Movie Review for Evening (2007)

---

Click Poster to Purchase

---

Review #478 of 365
Movie Review of Evening (2007) [PG-13] 117 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $11.50
Where Viewed: Cinemark Century 16, Aurora, CO
When 1st Seen: 29 June 2007
Time: 4:15 pm
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: 25 September 2007 (click date to purchase)

Soundtrack: order the CD below

Directed by: Lajos Koltai (The Emperor's Club)
Screenplay by: Susan Minot (Stealing Beauty) • Michael Cunningham (A Home at the End of the World) based on the novel Evening by Susan Minot

Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Claire Danes (The Family Stone) • Toni Collette (The Night Listener) • Vanessa Redgrave (Venus) • Patrick Wilson (Running with Scissors) • Hugh Dancy (Blood and Chocolate) • Natasha Richardson (The White Countess) • Mamie Gummer (The Hoax) • Eileen Atkins (Ask the Dust) • Meryl Streep (The Ant Bully) • Glenn Close (Hoodwinked)

---

Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]

---

Billed as the film with all of the greatest actresses of our time, Evening starts off blustery and ends with even less wind in her sails. With all due respect to the marketing geniuses behind that tag line, the cast seems to be short at least a Dench, a Winslet, a Blanchet, and a Mirren. Granted the actresses in the film make up an all-star cast with Danes, Collette, Redgrave, Close and the best living actress though in nothing more than an extended cameo appearance, Ms Meryl Streep. Perhaps this wasn't the best idea. Perhaps this is too much estrogen-fueled talent for one film.

---

"Despite great characters and performances, the story, in the end doesn't hold much water."

---

Or, perhaps, it's the raw story that just doesn't hold much water in the first place. The essence of the story is this: a dying woman, named Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) has a mystical experience in her own mind as she relives the decisions or mistakes as she calls them in her life that got her to this point so filled with very deep regret. The source of her consternation was a decision she made not to further involve herself with a young man named Harris (Patrick Wilson), the childhood friend and housekeeper's son of her college roommate, Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer). She meets Harris at Lila's home the day prior to Lila's planned wedding for which she is to be the maid of honor. The introduction occurs on a small boat docked by the Wittenborn's home as Buddy Wittenborn (Hugh Dancy) has collected Ann (played in her youth by Claire Danes) from the bus stop to chaperone her arrival.

Claire Danes Buy From Art.com

When they arrive, he sees Harris by the boat, and he simply cannot wait for Harris to meet Ann. Clearly, Buddy is smitten with Harris, if not genuinely in love with Harris. Apparently, we learn, everyone is in love with Harris. A war veteran and no doctor of medicine, he's single, handsome, and charming. He was also Lila's first love, the first boy she ever kissed, but the one of which her parents would never approve—you know that rule against marrying the hired help. The atmosphere at the Wittenborn home is one of tension from start to finish with the Wittenborns obviously concerned about the quality and breeding of the maid of honor who lives in an apartment in Greenwich Village and intends on being a singer. Buddy, too, however has convinced himself since he joined his big sister at the same college, that he too is in love with Ann. Meanwhile, there is an instantaneous connection between Ann and Harris as well. Got all that? Basically, it's a love rectangle. Leap forward in time to Ann's bedroom as she lays dying. Her two daughters, Nina (Toni Collette) and Constance (Natasha Richardson) have come to stay with her at the request of the day nurse, Mrs. Brown (Eileen Atkins) as she believes that Ann's days are growing fewer. It is clear these two have loads of baggage. Connie gave up a lot of her life and freedom to be close to their mother while Nina never has gotten hr act together. Their mother never became the great singer of which she dreamed. Married several times, her life never brought her the promises of fulfillment granted upon our birthright. As she lays dying, her mind returns her to that fateful weekend when she let go of the mysterious Harris. His name, she keeps repeating in her sleep. The nurse warns the daughters these names may or may not be of real people. But, the daughters are intrigued by a mysterious past love in their mother's life. The story is chiefly about disappointment, unfortunately it would be a challenge to derive solace from the way this film turns out. Tragedy and grief coupled with regret make for a less than pleasant sea of lost opportunity. Will the daughters learn from their mother's mistakes? Will they learn to accept the way the currents take them and find joy in unexpected places? These are questions that the story does not answer. Meanwhile, it is safely unclear what the real point of the story is. There are some great characters populating it, though the real sources of their connections are often too thin to believe. Here we have Ann spending her entire life in a state of near constant regret partially over giving up Harris and partly probably over her lack of commitment to her career. Since neither she nor we can change the past, what is the point of all this regret? The only point might be to empower others to live their lives differently seizing each opportunity rather than shunning it. This would be a valid point if the film actually drew one to this conclusion. Unfortunately, it really does not. Rather it wallows in guilt and sadness about which we can do nothing. The story, sadly, turns out not to be all that compelling. Given the ages of Ann's daughters, moreover, there is, at least, a partial sense that their lives haven't turned out much better. Ironically, while this is supposed to be a film about women and starring brilliant actresses, they are nearly upstaged by the unexpectedly terrific performances by Patrick Wilson and Hugh Dancy. It's unclear if it just seemed this way because they are the only characters permitted to smile throughout the film or not. When it comes to the acting and directing of the film, there's much to salute. Each performance shines. Vanessa Redgrave, while confined to a bed nearly the entire time, soars along with her co-stars as they navigate this bittersweet, wandering, somewhat aimless tale. Director, Lajos Koltai, has complete command and done an outstanding job of blending the past and present within Ann's mind. The appearance of Meryl Streep adds great value to the film that stands, otherwise, without a genuine climax and without a purposeful ending. She helps solidify the reality of Harris's existence permitting proof that he was not a figment of Ann's imagination. On balance, Evening sets sail into the sunset closing up a life filled with regret and hardly any resolution or acknowledgement that mistakes or bad decisions look so in hindsight. Meanwhile, if we fail to see all the good in our lives that crops up in unexpected ways, sometimes in spite of ourselves, then what's the point anyway?

---

Send This Review To a Friend

---

Back to Top | W.I.P. Scale™ | Most Recently Reviewed Films | Films of 2005 | Films of 2006 | Films of 2007

---

Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]

---

Related Products from Amazon.com

---

Other Projects Featuring Evening (2007)
Cast Members
Claire Danes • Toni Collette • Vanessa Redgrave
Patrick Wilson • Hugh Dancy • Natasha Richardson
Mamie Gummer • Eileen Atkins • Meryl Streep
Glenn Close
Director
Lajos Koltai
Writers
Susan Minot • Michael Cunningham

---

Review-lite Evening (2007) [max of 150 words]

---

Despite great characters and an all-star cast of some of the greatest living actresses of our time, Evening, based on the novel by Susan Minot, simply doesn't translate well into film. The story doesn't hold water. Sadly, there's not much point to it. Focusing on the regret-filled live of a dying woman reunited with her two daughters at her death bed and the cast of loved ones from her past via her memories, sadly, Ann (Vanessa Redgrave / Claire Danes) has never reconciled her past with her present. She's unable to see the joy of her life through lens of all her life's mistakes. In the end, we are left dissatisfied and mystified by her inability to move on in peace with her past given the bounty of her life.

---

Send This Review To a Friend