Real-life mothers and daughters

by RICHARD JONES

HUNGARIAN cinematographer Lajos Koltai makes his directorial debut with Evening, a story about a woman on her deathbed recalling long lost memories.

Anne (Vanessa Redgrave) is attended by her daughters Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) and the older woman's dreams take us back 50 years to Anne's youth.

She mumbles the names of two men the girls have never heard of. During this long ago summer the young Anne (now played by Claire Danes) arrives in Newport for the wedding of her friend Lila (Mamie Gummer).

The men involved are Harris (Patrick Arden) and Lila's troubled brother (Hugh Dancy). The two present day daughters listen to these flashbacks unsure whether the stories they hear are real or just their mother reflecting on the "mistakes" she thinks she's made.

By contrast the older Lila (Meryl Streep) isn't yet ready for such remembering and, indeed, she never might be. Lila's reminiscences push away any lingering doubts and regrets.

The two real-life mother and daughter combinations on screen are Meryl Streep and Mamie Gummer, both of whom play Lila, and Vanessa Redgrave and Natasha Richardson.

21 September 2007

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