HILARY AND JACKIE *** (out of four) -a review by Bill Chambers ( wchamber@netcom.ca )
(Happy New Year! from Film Freak Central - http://filmfreakcentral.net )
starring Emily Watson, Rachel Griffiths, David Morrissey, Jim Frain screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce directed by Anand Tucker
1998 may go down as the year of the Disease Movie. This month alone, Susan Sarandon gets cancer in Stepmom, and half the cast of Patch Adams has leukemia by the time the closing credits roll. Last fall, Meryl Streep contracted cancer in One True Thing. Hilary and Jackie also co-stars a disease: multiple sclerosis, which attacks cellist Jacqueline Du Pré in her prime. But the film is very much unlike the sanctimonious, movie-of-the-week affliction melodramas currently scoring at the box office. Death, you see, is anything but romantic; it doesn't happen on cue; and it does not transform a person into a saint. Hilary and Jackie acknowledges these cold, hard facts.
Hilary and Jackie Du Pré are sisters growing up in 1950s Sussex County, England. Both are encouraged by their overbearing mother to practice music, but Hilary is the favoured daughter, having appeared on local television with her flute. Jackie becomes obsessed with achieving her sister's level of achievement, and practices her cello night and day. Eventually, she actually ties with Hilary at a local talent competition. Fame and fortune seek Jackie out; while Jackie tours Europe, Hilary finds a mate in an amateur conducter named Kiffer Finzi (Morrissey), much to Jackie's chagrin.
Hilary, as the filmmakers would have it, is entirely selfless, abandoning her instrument at a young age so as not to interfere with Jackie's desire for success. Jackie, on the other hand, is a monster-despite the fact that she has a mate of her own (Frain, as famed pianist Daniel Barenboim), she demands sexual favours from Hilary's husband; Hilary allows Jackie to take advantage of her generosity.
The story is divided into two halves: "Hilary" follows Hilary from childhood to domesticity. In scene after scene, she lets Jackie walk all over her out of an inherent sisterly devotion, then cowers away to a corner to cry silently about it. Griffiths, who played Jude's conniving first wife in Jude, demonstrates great range as the ‘nice' sister, a woman who essentially gives up whatever makes her feel special out of guilt. The movie wisely avoids pitting her against Jackie in a big shouting match-much of her pain remains unresolved at the finish. The "Jackie" half essentially tells the "Hilary" story from the opposite viewpoint; some, but not all, of Jackie's callous actions are justified in this section. (For example: In "Hilary," the Du Pré family are disappointed to open a package from travelling Jackie that contains only her laundry, while in "Jackie," it is explained that Jackie has no access to a washing facility, and sends her clothes home in desperation.) Jackie resents Hilary for her decidedly unhectic lifestyle; her cello is a crutch, something she can't abandon. (Indeed, she tries to, but neither a night of harsh weather nor an attempt to leave it behind in a cab end the relationship Jackie has with her instrument. It is as resilient as Hilary.) That resentment does not pass as the disease begins to ravage her body, and this is the movie's strong point. When Jackie makes a cruel joke regarding Kiffer's infidelity-while lying in a hospital bed-we can see the heartbreak in Hilary's eyes.
Watson's performance is certainly impressive (though her unidentifiable accent sometimes distracts), but we should not overlook Boyce's relentless screenplay, which allows Jackie to remain immature and rapacious. (That Jacqueline Du Pré is a bona fide historical figure sort of makes daring Hilary and Jackie this year's Raging Bull:
at the heart of the film is a fascinating jerk.) Boyce's script is not impeccable. Though more unified than his last produced work, Welcome To Sarajevo, his beach-set bookends don't pay off, and the male characters-particularly the third Du Pré sibling, their brother-are vaguely drawn.
Tucker's fluid camera and candy-coloured interiors tend to gloss over the story's flaws. (Tucker has little flair for subtlety-the film has been assembled in such a way that you're always aware of what will become a motif the first time it appears on screen, such as Jackie's tendency to "raspberry.") Understand that I'm strongly recommending Hilary and Jackie on the basis of its central performances and its frequently courageous writing. The real disease that Jackie suffers from, the movie posits, is envy. The competitive spirit attacks Du Pré like a cancer at a young age, and a terminal illness simultaneously punishes her for it (her battle with MS lasted sixteen years) and liberates her from its grip.
-December, 1998
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