Evening: A tapestry of past and present

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***

I must admit to some shock at the mostly devastating criticism received by Evening (a 26% score on Rotten Tomatoes!), and I can't help feel that expectation has more than a little to do with this. Here is a "dream" cast by any literate moviegoer's standards: Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes, Eileen Atkins, Toni Collette, Natasha Richardson (Redgrave's daughter), Mamie Gummer (Streep's daughter), with Patrick Wilson and Hugh Dancy holding up the male side. Add, as the director, Lajos Koltai, one of the world's great cinematographers whose first directorial job resulted in the memorable, devastating, yet strangely beautiful Holocaust tale Fateless. Finalize with a screenplay by Susan Minot (from her well-regarded novel) and Michael Cunningham (the popular novels "A Home at the End of the World" and "The Hours"). How could expectations not be sky-high? And while there is reason for disappointment in the end result, there is also much to savor in this elegiac film.

Not having read Ms. Minot's novel, I can only comment on what the movie presents: a tapestry of past and present--woven quietly and with enormous beauty, if not quite as consistent as it could be--that confronts unrequited love for mate and career, parenting, loss, choices, mistakes and what you and your family have at the end of it all. These are not particularly happy themes, and atop Evening hangs a significant question: Can failure be avoided? If you're of, shall we say, a mature age, this will resonate. The younger among us may say, "Get on with it!" because the pacing here is indeed leisurely. And the screenplay--now we come to the crux of the matter--is not all it could be. The movie is set in two time periods, spanning some 50 years, and while the dialog in both sections seems real and properly attuned to its time ("Oh, my goodness!" shouts the young woman--twice--upon discovering the extent of the damage to a body in the road), it too-often sounds generic. Important scenes between pivotal characters, such as the half-sisters played by Richardson and Collette, as well-acted as they are, could have used better specificity in the dialog.

Still, the acting here--from everyone--is of such a fine grade that you can easily last through the occasional scene that doesn't quite make it. As the wealthy Newport matriarch Ms. Close gives the expected classy, brittle veneer. When this is broken by grief, the sounds that emanate from her are as devastatingly real and deep as they come. Streep does not appear until close to the end, and brings an instant, welcome charge to the proceedings. Playing the older version of the character her own daughter Gummer has so beautifully detailed as a girl too frightened to place her own needs above the desires of her parents, Streep brings such gravity, humor and reality to facing age and disappointment that it's bracing. Atkins shines; and one of her costumes, in particular, is a witty delight. Danes offers her youth and enthusiasm, as well as a fine singing voice, coming off as an excellent foil for the uptight Newport crowd. Redgrave has little to do but reminisce in and out of delirium, but of course she does it splendidly. Wilson, always a subdued performer, is even more so here as the son of the family's ex-housekeeper who has learned to know his place in this crowd--and so escape it. In cinema history, the character of the drunken son of a wealthy family has an illustrious provenance, harkening back to Cary Grant in Holiday. Mr. Dancy essays this role, and although he is saddled with some so-so dialog, he and Danes manage a scene in a darkened room that is quite wonderful. The actor makes the simple line "Can I have my note back?" utterly heartbreaking, a signal of his failure to move ahead. In his supporting role, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Live Free or Die) scores a touchdown as a man who stands by his woman, quietly. Scene after scene (I'm thinking of one in particular between Collette and Streep) appear chock full of the joy that acting in this sterling ensemble under a skilled, caring director must have aroused in the cast.

Evening is a not a great movie, but the good here most definitely outweighs the bad.

Extras include deleted scenes, a Making Of (called "Remembering Evening") that offers interesting commentary from much of the cast and crew, and "Adapting Evening" in which Minot, Cunningham and others explain the route from book to movie. Director Koltai receives some extraordinary praise in the course of these featurettes, much of it, I think, deserved. His tone, together with distanced visual compositions of both obvious and odd beauty (the kitchen scene near the close!) are remarkable. Credit must also be paid his fine cinematographer Gyula Pados (Fateless, Kontrol, The Heart of Me).