Hilary and Jackie (1998)

the audience applauded

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The du Pré sisters are exceedingly close and musical child prodigies. Younger sister Jacqueline (Emily Watson) becomes a famous globe-traveling cellist. On the other hand, Hilary (Rachel Griffiths) struggles under a strict demeaning teacher and loses all of her confidence. She marries the charming Kiffer Finzi (David Morrissey) and lives an ordinary live. Jacqueline marries Jewish pianist Daniel Barenboim (James Frain).The sisters and their relationship are fascinating no matter how real to their true lives. They're brought to life by two of the best actresses around. To top it off, I love the Rashômon style of storytelling. The two different takes on the events are compelling and heart breaking. The last act is a bit too long. It would have been better to wrap up the movie quicker after Jacqueline leaves the country home.

It is the almost-bio-pic of British Cellist Jacqueline Du Pre (1945-1987) and her elder sister Hilary (a Flutist). It's about the true love the sisters had for each other and how fate lifted Jacqueline to the top of fame while pushing Hilary to the bottom of it and how it affected their lives. Though the movie is about a great, talented musician Jacqueline, it is not a musical film.I haven't seen such a good real-life-account for a long time. This one is very truthful and not deviating from real-life emotions. The movie is based on the book written by Hilary. There are controversies over this book raised by Jacqueline's fans about her depiction.The movie is mostly the events, emotions and psychological account of its characters Jackie and Hilary. It's a bit of a musical too with some good sound tracks. Jackie (Emily Watson) is the star performer (even on the screen). Hilary comes next. The director has amazingly made this account. When we see Hilary's account we could feel a crushed musician's sadness and when we see Jackie's account we could feel the loneliness and the complex love of Jacqueline with her Cello as well as her sister Hilary.If you are Jacqueline's fan you can watch it only if you don't expect any musical treats of her from the film. As I am not a classical music guy I do not know what I missed about her music.Watch this powerful emotional tragic story.

As a child Hilary was the talented musician on the flute and the younger Jacqueline was encouraged to keep up if she wanted to accompany her sister on trips to musical events. So Jackie practiced hard on her cello to do so, gradually becoming better than her sister. As adults Hilary is now very much in the shadow of her brilliant sister Jackie, who is booked solid for shows. However where Hilary finds happiness and support from her partner and husband Kiffer, Jackie grows increasingly isolated from others. The pair's relationship drifts apart but comes together again to produce one traumatic moment in their relationship.I'm sure it has been done many times but I still found this film's structure to be pretty clever. The central traumatic act in the narrative occurs halfway through the film; up until then we follow things from Hilary's point of view and then in the second half we jump backwards and work up to it again (and beyond) from Jacqueline's (more or less). The effect is that the first half of the film is engaging as it develops along lines we don't know while the second film is engaging as it underpins the reasons for Jacqueline's character and where she goes from there. I put of watching the film because I had no knowledge of the characters and no real interest in their music, however now that I have watched it I am glad I did as it is well made and interesting. It is very character driven and evenly paced, which will annoy some viewers but for me it worked really well and produced a story that didn't require you to know the people involved because you felt you did by the end.Watson leads the cast really well, bringing out the innocent of her character as easily as she does the spite within Jackie. Griffiths yet again shows her talent in taking on yet another accent and strange character and pulling it off. They work well together although their best scenes are early on. Support is good from Frain, Morrissey, Dance, Imrie and others but the film is lead well by the main two actresses who work well with the material given them.Overall this is a well paced film that will annoy some but is heavy in quality. The character development in the script is strong and the cast respond well to it. Tucker controls it all well with a good eye for a scene and some imaginative visual touches and brings out a film that is well-structured and engaging even if it won't be to everyone's tastes.

I have before me a 1965 vinyl LP record with a beautiful portrait of the then twenty-year-old Jacqueline du Pré and her cello. On it she plays the Elgar and Delius Cello Concertos, classics in her repertoire which have never been bettered. Indeed, years later, the "gran maestro" Mstislav Rostropovich on being asked why was it that he had never made a recording of the Elgar Concerto, said that a young English woman had already made the definitive version to which he had nothing to add. I also have various remastered CD recordings - with or without her then husband, Daniel Barenboim as accompanying pianist or orchestra conductor, ranging from Paradis and Saint-Saëns to Fauré, Franck and Dvorák, as well as Sir Edward Elgar's beautiful "Enigma Variations".Jacqueline du Pré was born just a few months before me and we thus celebrate 60 years on this iniquitous planet. Which is the best that can be said about the film "Hilary and Jackie" - iniquitous, "gross", vulgar............ When I learned she had got multiple sclerosis and had stopped playing her cello, I cried for a week; and when she finally died, another week. She shall be remembered for her exquisite music, not for the trashy version of a film like this one.I am sorry, but I just could not bear seeing the film to the end. It had nothing to do with the Jacqueline du Pré whom I loved as a sensitive, intelligent, brilliant musician. Everything which this film lacks.As the Spanish actor Paco Rabal once said: No god could be so cruel.This film is cruel.Even today, I show the LP recording with the beautiful portrait to my teenage students in an endeavour (mostly wasted) to persuade them to stop picking their noses.I give this film a three out of ten - ONLY because there are fragments of her own music in it; as for the rest of the film - ZERO.