Moviola > Films > Evening

Evening (12A)   115 mins

"Her greatest secret was her greatest gift"

Some of the greatest actresses of our time - including Vanessa Redgrave, Meryl Streep, Eileen Atkins, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Natasha Richardson and Glenn Close - come together in this passionate and heartwarming adaptation of Susan Minot's novel. As Ann (Redgrave) lies on her deathbed, drifting in and out of lucidity, her memory keeps returning to a beautiful and life-changing weekend fifty years earlier with the great love of her life.  Meanwhile her daughters (Collette and Richardson) come to their own understanding about the power of the past and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters, family, and the loves of their lives.   "Your first mistake is like your first kiss," muses Ann.  "You never forget it."  Evening is a story about mistakes. Mistakes in life; mistakes in love. There are mismatches and weddings to the wrong man. There's unrequited love, falling in love with the notion of love and being unsure of one's feelings. But mistakes are part of the fun, Ann's pianist tells her, when as a young girl (played by Claire Danes), she rehearses the song she will sing at her best friend's wedding. 

The cast includes two sets of real-life mothers and daughters: Natasha Richardson plays Vanessa Redgrave's daughter, while Meryl Streep and her daughter Mamie Gummer play the same character at different ages.
 
"Evening is an example of a well-told familiar story. There are no surprises during the course of the film, which transpires across two time frames (1954 and 1998), but the strength of the screenplay and acting provide a satisfying, although not overwhelming, two hours of romance, drama, and tragedy."  James Berardinelli

"Redgrave, in fine, acerbic form, plays the elderly Ann, and her raw, intensely vulnerable performance is a perfect counterpoint to the intelligence and youthful swagger Danes brings to her role. . . The film is clear-eyed without being clinical, reflective but never maudlin."  Chicago Tribune

www.focusfeatures.com/evening

Showing:

22-Jan        Ferndown  CANCELLED

14-Feb       Kings Somborne

23-Feb       Goodworth Clatford

18-Apr       Monxton

Last modified: 01-Feb-2008

Send mail to info@moviola.org to comment on the website or find out more about Moviola.