Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-21 12:47:56

HORRENDOUS Film

Whether I knew who Jackie was or not before hand, this hokey, poorly made soap opera would have made me never want to KNOW who she was. The acting is mediocre, the writing is the worst, dialog terrible and directing barely that of a Lifetime Network Movie. Watching this was as much of as having rectal surgery by a paraplegic, no, actually that would be MORE fun.

Judith Egerton 2012-05-20 22:26:31

No, it's not a movie about two first ladies married to adulterous husbands.

Michael Hamilton 2012-05-16 03:23:30

Wow - Heavy subject, but worth it!

This heavy subject matter is so well done, it left me wanting more! Theacting is superb. I have always loved Rachel Griffiths and she doesn't letthe viewer down in this one either. She pulls this one off fantasticallyand IS Hilary du Pré! Emily Watson's performance is unbelievable and shouldhave been recognized with a multitude of awards. It is amazing how well sheacts in this. One truly believes that SHE has Multiple Sclorosis. I wasamazed at how well she played the scenes. I just can't say enough aboutthis film. I highly recommend that if you want quality writing and actingand are prepared for some realistic yet somewhat disturbing subject matterabout life, RENT this film!

Lee Eisenberg 2012-05-15 16:58:55

the story of two First Ladies (just kidding)

I was only semi-familiar with Emily Watson (and not at all familiarwith Rachel Griffiths) when "Hilary and Jackie" came out. When I saw ita few months later, I was blown away by both their performances.Showing the relationship and struggles between two musical sisters, themovie gives one a sense not only of how each sister envies the other,but of the strain under which a person in the musical world operates.Specifically, Jackie starts considering sabotaging her own violin justto relieve herself of the pressure. And I never could have predictedthe grave ending.Anyway, it's a movie that I definitely recommend. It's music toanyone's ears (and eyes). If it started Emily Watson (happy birthday,Emily!) on a streak of playing women under stress, then so be it.Oh, and the comment about the story of two First Ladies? When WhoopiGoldberg hosted the Oscars the year that Watson and Griffiths werenominated, she jokingly described this movie as such. Did Emily Watsondeserve an Oscar for her role here? Maybe, but I thought that "Life IsBeautiful" deserved everything (I can't believe that "Shakespeare inLove" won).

2012-05-12 21:11:07

This movie made me wanna blow a raspberry.

I give this movie three stars mainly because as a classical musician myself, this movie kind of dealt with when I went away to study abroad at Brevard for six weeks. And it's true for almost any musician that most of your days are spent either rehearsing or performing. And I can relate so much to Jackie because I wanted to get serious with my musical talent, but the traveling and touring and publicity took a toll on me. And I wanted to have a normal life like Hilary where she settles down with her husband, haves babies, and raises chickens on a farm. But then Jackie reveals the unthinkable when she wants to sleep with Kiffer. Also this isn't a great movie to watch if you're a young viewer who wanted to know more about Jackie's life as a musician. Some material on here is rather offensive, provocative, and bizarre. I was a little disappointed with the visual effects. She uses the "f" word quite often and there's quite a bit of nudity. Overall I'd still give it three stars because some parts of the movie were fictional or didn't quite make sense. But in some cases, it shows unconditional love as sisters. Hilary was by her side when Jackie had MS and right before her death. In my opinion, the book "Hilary and Jackie" is much better than the movie--mainly because it tells what really went on. I think you better read the book first before watching the movie.

2012-05-12 02:44:21

Excellent Movie!

Excellent Movie, I am a cellist and I can tell you that this movie won't disappoint you.Good Presentation.Fast delivery.

2012-05-10 23:24:04

Great performance, but....

there is one scene that I think is unappropriate that ruins the whole movie (well, at least from my perspective). That scene is the one when Jackie asks for an unusual favor from her sister Hilary (as Matthew describes below). I think Hilary is stupid and sick to grant Jackie the favor, her husband even more stupid, and Jackie ungrateful.I enjoy the movie up to this point; afterwards I don't see the point of seeing this movie. However, the performances are truly great. If you love classical music and great performances, see this movie. If not, don't bother.

itssme4444 2012-05-10 10:51:00

Awesome drama without being melodramatic or contrived...

