AS FEMALE casts go, you don’t get much better than this. Claire Danes, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha Richardson and Toni Collette – beat that lot if you can. Evening sees a dying woman, Ann Lord (Redgrave) look back on her life, particularly at a weekend when she attended the wedding of her best friend, rich American socialite Lila.
The young Ann (the excellent Danes) ends up falling for servant’s son Harris, the man whom Lila has secretly loved all her life but not the man she’ll be marrying. The issue is rather confused by Buddy, Lila’s drunken wannabe F Scott Fitzgerald brother, who holds a desperate torch for Ann but may also be gay. Still with me?
The film is beautifully shot and as well acted as you’d expect, with a real passing of time poignancy, particularly when Ann is visited on her death-bed by her old friend. What it lacks, though, is a script to really do the cast complete justice, as everything is played a little too safe. A good film, but still feels like a missed opportunity.
Rating: 3/5
Extras: 1/5
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