Review summary
I left the The Private Lives of Pippa Lee feeling a bit thoughtful. I have a way to go before I'm 50, but I wondered what should I change, so that when I look back I'll be happy with the choices I've made or at least with the end result. This and questions like these are the questions Pippa Lee asks herself as she reflects on her life. The movie is a thoughtful 50-year old women coming of age story. This is not a warm and fuzzy film, but it not desperate and depressing either.
Throughout the film Pippa flashes back to the tangled, incongruous memories of her youth which led her to meeting her husband Herb Lee. It's easy to follow her story. There are moment, in which Pippa's naiveté is so well portrayed that one wonders how she survived her youth. But the movie only dabbles in the past. The real drama happens in Pippa's present. Over the course of the film, Pippa goes from being meek and submissive to being liberated if not yet strong.
The subtle twist are surprising and in one case disjointed. One of the memories is in the form of amnimation. Although the animation perfectly suits the moment and the emotion, it seems oddly out of place in a film that has no other animation. Overall the movie is more pro-active than sentimental. Alan Arkin is perfectly cast as Herb Lee. Keanue Reeves takes the impassive "not acting" approach which he is by now known for, but his performance strikes the right tone in the film. Winona Ryder is a bit over the top. But Robin Wright Penn makes it worth seeing.
Synopsis
From all outward appearances, Pippa Lee (Robin Wright Penn) leads a charmed existence. She is the devoted wife of her accomplished publisher husband Herb Lee (Alan Arkin) thirty years her senior, the proud mother of two grown children, and a trusted friend and confidant to all who cross her path. But as Pippa dutifully follows her husband to a new life in a staid Connecticut retirement community, her idyllic world and the persona she has built over the course of her marriage will be put to the ultimate test. In truth, looks are deceiving, and this picture-perfect woman has seen more than her fair share of turmoil in her youth. Embarking on a bittersweet journey of self-discovery, accompanied by a new, strange and soulful acquaintance, Pippa must now confront both her volatile past and the hidden resentment of her seemingly perfect life in order to find her true sense of self.
Cast (in credit order)
Robin Wright Penn (Pippa Lee), Alan Arkin (Herb Lee), Keanu Reeves (Chris Nadeau), Winona Ryder (Sandra Dulles), Ryan McDonald (Ben Lee), Dr. Cornelius West (Don Sexton), Maria Bello (Suky Sarkissian)
Release Date: 12 December 2009 (SF Bay Area, limited), 27 November, 2009 (USA, limited) and 11 October 2009 (Mill Valley Film Festival). Directed by Rebecca Miller; written by Rebecca Miller (book/screenplay), full cast and credits; released by Screen Media Films. Running time: 99 minutes; MPAA Rating: PG; genre: Drama, Romance and Adaptation.
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