Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates shine in their weighty roles but the story gives almost no depth for the character Laura Linney plays. She has been treated horribly decades ago, left Ireland and gone to America. Upon return, she is civil, even kind to those who turned on her. I could not sense her motivations except in the most general and superficial way (mother has died). What brought her to this point? Laura Linney has a genuine appeal, but she was given far too little to balance the intense and complex depth for the characters played by the other two stars.
The device of having three difficult marriages with varying degrees of strife that were healed by the wives going to Lourdes was incredibly cliched and absolutely unreal. I guarantee that the glow of the return would be lucky to last more than 48 hours, despite the implied promise of "forever after."
And the sweet moment with the mute child finally spoke vanished in a flash.
The device of having three difficult marriages with varying degrees of strife that were healed by the wives going to Lourdes was incredibly cliched and absolutely unreal. I guarantee that the glow of the return would be lucky to last more than 48 hours, despite the implied promise of "forever after."
And the sweet moment with the mute child finally spoke vanished in a flash.