maybe the most important thing about this movie is that it 's not handled like the hallmark hall of fame movie of the month , because it very well could have been a manipulative tearjerker , broadcasted on abc on a monday night , starring kelly martin and yasmeen bleeth , respectively .
because it 's not handled like the greatest story ever told is precisely why
it 's so great
.
underneath the to - die - for cinematography , the brilliant acting , and incessantly wonderful direction is a film of modesty , not sure whether or not this story is totally great but with the balls to run with it , tell it in a certain original way .
it does n't merely go from plot point to plot point .
it goes from character to character .
it obsesses itself with the depth and the style of it all , and makes the story of a world - reknowned cellist who contracts ms and dies prematurely into the story of two sisters , both musicians , who have a totally unique relationship .
it 's that their relationship is the center of the story that makes this film transcend any cornball , shamelessly tired tearjerker qualities it could have had and makes this , unlike " patch adams , " effortlessly emotional and real .
in short , this movie is just awesome .
it merely tells its story really well , and that 's something that just has to be commended these days , when most stories are botched because they 're not told by great storytellers .
director anand tucker tells this story well .
he overdramaticizes everything , but still keeps it real .
the film tells the story of hilary and jacqueline
du pr ?
( rachel griffiths and emily watson , respectively ) , two sisters who are first seen in childhood ( played by auriol evans and keely flanders , respectively ) as the very best of friends .
they are also both musicians , hilary a flutist and jackie a cellist , and when it all begins , both are considered child prodigies , but hilary is seen as the better of the two .
jackie , a bit jealous , works and works at her playing skills , and soon the tables are turned .
when they both hit adulthood , hilary strives for a comeback , while her sister is playing in famous halls around the world , but instead of fame , captures the heart of a hapless , joyful conductor , kiffer finzi ( david morissey , in a semi - star - making turn ) .
they marry , after a short courtship , and move to a lovely country house , making jackie incredibly jealous since her cello playing becomes a symbol of her current life : when she plays , she has the eyes of the world , but when she stops , she 's alone .
she enters into a shallow relationship with an equally famous pianist , daniel barenboim ( james frain ) , in hopes that she may overcloud her sister , but she eventually begins to lose it , and runs away to hilary 's country home , where she hopes to gain admittance by hilary to sleep with her husband , since no one she sleeps with gives her any pleasure .
it 's all terribly melodramtic , as you can see , and by the time jackie has contracted ms ( in a brilliantly edited scene that surpasses the breakdown scene in the semi - smiliar " shine " in technical and emotional devastation ) , it would have been the time that i could easily call the sign for melodramatic overload if it had n't been handled in such a way .
the key thing here is that it 's not about her gradual death and slip into insanity but rather that it 's about her tumultuous relationship with her sister , which , i might add , is perfectly realized .
their relationship is the most down - to - earth complex entity of the year : they love eachother more than anyone else in the entire world , but they 're also completely jealous of one another .
when a young jackie surpasses her playing abilities , she tries in vain to make a comeback but ca n't , and almost seems to marry to get back at jackie for her success .
when jackie lands on top and sees her sister marry a wonderful man , she is jealous of her lifestyle to the most extensive brinks that i 've ever seen in a film ( only two sisters who truly love eachother would dare share the same man ) .
and the whole time , their love for eachother is never doubted or even tested .
another thing i really liked is emily watson 's performance .
i usually make it a note to never overpraise an actor for playing either a drunkard or a lunatic or someone with a mortal disease ( or any combination of the three ) .
my reasoning for this is that it 's a fucking easy job .
the worst case for this very year may be thandie newton in " beloved
" : sure , she 's good , but what 's so tough about playing a woman who stumbles around , slurs her words together , and acts like a three year old inside a 20-year old 's body ?
hell , i could play that if i had a pair of breasts .
in that same exact movie , though , is a performance by kimberly elise where she has to be the rock that holds the family together as her mother slowly goes insane , her brothers run off never to be seen again , and her mother 's lover is scared off .
she has to actually deal with real emotions , something much harder than mere stumbling about .
but the academy of arts and sciences loves loves
loves overpraising performances like newtons .
if you do n't believe me , look at jack nicholson 's performance in " as good as it gets " : great performance , but easy job .
this is n't so for watson , though , because her insanity comes from real emotions , not just a plot point .
and thanks to the opening sequence , where we see her and hilary as kids , we understand the motives behind all her actions , and by the time she actually contracts ms and begins to loose her sanity and her life , we 've already understood that this is the last straw for a woman plagued with terrible neuroses .
rachel griffiths , who would have otherwise been the understudy to watson 's protagonist , actually matches watson step - for - step , because as watson grows insane , and demands unspeakable things from her , griffiths holds her own , and has to deal with what she is able to give her sister who needs emotional help from her .
griffiths , an otherwise unknown actress ( and watson being famous from " breaking the waves " and " the boxer " ) , is absolutely brilliant , just as absolutely brilliant as watson is , and if the academy and all the other critics groups , who 've already deemed watson 's performance the best of the year , glance over hers because she 's the one who does n't get to go insane
( read : she gets the boring role ) , then the scream of hysteria you hear will be from me .
after all , griffiths has the thankless job of keeping things real - the tom cruise role in " rainman " ( the one who should have gotten oscar consideration and not hoffman ) .
she does , and if anyone deserves accolades from the academy this year , it 's griffiths . together , the two actresses work extremely well , though , and both have to go through deep emotional hell , the likes of which have n't been seen this year .
if it had n't been for an otherwise not - totally - great final section that deals way too much with jackie and not enough with hilary ( when the two had gotten equal treatment for the entirety ) ,
i 'd say this is one of the top ten best films of the year .
it 's so close to perfection , in its structure , its treatment of its subject , and its beautiful technical specifications ( cinematography nomination , without a shred of doubt in my mind , and maybe film editing ) , that it 's nearly a shame that it 's not the flawless gem that it should be .
but , hey , as it is , i can hardly complain .
i 'd say this is one of the top ten best films of the year perfectly realized the two actresses work extremely well tells this story well so close to perfection beautiful technical specifications wonderful direction absolutely brilliant it 's so great the best of the year to - die - for cinematography , the brilliant acting just as absolutely brilliant this movie is just awesome