Keanu gets his shirt off. (The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee (DVD))

Member Name: FairyG

Product:	The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee (DVD)
Date:	31/07/09 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautifully performed. A sad-romantic story.

Disadvantages: None.

This is based on the novel by Rebecca Miller, who was also directed the film and wrote the screenplay.

Fifty year old Pippa Lee (Robin Wright Penn) has just moved to a retirement community in Connecticut with her husband Herb (Alan Arkin) who is thirty years older. During a housewarming dinner with friends and family we quickly find out her whole marriage has been spent being the perfect housewife and assistant while he follows a successful literary career. Now she is the carer for her aging husband who has recently had a series of heart attacks. She also has words of wisdom for her friend Sandra (Winona Ryder) who is going through a marriage crisis.

But who is Pippa Lee really? She seems be living out the role that is expected of her but her smile is forced and her eyes are empty. This is clearly not the life she wants for herself, and nobody seems to realize. Slowed down by life in retirement, it seems Pippa has nothing more to do than wait for her husband to die, as he inevitably will before her. She begins to have a nervous breakdown in the form of sleepwalking, which leads her into some very strange and interesting behavior. Pippa reflects back on her life and the events since her teenage years which brought her to this. We see events in flashback as the young Pippa (Blake Lively) tries to break away from a destructive relationship with her emotionally unstable mother Suky (Maria Bello). But as we learn more about her past, Pippa's present day breakdown progresses.

It seems to be a hopeless situation, until she encounters Chris (Keanu Reeves), the son of a neighbor who is staying there after his own relationship breakdown. Although he is around fifteen years younger than herself she seems to see something in the enigmatic and soulful Chris that resonates with her. Something seems to subtly awaken inside her, and people start to notice she's looking younger. But where will it all lead?

Robin Wright Penn is excellent as the emotionally repressed Pippa. She successfully portrays a woman who's doing one thing whilst feeling another. She dresses all in beiges, almost blending in with the soft colours of her retirement home, as if she's about to disappear entirely. There's a fragile, aging beauty about her. She seems about to slip effortlessly into old age, but there's a sense of suppressed sexuality raging to get out. It's clear that none of that is going to be answered by her husband.

Blake Livelyis good as the rebellious young Pippa but less gripping as a character than the mature one, perhaps because at this point she is easily led and allows herself to be pushed and pulled around according to what people want from her. She's a blank slate in a way. However there's enough of a likeness between them for her to be acceptable as a younger version. We see in a brief but cleverly done montage how the younger woman is transformed into the older, more repressed one. However, it's Mario Bello as her drug addled mother who really carries the flashback scenes with her bizarre manic depressive behavior.

Alan Arkin has just the right kind of worn, hangdog look for the husband used to a successful and busy metropolitan life, now condemned to checking his blood pressure if anything too exciting happens. He doesn't play this with quite so much of the deliciously dour humour he usually brings to a role, as in Sunshine Cleaning for instance. In this one he's more serious and self absorbed, but the humour does come through at times. He's just a selfish old man really, too embittered at the fact that he finally got old to notice what's eating away at his wife. It's noticeable that he kisses her on the forehead rather than the lips. His relationship with her seems to have become fatherly, and he resents that she sees him as old.

Keanu Reeves plays an impenetrable character, described as 'half baked' who seems to have some of the characteristics of Aspergers. He seems unable to tell a lie and is strangely reserved and unresponsive in the face of Pippa's emotional volatility. Reeves is renowned for his inexpressive acting, which seems to irritate some people, but he's actually a good choice for this. His strange and enigmatic portrayal works very well for the role of Chris, who has a huge tattoo of Christ on his chest after a phase of wanting to be a priest. He seems to be the only one who has no expectations of Pippa and she can therefore be herself.

Winona Ryder puts in a vivid performance as the overemotional Sandra, given to outbursts of dramatic and tearful behavior. She doesn't feature much, but she's actually quite funny in her over-the-top nuttiness, which makes a refreshing contrast to all the tautly held reserve we see from Pippa. She's not greatly likeable but it's hard not to feel sympathy for her. Perhaps what makes her funny is that we all probably know someone like that, who goes into total meltdown when things go wrong and attracts all the attention to themselves.

This is a film that belongs very much in the genre of Revolutionary Road and Sunshine Cleaning. They're all about women who seem to be sleepwalking through life then suddenly seem to look around and find themselves unexpectedly living a life they hadn't envisioned for themselves.

It's a film I very much enjoyed. The characters were all interesting and well developed. Although I know a lot of people don't rate Keanu Reeves very highly as an actor, some of his scenes with Robin Wright Penn were a joy to watch. In spite of her visible wrinkles (no sign of botox there) she exudes suppressed sexuality that makes their attraction to each other entirely plausible in spite of the age difference. There seems to be an understated chemistry going on between them that bursts out unexpectedly and breathtakingly at times (he appears to be left handed by the way... enough said about that!)


It sounds a very predictable plot, and in some ways it is, but along the way there are a few unexpected twists and turns. I'm sure there will be the usual grumbles about Keanu Reeves so called 'wooden' acting, but I don't care. It's usually men, who I suspect are probably just deeply envious that he's the most gorgeous man on the planet.

Certificate 15
Running time: 98 minutes
Director: Rebecca Miller

Summary: A lovely story, about the secrets of the past.