'Hilary and Jackie' hashes empty family feud

COURTESY OCTOBER FILMS The Du Pré sisters (Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths) really want to reach out and touch you, but Frank Cottrell Boyce's hackneyed script just won't let them.

Hilary and Jackie is a film composed of impressive parts that remains, on the whole, a surprisingly empty experience.

Director Anand Tucker's film tells the story of Jacqueline Du Pré (Emily Watson), an acclaimed cellist who died of multiple sclerosis in 1987. The bulk of the plot concerns her relationship with her older sister Hilary, convincingly portrayed by Rachel Griffiths. The movie recounts their lives, beginning with Hilary's early success on the flute and Jackie's later brilliance on the cello.

Jackie's fame eventually eclipses Hilary's achievements. Retiring from the spotlight, Hilary meets Kiffer (David Morrissey), also a musician. They marry and move to the country, providing Hilary with her first true taste of happiness. But trouble comes when Jackie moves in with them and convinces Hilary to let her sleep with Kiffer. Jackie takes over Hilary's place as the wife and mother of the family for a time before leaving and going back to her life as a musician. She remains unhappy, befuddled by the dwindling of her cello skills, finally discovering she has multiple sclerosis. The last section of the film portrays her physical degeneration and her reconciliation with Hilary.

This latter portion of the film is divided into two parts, one entitled "Hilary," the other "Jackie." Each section covers the same time period from the perspective of one sister. While this seems like an intriguing narrative device--one that is heavily indebted to Orson Welles and Quentin Tarantino--the complex time structure is only a superficial gesture, a clear indication that Tucker favors meaningless stylization over emotional depth.

The relationship between Hilary and Jackie remains complex throughout the film. The scene in which Jackie asks to sleep with Hilary's husband is by far the most bizarre, suggesting how complicated the sisters' bond really is. Yet the film does not sufficiently explain how their relationship formed and evolved, rendering this potentially shattering scene flat and unconvincing. Hilary and Jackie is filled with such missed opportunities, including a closing scene in which Jackie encounters her younger self on the beach. What could have served as a dazzling coda is rendered powerless by the film's inability to engage the viewer's emotions.

This is not to say that there is nothing praiseworthy about Hilary and Jackie. Tucker's direction is confident, and he establishes a unique style that he maintains throughout the film. Tucker uses the camera to stalk up to a scene, beginning on its outskirts and steadily closing in on the object of his interest. The camera's slow push toward a central image foreshadows and parallels Jackie's inevitable crawl toward death. Tucker also repeatedly swirls the camera in a 360-degree pan around Jackie when she plays the cello, as if creating a protective shell--a powerful visual metaphor for the immunity from life's complications Jackie achieves when she plays.

Unfortunately, screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce has clearly seen every musical-prodigy and disease-of-the-week movie and has recycled all the conventions of these genres into his trite script. The performances of the lead actresses are effective and well-executed, but they are constrained by the clichéd dialogue. Watson does a good job in a role where the jump from tormented genius to martyr is almost instantaneous. Again, the lack of emotional complexity kills what would otherwise be a moving portrait of the real Jacqueline Du Pré.

Griffiths is more uniformly successful because she has the less flamboyant role. She conveys her anguish or joy subtly, with the lifting of an eyebrow or the twitch of a lip. Her journey from forgotten sister to happily married woman to jilted lover hints at the makings of a far better film. Morrissey is commendable as Kiffer, although his good-humored performance seems more suited to a lighter-hearted film.

Hilary and Jackie bodes well for the futures of Tucker, Watson, Griffiths, and Morrissey. The three actors inhabit their roles admirably and acquit themselves decently considering the poor quality of the script, while the director reveals a talent for artful camera work. Hopefully, the next collaboration of these talented artists will yield better results.

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