It doesn't get boring as many dramas can, it doesn't overdo anything that Ican recall (I just watched it, but you never know...), and it bounces alongquite nicely. Even though it is a "chickflick", it has enough realentertainment value for anyone with an eye for a good tale. If thisdoesn'tchoke you up at least once, then you can safely say that you are dense,shallow, insensitive, already numb from some other movie, or whatever. Igave it a 10 and I am very picky and jaded (usually). See thismovie.

The_Triad 2012-05-03 06:31:37

A very good character based emotional drama

I put this film on whilst I was doing something else, expecting I couldget on with what I was doing and not really pay attention. Needless tosay, I didn't get anything done as once the film started going I wasgripped and couldn't take my eyes off it. Hilary and Jackie is abiography of the cellist Jacqueline du Pre and her flautist sisterHilary du Pre. At the beginning, both are childhood virtuosos. Whenthey grow up, Jackie goes on a world tour and Hilary stays home tostart a family. What follows is a very interesting and gripping storywith exceptional acting. The director has also done very well inparticular with some of the editing in the music scenes and in the waythe film is structured, which was very interesting to watch. As for theacting, Emily Watson in particular was outstanding (I do wonder if I'llever see a film where she puts in a bad performance.) but it also mustbe said that Rachel Griffiths and David Morrisey also impressed.Another thing, as it is a musical biopic, you expect good music. Thisdid not disappoint. In fact the film on the whole was so brilliantlydone, the only thing I found disappointing was that I didn't get mywork done, and I can't really criticise it for that can I?

Sailor-21 2012-05-02 13:00:57

Oh, dear!

It was sad to see the gifted Emily Watson in so dreadful a movie.Particularly sad was the fact the the Jacqueline character was the leastconvincing of the personalities in the movie - the character never came tolife for me, in spite of Watson's efforts.The scenes where she was pretending to play the cello were uniformlyembarrassing. The cello is the most physically involving of theinstrumentsin the orchestra. Instrument and player are joined in a deeply physicalenterprise. Hard (probably impossible) to simulate. Watson's efforts wereembarrassing.The husband-sharing episode probably occupied a third of the movie by thetime all the nudge-nudge and emoting were done - far more than itmerited.The opening scene, with its pitifullycute little girls, referred back tointhe ending, was just a tacky little bit added on,with no relationship toanything else in the movie. The partial split in the movie, telling partofthe story from Hilary's and part from Jackie's point of view, addednothing.I could go on and on. Whoever scripted, directed and edited the movieshouldfind another line of work. The book itself should probably not have beenpublished.The story isn't about a gifted musician. It's about the untalented sisterofa gifted musician. Too bad.I'm saddened that Emily Watson had anything to do with the whole sadenterprise.

2012-05-01 19:37:32

beautiful and evocative

This is an outstanding portrayal of two sisters who share a love of music and each other. The bond between them was brilliantly portrayed by Emily and Rachel and they should both have won Oscars.I did not know very much about Jaqueline's real life prior to this movie so I cannot comment on any factual discrepancies. All I can say is that the movie moved me and the story told is easily as tragic as that in Shine. The pressure put upon young musicians who show extraordinary talents is well displayed, and the scenes where Jackie is playing away from home to huge audiences but has no-one to support her, tear at the heartstrings almost as much as the brilliant Cello playing.I would recommend this movie to all musicians or anyone who loves music. It demonstrates that the truly great musicians do not just appear, they give their whole lives over to the art

James Berardinelli 2012-05-01 06:56:35

This is as rich and powerful a film as has been released in 1998!

teri_2 2012-05-01 18:44:05

Acting and writing make this a must see

I enjoyed this film immensely. All the actors were perfect in their roles.Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths should have won the Oscars they werenominated for. Totally convincing, both of them....and deeply touching. Andto answer the previous reviewer: No, there are no limits to the talents ofJames Frain. He is an excellent and extremely charismatic young actor, andjust gets better project after project. I thought he played Barenboim as avery sympathetic character, and I loved seeing he and Emily working togetheragain. In short, the story is very well written, and effectively shows both viewpoints. The acting could NOT be better....and the music is simply glorious.

