husband and asks her if she can sleep with her husband. And while her behavior suggests that Jackie is not quite right in the head, we find out not too much later that it's actually a debilitating disease that is likely at least partially responsible for her oddish behavior. As Jackie descends, Hilary stagnates, and the two draw apart from one another as never before, until the satisfying, if heartbreaking conclusion.
Score: 8.5/10
Just wanted to leave a comment here: I've been reading and enjoying all your updates, even if I don't comment on all of them :) Keep it up, Phil. And I hope to join you for more movie-watching during break.
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