Hilary & Jackie
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.83 You Save: $9.15 (61%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.83 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Hilary & Jackie
Movie Review: AS CLOSE AS TWO SISTERS CAN BE...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an outstanding film with bravura performances by all the actors and actresses who grace it. Emily Watson is dazzling as world renowned cellist, Jacqueline Du Pre, and Rachel Griffiths gives a heartwarming portrayal of Hilary, the more grounded Du Pre sister. British director Anand Tucker does a masterful job of capturing and exploring the often complex and symbiotic relationship between these two sisters, one of whom reaches heights in the music world of which most may only dream.
Most of the film is bifurcated in that it is told from the perspective of each of the sisters, with the same scenarios being viewed through the eyes of one sister at any given time. The film opens with a scene of the young sisters playing on the beach, with an enigmatic adult figure on the shore whom the younger of the sisters, Jackie, approaches. They speak, but what transpires between the young Jackie and this solitary figure is only made manifest at the conclusion of the film.
The viewer is then thrust into the Du Pre household, where it is clear that their lives revolve around music, with Jackie playing the cello and Hilary the flute. A pivotal moment in the film occurs when Hilary is invited to participate in a televised children's concert, and Jackie is not. Jackie is told by their mother that if she wishes to get such an invitation that she must play better.
This is an edict that Jackie takes to heart and adopts with abandon, becoming relentless in her devotion to the cello, until it is she, and not Hilary, who becomes the one in demand and the one to whom slavish attention is given. This is a portent of things to come. Therein lies the seed for the subtle rivalry that is to last their entire lives, though they remain as close as two sisters can be. Jackie goes on to become one of the world's most renowned cellists.
That Hilary sublimates herself to her sister is obvious, even when ballroom dancing together, as it is Jackie who leads Hilary. This was to remain the pattern for most of their respective lives. While the shy and seemingly insecure Hilary eventually marries a man who makes her feel special and important, it is Jackie who continues to dazzle, even in the marriage arena, marrying a world class pianist with whom she makes beautiful music, until she is struck by a fatal illness.
As Jackie's world spirals out of control, Hilary is leading the placid life of a country squiress, having children and playing at local concerts, happily married to a man who is clearly devoted to her. Jackie intrudes on their idyllic life, and in her frenetic fashion turns their world upside down during a visit sans her husband, when she obviously horns in on Hilary's husband. What happens next is sure to shock even the most jaded of viewers.
As Jackie grows more successful in the music world, her personal life spirals out of control. Her passion for the cello is often countermanded by the pains she takes to try to divest herself of the demanding instrument that seemingly controls her life, as her passion and musical genius begin to consume her to the exclusion of all else. Her tortured soul is finally set free, when she succumbs to her fatal illness, a lonely and tragic figure at the end, mourned most of all by Hilary.
This is a movie that music lovers and anyone who loves a beautifully directed and well-acted film will appreciate and enjoy.
Movie Review: Two Great Performance in one Great Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Hilary and Jackie is the story of the DuPre sisters. From an early age both were rising musical stars, Hilary on the flute and Jackie on the cello. But Jackie's flamboyant playing style brought her attention and then fame. While Hilary has her style eradicated and settles for an ordinary life.
The film is broken into four sections. The first part is the girl's childhood together. It takes the girls from prodigies to Jackie's first success. One night Jackie is playing at a wedding for an Italian princess with Hilary looking on and the next morning she is swept away for a concert tour, leaving her sister alone in a foreign country with no explanation of what happened to her sister.
The second part is Hilary's life apart from her sister. Hilary has her musical life sucked from her by the musical establishment. But one thing she does find is love and she settles for a country life with her husband raising their two daughters. During this part of the film we see some bizarre behavior from Jackie with no explanation behind what is happening.
The third part is Jackie's life apart from her sister. Jackie really never wanted the fame that was thrust upon her. Jackie is isolated from everyone she cares about and most of the time cannot communicate with the people around her. Even to find out how to wash her clothes. But she does find her true love and they become the super couple of classical music. But things are amiss with her health.
The last part is Jackie's fight with MS. In the 1950's they really did not know much about the disease and how to treat it. Jackie was under the impression with time and exercise that she would overcome her disease. What she finds out is that not only does the disease get worse but society isolates her because of it. Just as the two sisters reconcile, Jackie dies.
This film is brilliant on many levels but it is the performance by Emily Watson and Rachael Griffiths that give the film its depth.
DVD EXTRAS: Nine minute featurette with cast and creative team
Movie Review: Misunderstandings....
