Reviews (90)

Worthy viewing, sharp look at class culture of the period
While you may find the story bleak going at times, the authentic period details and stunning homes of the time will keep your attention during the slower portions of this film. Gillian Anderson is surprisingly good in her role as Lily, a woman who is both naively unaware of the conventions and manners of the day as well as admirably independent in her own way. Unfortunately, Lily makes some mistakes which "compromise" her and set her course for life, a course that spirals steadily downward. What makes this movie particulary moving, to my mind, was watching Lily fall from a possible place in the upper classes, a place she was never sure she wanted in the first place. By the end of the movie, it is clear that she regrets her choice. A convincing portrait of a particular woman in a particular time, well-acted by Gillian Anderson. Strong supporting roles by Dan Ackroyd, Laura Linney, Eric Stoltz.

TRAGIC
....but not dreary
This film is MORE than pretty costumes and beautiful sets.
The acting on ALL PARTS is very good. Gillian Anderson surprised me, I like her in her role as Scully on the X-files but didn't expect her to pull this off...I was wrong

Based on a story by Edith Wharton, and set in New York in the early turn of the 20th century.
Gillian Anderson plays Lily Bart. She lives with her aunt who gives her a modest allowance. Lily has a taste for luxury and insists she pays her own way, she plays bridge for money, creating debts...she's very naive

She has many influencial suitors and could easily marry. But she's in love with Lawrence Selden (Stoltz) a lawyer. Who is equally in love with Lily, but neither seem to want to marry.

One of her suitors, a married investor "Gus" Trenor, offers to invest some money for her, ending with a sum of $9,000. She spends it, only to learn that it was actually his money. She can't do what he expects from her, so now she's in debt to him.

She becomes in posession of some letters which could be very damaging to her married friend Bertha Dorset (Linney) ; which Bertha had written to Lawrence Selden. Bertha seems to be in an unhappy marriage with her husband George, George tells Lily, if it wasn't for her he would had left Bertha long ago.

Tensions grow between Bertha & Lily, when Lily accompanies them on their yacht. Bertha goes off with a man and doesn't come back to the boat until 7.00 A.M. When Lily approaches her, Bertha turns on her and makes a scene at a dinner party, telling Lily she won't be allowed back on the yacht with her and George.

Her aunt dies and instead of leaving everything to Lily (like everyone expected) Lily only gets $10,000. Which will have to go directly to Mr. Trenor. Mr. Rosedale ( Anthony La Paglia) offers to marry her, only if she uses the letters against Bertha, which would "redeem" Lily in the eyes of her society..."It'd be so easy" she'd have Bertha in the palm of her hand.
She declines... Mr. Selden is also tied to the letters

She instead enters the working class, attempting apprenticeship at millinery, but that doesn't work. Mrs. Hatch takes her in to keep track of her appointments and fill her prescribtions, but lets her go; she fears Lily's reputation might taint her... Lily leaves Mrs Hatch but keeps one of her prescriptions......

Lily refuses all offers of help, even Mr. Rosedale's offer to pay off her debt to Mr. Trenor..she won't swallow her pride, and wants to go it alone.....to the tragic end...

Gillian Anderson is enjoyable, her portrayal is fresh & poignant . Laura Linney is always good, as is Eric Stoltz and Anthony La Paglia. Hopefully we will be seeing more of Gillian Anderson.

It IS a long movie just over 2 1/2 hours, but I hardly noticed. Perhaps not the kind of movie you could watch over and over. But it's a good movie.

Heartbreaking
Couldn't help but feel the pain that the heroine went through. Wonderful film. I was surprised by Gillian Anderson's suberb acting because I had only seen her in the television show "X-Files". I would recommend this film to anyone who is patient to watch this film and who has an appreciating for tragic stories.

Disappointing
It doesn't seem to matter how good a story is, and The house of Mirth is good, casting the right players makes the difference between great and dismal. Dan Akroyd seems to be reading his lines off a nearby wall. Gillian Anderson is beautiful but doesn't elicit sympathy for her role as 'heroine led astray'. Eric Stoltz is a fantastic actor but even he seems to struggle. The movie has sumptuous wardrobe and settings done with meticulous detail. Even so,it's hard to watch without wincing at Akroyd's embarrassing performance or hoping that the heroine falls in the mud.

Uneven performance
The biggest flaw to this movie is the uneven performance put up by Anderson. She is great in the first half an hour, but her performance degenerates into pity (much like the character she plays) and unconvincing for the rest of the film. Aykroyd just looks and acts ridiculous as the married seducer, probably the worst cast role in the film. For some reason I never developed a full sympathy for Lily Bart. It could have been a great film, but the rather theatrical direction leave the film cold. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Pretty much unlike anything else.
Someone I read somewhere mentioned Hou Hsiao-Hsien in reference to this film, and with good reason. Like many of the films of that fine director, Terence Davies' "The Long Day Closes" revels in unbelievably long takes and scenes that don't so much further a narrative as establish a sense of routine and rhythm. In fact, I'm not convinced I could make out any plot to speak of at all. There's something impressive about this. "The Long Day Closes" is a 'coming-of-age film' without any great traumas, without dead bodies, without pre-teen sexual experiences, without domestic abuse, and without any violence enacted on animals. Its just sort of a pleasant portrait. That's a good thing, and sets the film pretty much in a class all its own (though the film's almost five-minute-long unmoving close-up of the pattern of the carpet pretty much sets this film apart from everything else already). But for some reason "The Long Day Closes," which is a real formal wonder, fell flat for me. It wasn't so much the lack of drama, or the lack of narrative focus, but the unfortunate combination of the two. A film like Lynne Ramsey's "Ratcatcher" has a bit more oomph. More than that though, I think "Ratcatcher" just has more to say. The real failing of "The Long Day Closes" is not Davies' formal approach (that's near golden) or narrative style, but the fact the film just doesn't seem to have anything to say and is totally lacking in compelling content. And maybe that's not so terrible a thing, really. Its not ever an unpleasant ride. I wish I'd seen this film on the big screen. I have a hunch I would've liked it more in that setting. But watching this film at home I was impressed but ultimately fairly bored.

