Sometimes this adaptation of Kaylie Jones's autobiographical novel seems as roughhewn as Kris Kristofferson's portrayal of Bill Willis, who's a surrogate for Ms. Jones's father, the late novelist James Jones. The episodic narrative sprawls across a decade, from the 1960s, when Willis and his family are expatriates in Paris, to their troubled repatriation in the 1970s. Scenes misfire at least as often as they catch fire.
Characters appear, drop from sight, then pop up again in odd flashbacks.
Yet the film, like its exotic milieu, is full of surprises, full of love and life. The greatest surprise, and the most exotic apparition, isn't part of the Willis family at all. For Channe, coming of age requires distancing herself from this sexually singular friend. Eccentricity is the hallmark of this film, which was produced by Ismail Merchant, directed by James Ivory and adapted by Mr. Ivory and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the same team behind so many meticulously crafted Merchant-Ivory films of the past. Maybe they've lost patience with careful craftsmanship.