“Happy families are all alike” wrote Tolstoy; “every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” But it’s also true that each member of an unhappy household is unhappy in his own way. For one woman, it may be obsessing over the details of the auto accident that killed the older of her two sons. For her husband, it may manifest itself in sleepless nights and feigned stoicism. And for the girlfriend of the deceased, it may mean simply focusing on fond memories and deciding to raise the child of his that she will bear.
Not a remake of the Muhammad Ali biopic, this oddly titled tearjerker stars Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan as the parents and an American-accented Carey Mulligan as the pregnant Rose. (Brosnan sticks with his mother tongue.) Rose, whose own sorrow seems too mild, becomes the lens through which the parents, and to a lesser extent the teenage brother, focus their grief. One finds her a comforting presence, the other a reminder of loss. As for the deceased, we see him in flashbacks, but only through Rose-colored glasses. There are no scenes in which he interacts with his family. And as for his flaws, the worst we learn is that he was “a bit OCD” because he liked to separate his foods. The family may be ambivalent about how to express their loss, but not about the young man himself, which might have given the story another dimension.
Still, even with the inevitable group catharsis that the story builds toward, first-time writer-director Shana Feste keeps it from becoming a sap-fest. (Well, except for the mawkish scene in which Brosnan breaks down.) Her screenplay is perhaps too polished, but not manipulative. And Carey Mulligan, who’s like a British Michelle Williams, shows every sign of enjoying a long, successful career.
IMDB link
viewed at Ritz Bourse [PFS screening] and reviewed 4/5/10
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