DVD REVIEW: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)

WOMAN ON THE VERGE

Sometimes the value of a film is greater than the sum of its parts and often, the credit goes to the actors who keep it all together. Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is one such film, boasting of a fantastic ensemble cast headed by the ever-dependable Robin Wright Penn. She's Pippa, a 50-ish wife who appears to be sleepwalking (literally and metaphorically) through her life with her publisher husband Herb (Alan Arkin), 30 years her senior, in a quiet Connecticut neighbourhood. Pippa appears stable, plays the perfect hostess, takes good care of her husband (he's survived three heart attacks) and tries to manage her relationship with two odd-ball kids (the son is a geeky law student, the daughter a photographer who relishes conflict situations and hates her mother). And yet, because of the way Wright Penn plays her from the opening moments, you know her nerves are on edge. 

The film then dives into a flashback narrative of her life's story and another saga of dysfunctional American families unfolds. Her mother (brilliantly dotty Maria Bello) is high on 'thyroid medication' and displays dramatic mood swings, while her pastor father pontificates stiltedly on life and such. Naturally, young Pippa (played as a spaced-out hippie by Blake Lively) is dying to run away from home, and eventually does, taking refuge with her aunt Trish (Robin Weigert) who has a bohemian live-in girlfriend (Julianne Moore, brilliant in a small cameo) whom Pippa takes an instant liking to. She continues drifting aimlessly through life till she latches on to Herb and settles down to being his third wife.

Cut to the present, where her neighbour's freaky son Chris (Keanu Reeves with a Jesus tattoo on his chest) has returned home after wandering aimlessly in the aftermath of a broken marriage. When Chris and Pippa meet, we get a drift of where the story's headed -- revival, resurrection, call it what you like. While nothing really comes as a surprise -- and really, these characters seem entirely bookish in their oddities -- there's a certain charm to them nevertheless. Everyone borders on the hysterical -- a bit like the suburban family in American Beauty. And in that they seem wholly unnatural as a group. 

But you still like Pippa and her mother and even Pippa's friend, the strange Sandra (Winona Ryder) who seems perpetually weepy. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is rescued from its predictability by its cast, notably Bello, Moore, Arkin and Reeves (yes, his deadpan face actually serves a purpose, for a change). But mostly it's about Robin Wright Penn's guileless, deeply felt act that somehow escaped the notice of the Oscar committee. Wouldn't be the first time a great performance has gone unrewarded either.

Comments

[Deepa Deosthalee]

Ha Ha! No it's not. But Winona is getting typecast as the hysterical/psycho woman. BTW, I borrowed the film from my DVD library. So it'll go back today. :(

[Vikram Phukan]

I was really looking forward to this film. I must borrow it off you. But you know I was really hoping for a more substantial part for Winona Ryder. She is an actress I really like, we practically grew up together, but she got black-listed after that unfortunate shop-lifting incident. I take it that 'the strange Sandra who seems perpetually weepy but whom you still like' is not an indictment.