2012-05-01 09:10:46

Practice, Practice, Practice

Exceptional lives about extraordinary people always make good book and movie sense. The possibilities are limitless and the audience favours a bit of an inside peek at the lives of the rich and famous. This is the case with Hilary And Jackie, a film based on the lives of Hilary and Jacqueline du Pre, and the basis of the book, A Genius In The Family by Hilary and her brother, Piers.We are taken on a roller coaster ride of grand proportions as the du Pre parents, Derek (Charles Dance) and Iris (Celia Imrie) watch their two daughters, Hilary (Rachel Griffiths) and Jackie (Emily Watson), attempt to span the Mt. Everest of the classical world with their music. All starts out well enough, with Hilary, a flautist, taking centre stage and Jackie taking a back-seat until receiving that extra push from her mother, who was also a classically trained pianist, to excel. And excel she does. The two young girls who portray the du Pre sisters as children, Auriol Evans (Jackie) and Keely Flanders (Hilary) are exquisite in their innocence and understanding needed to comprehend the complexities required to master both the sense of competition and the sisterly understanding that permeated their relationship throughout their lives. We see the emotions of both spiraling in opposite directions as Hilary is pushed into submission and Jackie flaunts superiority on her cello. Hilary is forced on almost a daily basis to hear from one and all, "and how is your wonderful sister, Jackie?" as she goes deeper and deeper into the background, almost fading into the wall, as her musical star burns and fades all too quickly. She will never be good enough to compete.Jackie is portrayed as forceful, a tornado, wholly spoiled and used to getting her own way, even to the point of wanting her sister's husband, Kiffer (David Morrissey), and getting him. Jackie, never one to be bested by others, attempts to play the game of one upsmanship with her sister and eventually marries the Argentine piano prodigy, Daniel Barenboim (James Frain). But, as is wont to happen throughout Jackie's life, nothing is ever good enough to remain for long, as she is firmly the architect of her own choosing. The supreme irony occurs when she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 28, seeing her career ebb and flow until she is a shaking skeleton of her former self, as she descends into final illness and imminent death at 42. The actresses portraying Hilary and Jackie, Rachel Griffiths and Emily Watson, do superb jobs in recreating two very interesting enigmas and the world they inhabited. Much was made when A Genius In The Family was published, for it took the goddess on the pedestal, Jackie, and shook the very foundations with its portrayal of her as vain, self absorbed, unkind and a sexual predator towards her sister's husband. Those in England were shocked that Hilary would have shared such personal memories for all the world to read, and she caught a great deal of flack because of it. I feel that this has nothing to do with the music that Jackie made, and while it may put her in less of a favourable light than we would like on a personal level, it does nothing to negate the genius that she was to become and who holds a firm grasp even to this day, almost 16 years after her death. There are those in the music world who refuse to play her most famous cello rendition, Elgar's Cello Concerto, in tribute to her accomplishment. Hilary has presented Jackie with all her credits and flaws in striking fashion. What is history or biography unless we are presented with a complete and absolute portrait? A shallow representation not worthy of mention.Rachel Griffiths is the more interesting of the two actresses, for her performances is multilayered, presenting stratas of the plain Jane who becomes the doormat that her sister walks over in her pursuit of greatness. Watching Griffiths facial expression change from warm to cold as she is asked by Jackie to share her husband with her, is worth the price of admission, and that small action presents her as an actress completely in possession of her craft. She's that rare animal that performs with controlled and yet unsubjected abandon and it is a delight to be on the receiving end.Emily Watson's Jackie is both engaging and obnoxious, rather bleeding over the top in her representation. Jacqueline du Pre was not as difficult in real life, although at times she was and could be a force to be reckoned with. She owned a sense of humour, was not as gifted or musically knowledgeable outside of her collected realm of works and could throw poison barbs out with the best of them. Watson seems to go for the worst and nothing of Jackie's generosity is to be seen in the course of this film.Arnand Tucker, the director, has fashioned a first time effort with smartness and finesse, and has used a Rashomon technique to project this layered tale from the perspective of both sisters. Hilary's version being presented first and Jackie's, imperialistic and heartbreaking, the second. Similar situations as seen through different eyes. He has used a genuine facet of believability with the opening of the movie, as we see the two sisters as children on a beach, before the glory days. They see a mysterious woman on the same beach, who tells Jackie that everything will be all right. This same woman is seen at the end of the film in the same setting, and it is the adult Jackie, who has come through heaven and hell. A very interesting concept by Tucker, whose previous work has been for the BBC.The music by Barrington Pheloung is quite mood enhancing, and is interspersed with selections by Bach, Elgar, Boccherini, Hayden and Schumann. The cello, in original parts of the soundtrack, is played by Caroline Dale, with Hilary du Pre being quoted as saying that Ms. Dale, 'achieved an extraordinary amount of 'cello acting' in catching the spirit and sound of Jackie. She has hit the nail squarely on the head.If there is to be a major complaint about this film, it lies with the representation of Jackie's life during the last 14 years of it, after her diagnosis. Time is compressed into a matter of what seems to be mere minutes, with no thought being given to the life she led in reality as a teacher for other students and the causes she embraced. One is led to believe that except for the visits of friends and her husband, Barenboim, from Paris on weekends, that she practically led a housebound and almost solo existence. Nothing could be farther from the truth.Hilary And Jackie is a film that entreats us to enter into a world that perhaps a good many of us have envied to some degree, but would be loathe and hard pressed to withstand without the endurance of a long distance runner and the wisdom of Solomon keeping pace. Human frailties and emotions are put on the table and we are dealt a hand that wrenches our souls with what might and could have been.

