.
"Everything in fiction is a tool: pain, betrayal, even death. These are, you know, these are like, uh, different colors on a painter's palette. You need to use them."
Despite moving to a waterfront home on Long Island, children's book writer and illustrator Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges) and his wife Marion (Kim Bassinger) still cannot deal with their grief for their two teenage sons who died in a tragic accident. Little Ruthie (Elle Fanning), even though she was born well after the boys' deaths, is obsessed with them because her father constantly tells her stories about the boys when they were little and shows Ruthie the many framed photos of the boys that line the halls and walls of their home.
It's difficult for Marion to be a good mother for Ruthie because Marion, too, is obsessed with the boys and is often in near catatonic depression. When hard-drinking, womanizing Ted announces that he wants a trial separation for the summer, he hires Eddie O'Hare (Jon Foster), one of the boys' classmates from Exeter, to be his assistant. His plan is to use Eddie as a pawn to further corrupt the marriage. As he hoped, Marion takes Eddie as a lover.
Also appearing are John Rothman as Eddie's father; Bijou Phillips as the nanny Alice; Mimi Rogers as Evelyn Vaughn, one of Ted's models; and Louis Arcella as Evelyn's gardener.
Based on the first third of John Irving's novel, Widow for a Year, and directed by Tod Williams.
Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rated R for strong sexuality and graphic images, and language.
My personal rating: B
Despite moving to a waterfront home on Long Island, children's book writer and illustrator Ted Cole (Jeff Bridges) and his wife Marion (Kim Bassinger) still cannot deal with their grief for their two teenage sons who died in a tragic accident. Little Ruthie (Elle Fanning), even though she was born well after the boys' deaths, is obsessed with them because her father constantly tells her stories about the boys when they were little and shows Ruthie the many framed photos of the boys that line the halls and walls of their home.
It's difficult for Marion to be a good mother for Ruthie because Marion, too, is obsessed with the boys and is often in near catatonic depression. When hard-drinking, womanizing Ted announces that he wants a trial separation for the summer, he hires Eddie O'Hare (Jon Foster), one of the boys' classmates from Exeter, to be his assistant. His plan is to use Eddie as a pawn to further corrupt the marriage. As he hoped, Marion takes Eddie as a lover.
Also appearing are John Rothman as Eddie's father; Bijou Phillips as the nanny Alice; Mimi Rogers as Evelyn Vaughn, one of Ted's models; and Louis Arcella as Evelyn's gardener.
Based on the first third of John Irving's novel, Widow for a Year, and directed by Tod Williams.
Run time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Rated R for strong sexuality and graphic images, and language.
My personal rating: B