Moving Pictures
It is as though someone breathed life into a painting. This gorgeous film is what Angela's Ashes wanted to be.

Memorable Film Making
In the same vein as "The Secret Garden", "My life as a Dog", and even "Simon Birch". Excellent story telling and top notch performances with great cinematography. Just wish it was on DVD. Great fun that comes highly reccomended. And best of all, its from England so no subtitles or annoying overdubs! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Different Kind Of 'Musical'
For those not familiar with his work, Terence Davies (The Long Day Closes, Neon Bible) is more of a painter than a filmmaker, he just happens to use movies as his paint medium! So, in 'Distant Voices/Still Lives' we have a 'painterly' representation of a working-class family in Liverpool circa 1960. The story is told through the thoughts and memories of the various family members, all with different perspectives.

In my subject line, I call this movie a musical. That's because there are many scenes of the characters in pubs or at home, bursting into song, and usually the choice of song reflects the person's feelings at that moment. But these are not sequences like those you see in Musicals. There's no instrumental backing, the people are just singing out loud for their own entertainment & to offset the grim 'kitchen sink' reality of their family life.

I'd like to add that although Freda Dowie is listed as the star (and she IS a standout as the Mum), another actor who may be more familiar is the father, played by Pete Postlethwaite (Romeo + Juliet, Brassed Off). Although his character is frighteningly unsympathetic, it is a wonderful performance.

So, all in all, probably not everyone's cup of tea, but worth the effort if you want a riveting artistic & emotional experience. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Neglected Masterpiece
This beautiful and underrated film, ignored at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival in favor of bloated works like UNDERGROUND and ULYSSES'GAZE, and poorly distributed in the United States, may at least find some kind of audience on video. Fox/Lorber has offered both a letterboxed and pan and scan videotape of this film, although only the letterboxed version even remotely captures the original Panavision compositions essential to the experience of the film. Fox/Lorber has also made the film available on DVD. Unfortunately, their packaging gives no indication as to whether they have letterboxed the film for the disc or not. Both Amazon's listing as well as the listing for Ken Crane's laserdisc and DVD site describe the transfer as full frame, in this context meaning pan and scan. But, in fact, the disc has been letterboxed. Why Fox/Lorber has not indicated this is a mystery. Their transfer of the film is no more than adequate and in a manner that is consistent with their work in general. They are to be commended for releasing many obscure foreign titles but they often fail to do them justice visually. (Their transfer of de Oliveira's THE CONVENT to VHS, for example, is very careless.) THE NEON BIBLE appears to be transferred directly from their videotape master. No special care has been taken with the DVD. (If the proponents of DVD hope to convince the public of the superiority of its picture quality over VHS and laser they're going to have to do better than this kind of cheap and sloppy work.) Picture quality is OK (although the blacks lack the necessary deep saturation and the colors are not rich enough). Chapter stops are very skimpy (there are only eight) and poorly placed, with many major sequences (such as the song Gena Rowlands sings) not immediately accessible. Still, this is better than nothing and the disc at least gives a faraway impression of the quality of this extremely moving film. Fox/Lorber, please try harder.

impressionistic masterpiece
a dream film--haunting and sa

hell hath no fury like growing up in the south
God will save us all, if you want to be saved. The Neon Bible is an excellent rendition of what it is like to be taken to the tent for salvation. Growing up in an environment as this movie depicts will tell you why you might want to kill those who come to save you. Save you from what???? The acting was right on, this folks, is how it is in the backwoods, not only then but now. I felt like I was back home and glad I ran like hell. sorry! The young boy could have gone on to be a serial killer, who knows. Blood is thicker than water. I loved this film. It's bold, dark colors. It may seem slow to some but hit right home with me. Thank you Jesus!!!!

Wasted talent on a Borrrrring film...
There IS some talent at work here, but -MAN- does this need a heavy guiding hand...and...some serious editing. I just watched about three days of this movie, and still can't figure it out.

Gena does it again!!
The powerful novel written by 16-year-old John Kennedy Toole is brought to life in this likewise powerful movie about the life of a dysfunctional family in a small southern town during World War II. The focus of the story is shifted from the novel's young boy to the character of Aunt Mae, played by the inimitable Gena Rowlands, in an acting tour de force - ably supported by a cast of accomplished actors. The cinematography and editing are appropriately discomforting, making for an impact akin to an unexpected back-of-the-hand slap across the face. You won't be the same for a long time after seeing this one! ... Read more