Evening

2007 "Her greatest secret was her greatest gift."
6.4| 1h57m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 09 June 2007 Released
Producted By: MBF Erste Filmproduktionsgesellschaft
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.focusfeatures.com/evening
Synopsis

As Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) gather at the deathbed of their mother, Ann (Vanessa Redgrave), they learn for the first time that their mother lived an entire other lifetime during one evening 50 years ago. In vivid flashbacks, the young Ann (Claire Daines) spends one night with a man named Harris (Patrick Wilson), who was the love of her life.

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Reviews

Alicia I love this movie so much
MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
kcommings I can't believe I sat for two hours to learn I shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes.
david_hokey_16 Evening tells a story worth hearing but unfortunately it gets lost along the way. There's too much focus on the present - not just Vanessa Redgrave's performance as the older Ann but mostly the subplot regarding her children. It's necessary to come to the present at times so that we can see how what has happened in the past has affected her and how she chooses to remember but the rest of it just weighs the film down without complementing it as it was meant to. The performances in the present scenes also lack the same elegance as those that take place in the past. Collette is a great actress but she and her boyfriend's actor both give average performances that just get in the way. The story that takes place in the past dealing with love, identity, and choice all within a few days time is where the film truly shines. Danes, of course, gives a great performance but Dancy is the one who steals the spotlight with what I feel should've garnered him a nomination for supporting actor at the Academy awards. The story is eloquent, melancholy, and can be felt as well as understood from deeper thought. If it weren't so muddled by what takes place in the present then it could've been a great film but as it stands with the way it is I can only call it good but not great. Another point of interest is the film's score which is just absolutely beautiful. So if you want to see a good movie then Evening is for you - just don't expect every piece to be wondrous as the wonder occurs in the past and is watered down by the present. That's just how I felt about it.
Roland E. Zwick A stellar cast, consisting of Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Natasha Richardson, Glenn Close and Meryl Streep, is reason enough for watching "Evening," one of those high-toned, slightly stuffy, intergenerational family dramas that is all about lost loves, wasted lives and missed opportunities, this time among the champagne-sipping upper crust of Newport, Rhode island.Redgrave stars as Ann Grant, a terminally ill woman whose dementia is leading her to reveal secrets on her deathbed that have been locked away in her memory for years. Collette and Richardson play her two adult daughters who are able to glean only a few tantalizing nuggets about their mother's past as they emerge randomly and still partially obscured from the fog of her delirium. These scenes set in the present are intercut with those from the past, the 1950's in fact, when a young Ann (now played by Danes) fell in love with Harris (Patrick Wilson), the servant of her best friend, Lila (Mamie Gummer, who looks for all the world like a young Meryl Streep, who indeed steps in as Lila for the present scenes). Lila also happens to be in love with Harris, but she is instead marrying Karl (Timothy Kiefler), mainly because his aristocratic pedigree mixes better with her family's blue blood (echoes of the much-better "Atonement" abound throughout). Further complicating matters is Lila's kid brother, Buddy (Hugh Dancy), who appears to be in love with both Ann and Harris at one and the same time.Needless to say, much of this plays like a tony, high-class soap opera, but at least two of the characters manage to rise above the suds and fully engage our interest: Colette's Nina, whose paralyzing fear of commitment and of making life-altering mistakes threatens to leave her a bitter, lonely woman; and Dancy's Buddy, whose conflicted sexuality brings an unforeseen complexity and depth to the character. Most of the rest of the characters are considerably less interesting, including Ann (both the one in the present and the one in the past) whose personal revelations are supposed to be the glue holding this overpopulated story together. Harris is a particularly bland and uncharismatic figure for a man who is supposed to be such an irresistible magnetic attraction for at least three of the principal characters in the story.The burden of transferring Susan Manot's novel to the screen has fallen on the shoulders of director Lajos Koltai, whose metier seems to consist primarily of pretty landscapes, dusky lighting and tinkling pianos. And yet, amid all the soap opera trappings, the movie has some important things to say about not just letting go of the past but of having the courage to move into the future."Evening" is decidedly a mixed bag as far as movie-making and drama go, but the powerhouse performances (particularly by Collette, Richardson, Redgrave and Dancy) make for worthwhile viewing.
Spaceygirl The best thing about 'Evening' is Hugh Dancy and Patrick Wilson, both terrific actors, Dancy pitch perfect as an American . In fact, the youthful ensemble are universally appealing, Clare Danes and Mamie Gummer putting in affecting performances of life-long best friends. Toni Collete and Natasha Richardson play off well against each other as sisters, but it is Vanessa Redgrave and Meryl Streep in one scene that steal the show.What lets the movie down,however, is the script. Veering between over- dramatic and mawkishly sentimental it lets its outstanding cast down with every line. The settingis lovely though and the scenery gorgeous.