Word: ellen
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...film, based on a novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Anna Quindlen, zeroes in on a single American family and manages to weave a stunningly intricate emotional epic. Ellen Gulden, played by Renee Zellweger, is a reporter for a Manhattan magazine leading the frenzied life of a normal New Yorker (the recent trends of female heroines working as magazine editors is starting to become both annoying and disturbing). The main narrative unfolds in flashback, as Ellen is being questioned by a district attorney about the possibility that she assisted in her cancer-stricken mother's death. Through her answers...
...young Harvard graduate, for instance, Ellen feels pressured to live up to the expectations of her National Book Award-winning father George (even though he went to Yale). William Hurt, as George, offers us an almost totally inaccessible character. But Hurt's approach is perfectly metered; he sheds layer and layer of his mannered front to reveal a self-involved man who tries desperately to live up to Ellen's expectations...
...then, of course, there is Meryl Streep as Ellen's mother Kate, who inhabits a world completely alien to Ellen. Kate's world revolves around the home; when she's not baking or quilting, she's joining other women in planning cheery town projects. But there's more to Kate than arts and crafts--she keeps the house running, the bills paid, and the food coming without the least bit of help from Ellen or George. And most importantly, she loves her domesticity. Kate simply lights up at the thought of keeping Ellen comfortable or working on a "mosaic table...
...During Ellen's stay, however, she soon learns that her mother is facing a bout with cancer that has already spread. George asks her to return home to take care of her mother which she does, albeit grudgingly. Once in close proximity to Kate, however, Ellen's icy reserve begins to melt under her mother's sunshiny and loving presence. As Kate's health deteriorates, Ellen begins to realize how truly remarkable her mother is. "How do you do this?" she asks Kate, "without anyone ever knowing how hard it really...
...literally wears its audience down. In the hands of director Carl Franklin (One False Move, Devil in a Blue Dress), the movie achieves rich layers and dramatic tension solely because of character depth. Three separate stories--the connection between Kate and George, the evolving rapport of Kate and Ellen, the difficult relationship of Ellen and her father--weave together to create an endless array of emotional fireworks. Most impressively, Franklin's film transcends its simple narrative and makes the audience completely invest its emotions in the question of who exactly each character...