HILARY AND JACKIE Cast: Emily Watson, Rachel Griffiths, James Frain, David Morrissey, Charles Dance, Celia Imrie, Auriol Evans, Keeley Flanders Director: Anand Tucker Screenplay: Frank Cottrell Boyce, based on "A Genius in the Family" by Hilary and Piers du Pré Reviewed by Luke Buckmaster
On the Buckmaster scale of 0 stars (bomb), to 5 stars (a masterpiece): 3 and a half stars
Hilary and Jackie is a moving and poignant tale of the love between two sisters. Emily Watson and Australian Rachel Griffiths portray Hilary and Jacqueline du Pré with stunning precision, in two of the best female performances you're likely to see this year. It would be easy to say that Watson and Griffiths are the reason why this drama works so well, but that would be without crediting the screenplay that was adapted from the true story "A Genius in the Family" (written by Hilary and Piers du Pré). The script is solidly directed by Anand Tucker, who is obviously interested in the way music is conceived and manipulated - and, eventually, the way music leads to one woman's dissatisfaction with life.
Jacqueline "Jackie" du Pré (Watson) is a cellist prodigy. As young girls, Jackie and her sister Hilary (Griffiths) - a flutist - would win countless junior tournaments, and there was a vaguely unhealthy competitive spirit between them. As adults, they have chosen very different lifestyles: Hilary has given up the flute to a simple life of marriage and family, whereas Jackie is a wildly successful cellist who tours all over the world. Jackie finds out the hard way that sometimes the simplest values are the best, and as she continues her constant search for happiness, she hinders the happiness of those who love her.
Jackie is a complicated character, and it is often hard to know what leads her to commit purely selfish actions. Feeling lonely, Jackie tells Hilary she wants to have sex with her husband. "She just needs to feel loved," Hilary explains to him, with more than a hint of doubt in her voice. Jackie's plights through stardom and self-destruction (the two come hand in hand, it seems) are believable thanks to Watson, who knows how to make a dramatic part work. Rachel Griffiths also shines - perhaps even a little more so - in a subtler performance, which is an impressive mix of happiness amongst gentle but profound sorrow.
For the first thirty or so minutes of Hilary and Jackie, I was completely captivated. The performances from young girls Auriol Evans and Keeley Flanders are incredible - their parts demand a mature approach that is rare with kids this age. After the film's lengthy prologue finishes, Hilary and Jackie is divided into two main parts, one for each sister. This enables the story to be told from two perspectives, although conveying the narrative in this way doesn't always work. Hilary's story, although less spectacular, I found much more interesting, so its frustrating when she is absent from the screen during long slabs of time. Sometimes the narrative is also unnecessarily confusing and, call me fussy, but the film's final reel is silly - I'm not quite sure what Tucker was trying to tell us with it.
Still, Hilary and Jackie is an involving drama. The classical music soars, the cinematography is lush - it is a pleasing experience. But more than that, this is a film that is charged by emotion and a central relationship built on love and devotion (although that's not always immediately evident). Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths play off each other beautifully, and are gracefully, powerfully the two best reasons to see Hilary and Jackie.
Review © copyright Luke Buckmaster
Read more of my reviews at In Film Australia http://infilmau.iah.net
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