Summary: 5 Stars
Misunderstandings lead to some of the greatest tragedies in life. "Hilary and Jackie" is a movie full of misunderstandings, and as the movie shows you one side of a talented sister's life (Hilary) and then the other side of the other talented sister's life (Jackie's), you begin to realize that what we remember in our lives is often distorted. We base our memories on our innate desire to see ourself as the hero or heroine. We forget the cruel things we've said to others and remember only the cruel things they've said to us. This movie depicts this in a startling, unforgettable way. It is movie-making genius.
Jacqueline du Pre is depicted as suffering mental illness during this movie. Other reviewers here have stated that that is nonsense, because nowhere in the biography written by her brother and sister did it mention she was mentally ill. That's right- in a sense. I don't believe she was mentally ill. But the reviewer either forgot or didn't know that Multiple sclerosis often causes manic depression and can cause suicidal or bipolar like symptoms. It is the slow disintigration of the brain, and depression is caused by the brain.
The written biography on which the movie was based also reveals that as a child, Jackie told Hilary "Don't tell Mum, but I will not be able to move or speak when I grow up." The two girls are depicted in the movie as having a slightly psychic connection. This is hinted at in the movie in one of the most beautiful sequences, at the beginning and end. Those who find that kind of thing "hokey" need to be more tolerant of the eccentricities of genius- which is always, and will probably always be, unstable.
Overall, this is a movie about love, and it is faithful to the book. It is about the trancending power of love to unite sisters even through the difficulties of betrayal and conflict. It is about the torture and burden of genius, and it is most of all, beautiful.
Movie Review: Two great actresses playing two disturbed sisters...WOW!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
HILARY AND JACKIE is still one of the most disturbing and unsettling pieces of film that I have ever seen! From the very beginning of the film there is a looming foreboding and an uncomfortable uneasiness that follows through every frame in this account of the lives of sisters Hilary and Jackie Du Pre. Rachel Griffiths and Emily Watson are each disturbingly terrific and I am always amazed at the incredible performances.No small wonder that each actress has gone on to such acclaim in their respective careers.
It is essential to remember that this screenplay is adapted from Hilary and Piers Du Pre's account A GENIUS IN THE FAMILY.The book as well as the film is extremely intimate and disturbing at best. What is positively fascinating is how this film 's narrative runs. The story commences with a portrait of the two sisters and their childhood as musical prodigies together. Then the film diverges in their teen years and tells the remaining story and timeline through each of the sisters' perspectives with gut wrenching honesty that balances each girl. Though I was well acquainted with the music of Cellist Jacqueline Du Pre and her husband pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim as a conservatory student in the 1970's, it is not really essential to know anything about music or these people to be totally immersed in a truly good story that is informative and very revealing about the mechanics of genius, motivation and family.
If you offended by the exposing of warts and "speaking ill of the dead" perhaps HILARY AND JACKIE will not be for you. If you are willing to accept that this account of the lives of the Du Pre sisters COULD be true, then by all means come with an open mind and be blown away by what you see! Whether true, not true or somewhere in between, HILARY AND JACKIE presents two great actresses playing their hearts out for all of us to behold.
Movie Review: Marvelously-acted "true" story -- spoiler in review
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this film without prior knowledge of Jackie Du Pre, and was deeply moved by the knockout performances of the two lead actresses and the heatbreakingly beautful and emotionally honest story of the relationship between two sisters. Discovered later all of the controversy surrounding the book and the film, and my comments about that are: though I was not familiar with Du Pre, the depiction in this film made it clear that she was a musical genius and free spirit who stuggled (as an human being would) with the demands of fame, travel, etc. PLUS a terrible, debilitating neurological illness which not only robbed her of the ability to play music but probably also directly messed with her head. I thought the portrayal of this woman was sympathetic and respectful. Whether or not it actually happened, I find the idea that she (suffering from a bad episode of MS, not knowing what's happening to her, etc.) had a meltdown and decided that sleeping with her sister's husband would make her feel better, to be fully understandanble. If anything, it is Hillary who is presented (I guess by herself) as a willing fool/doormat for agreeing to it while fully healthy and apparently sound of mind. She's left feeling ashamed when Jackie recovers somewhat and figures out what had been wrong with her. Anyway, I don't want to spend too much time addressing the consternation that many Du Pre fans seem to feel, but I did get from the film that Jackie was an extroardinary talent and that, if some feel that Hillary was cruel in her portrayal of her, I would say that she saved the more vicious barbs for herself. And again, it's just a very well-made film!