evening

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Evening

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Roundtable interview with Claire Danes, Mamie Gummer, Natasha Richardson, Hugh Dancy,

On her deathbed, Ann Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) slips in and out of consciousness, often drifting away. Then, in a half-coherent voice, she mentions the name "Harris." The film takes a reminiscent turn back to a fateful night in the 1950s overlooking the blue sea and cliffs in the high-society resort of Newport. We meet a younger Ann (Clare Danes), a young, aspiring singer who is the maid of honor at the wedding of her closest colleague, Lila (Mamie Gummer, who happens to be Meryl Streep's daughter in real life). It doesn't take genius to figure out that Lila is having cold feet about her marriage. Since she was a kid, she was, in love with Harris (Patrick Wilson), the son of the family housekeeper.

Harris is now a doctor. Unfortunately, he is an inappropriate suitor for the high-born Lila. Meanwhile, her alcoholic brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy) introduces Ann to Harris. Soon she's smitten by the young doctor, with all kinds of sparks in the air. But her rendezvous with him is doomed from the beginning. Then suddenly the film jumps back to the present.

The elderly Ann is attended by a no-nonsense night nurse (Ellen Atkins) and two daughters: Constance (Natasha Richardson), married with children, and Nina (Toni Collette), single and bitter, pregnant with her current lover. The two are aware of their mother only through her three marriages and via her career disappointments as singer. They don't have a clue who Harris is or how important he is for their mother's life, particularly when they have their own issues to deal with.

"Evening" is based on the novel by Susan Minot, who also shares the co-screenwriter credit with Michael Cunninghum, author of "The Hours". They have a hard time understanding that adapting of this book as a film could involve taking away its good substance. Often, as the movie transpires across the dual time periods, it sinks into the pitfall of an unbalanced storyline that feels as if something has come up short. When you fashion a movie in such a way, it easily diverts our attention--and it doesn't really matter how well-examined the woman's life is.

Even though director Lajos Koltai shows a visual flare of picturesque Newport scenes, the film feels less like a memorable "Evening" and more like a long and dragged-out one.

Directed by Lajos Koltai
Written by Susan Minot and Michael Cunningham
Director of photography: Gyula Pados
Edited by Allyson C. Johnson
Music by Jan A. P. Kaczmarek
Production designer:Caroline Hanania
Produced by Jeffrey Sharp
Released by Focus Features.
Running time: 117 minutes.

Cast: Claire Danes (Ann Grant)
Toni Collette (Nina Mars)
Vanessa Redgrave (Ann Lord)
Patrick Wilson (Harris Arden)
Hugh Dancy (Buddy Wittenborn)
Natasha Richardson (Constance Haverford)
Mamie Gummer (Lila Wittenborn)
Eileen Atkins (Night Nurse)
Meryl Streep (Lila Ross),
and Glenn Close (Mrs. Wittenborn).