balthzar 2012-04-25 13:34:39

A Portrayal of Decisions

It must be understood that this film is quite controversial in the factthatit has been a little more than a decade since the death of Jackie. Doesthisfilm portray a spoiled brat? I would have to say No. The director chose toportray both sisters in their separation and their reunion. Much of thefirst part can be categorized as Jackie being too spoiled yet weunderstandthe reasons behind her madness, homesickness.Jackie must have known about her illness or else she would not have madesomany references towards the fact that she is a slave to her talent. Atalentthat was derived from practicing, not pure genius. A talent she built fromthe foundation. If you can see behind the madness that Tucker isportraying,then you will understand that it is not madness at all, but humanity he isportraying.

2012-04-24 22:26:40

Gravely disappointing

I just didn't buy the premise of this movie, painting Hilary as long-suffering and Jackie as capricious. There was very little indication of what made her the great musician that she was. The whole family was a little sick, but I think Hilary was the really certifiable one. I have always loved Emily Watson, but this performance was not among her best. The mimed cello playing was unconvincing. The fox-like Rachel Griffiths had some moving scenes, but this seemed like a self-serving attempt of an ordinary soul to "set the record straight" about her brilliant sister. The movie also suffered from inept concert sequences and the usual misguided cinematic attempts to portray the life of classical musicians. The whole thing left a profoundly sour taste in my mouth. Why not look at a video of Du Pre performing to cleanse the palate?

Allan Porter 2012-04-24 06:48:26

cinematic masterpiece

H&J is not a representation of a book or a previous movie; it is a cinematicmasterpiece standing on its own. While unable to closely identify with mostof the themes of the film, I was finally moved to tears by the orchestrationof cinematic images. The ending is one of the most powerful I have everseen. If you like real cinema, don't miss H&J!

Steve Rhodes 2012-04-23 21:17:55

The film is a triumph that deserves the same roaring applause from motion picture audiences that Jackie received from her musical ones.

anonymous 2012-04-23 04:51:39

Much ado about an emotional young girl!

This film was overly long, a one sided story told by one of the sistersfromher point of view. I can't help but notice, that this sister, Hilary,seems to usually come off as the good one in the story, while her sisterhassevere emotional problems.It seemed unusual to find two sisters, brought up together so closely, tobeso different emotionally and with apparently very little in common. Ihaveto wonder if the story as told from Hilary's point of view is accurate.Accurate or not, the story of a young girl, Jackie, who could not controlher passions and emotions is hardly worth spending over two hours towatch.Only the most devoted classical music lovers will recognize the music,mostof which was written for the cello, and some of which I thought wasoutrightjarring in its performance.Most of all, the subject was relatively trivial since Jacqueline Duprenevermatured into a real artist and her life story will be of little interestinthe context of history.I did not come away with any sense of improved insight into anything,exceptto wonder how they could raise the money to make this expensive, overlongand self important movie.

Brian Webster 2012-04-22 17:03:55

A compelling film!