A movie about a man, David, who lost his wife, the love of his life, Gillian, in an accident. Unable to cope with the loss, David clings on to his memory of her, talking to her at night, as if she is right in front of him, out on the beach, up to and beyond the point that his daughter and friends notice, become aware and worry.
The movie script apparently has been developed from a stage play and the movie somehow preserves the atmosphere of a stage play indeed. I think this is actually welcome: it allows us to watch the scenes, instead of being totally immersed in them. In my experience of this movie, it doesn't make this movie remote; it makes it merciful, given the fact that it actually addresses a struggle with unbearable loss.
The script develops the characters and their interactions. All very well understood and performed by the actors, who together carry the story and its theme.
But transcending all this are the scenes of David and Gillian alone together. The scenes in which Michelle Pfeiffer portrays the mental images of a man's beloved late wife, are true treasures of cinema. Her first appearance in a moonlit scene out on the sandy beach is as ethereal as was her entrance as Isabeau of Anjou, the lady of the night, in 'Lady Hawke'. In 'To Gillean', nearly all Pfeiffer's performances are dialogues, between David and his lively imagined, but passed away, Gillean. And as she does, as an actress, Pfeiffer becomes her character. But in this particular role, this transcends portraying a real human being. Pfeiffer portrays the desperately lively image of a deceased, much loved wife, in a widower's mind. This movie offers unique scenes of hauntingly beautiful moonlit acting, captured on film.
The movie script apparently has been developed from a stage play and the movie somehow preserves the atmosphere of a stage play indeed. I think this is actually welcome: it allows us to watch the scenes, instead of being totally immersed in them. In my experience of this movie, it doesn't make this movie remote; it makes it merciful, given the fact that it actually addresses a struggle with unbearable loss.
The script develops the characters and their interactions. All very well understood and performed by the actors, who together carry the story and its theme.
But transcending all this are the scenes of David and Gillian alone together. The scenes in which Michelle Pfeiffer portrays the mental images of a man's beloved late wife, are true treasures of cinema. Her first appearance in a moonlit scene out on the sandy beach is as ethereal as was her entrance as Isabeau of Anjou, the lady of the night, in 'Lady Hawke'. In 'To Gillean', nearly all Pfeiffer's performances are dialogues, between David and his lively imagined, but passed away, Gillean. And as she does, as an actress, Pfeiffer becomes her character. But in this particular role, this transcends portraying a real human being. Pfeiffer portrays the desperately lively image of a deceased, much loved wife, in a widower's mind. This movie offers unique scenes of hauntingly beautiful moonlit acting, captured on film.