The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) syarring Robin Wright, Alan Arkin, Blake Lively, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Mike Binder directed by Rebecca Miller Movie Review

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Robin Wright as Pippa Lee in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)

Who is Pippa Lee?

Who is Pippa Lee? I don't think she even knows after a curious life which has seen being a hairy baby to the wife of an older man with a heart condition but it is her life which is the story of "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee". Written and directed by Rebecca Miller "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is basically a whimsical journey through the life of the fictitious Pippa Lee who having found herself moving to a retirement facility with her older husband finds herself reminiscing about her life. Now this is one beautiful movie, the cast is beautiful, the acting is beautiful, the cinematography is beautiful and the performance from Robin Wright is more than beautiful but. Yes there is a but because whilst we have this whimsical tale it is disjointed and ultimately seems pointless as we just have the fictitious Pippa Lee and her curious life.

Having moved to a retirement community for the sake of her older husband Herb (Alan Arkin - Marley & Me), Pippa Lee (Robin Wright - Message in a Bottle) finds herself with time on her hands leading to not only some strange behaviour as she starts sleep walking but also reminiscing about her life from being a hairy baby to how she met and fell in love with Herb. But also in the community is Chris (Keanu Reeves - The Day the Earth Stood Still) who having found his wife having an affair is living in his parents spare room and feels just as wrong living in a world of old people as does Pippa.

Blake Lively and Alan Arkin in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)

I will be honest as I am not entirely sure what the point of "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is, is it about Pippa not knowing who she is and finding herself trying to discover who the real Pippa Lee is or is it just an account of Pippa's whimsical life. I am not sure and I wouldn't be surprised if there was another explanation to what this movie's aims are other than to entertain as I am sure it has some deeper context because the actual writing and the drama is not just thrown together. But as such what we get is this story which flicks between Pippa now in a marriage to Herb which has become cold and the story of how she got there and whilst amusing especially Pippa's early years it is a disjointed series of events in her life.

The thing is that whilst the story to "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" lost me the actual movie is so well put together and the look of it is brilliant. There are numerous beautifully framed shots which radiate warmth and watching the actual changing look of Pippa as her friendship with Chris makes her feel young is beautiful. In fact visually I can't fault it and every single scene; especially the flashbacks have such visual depth.

We also have well defined characters and there is not an unimportant character in the movie including those which you initially wonder what their point is. In fact the eclectic bunch of characters allow for some pleasant surprises and with each one being more than just flat makes every scene interesting even if the bigger picture never reveals itself.

And on the subject of characters we have a lot of good performances from Alan Arkin as Herb to Blake Lively as the young Pippa. But the star of "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is Robin Wright who delivers such a magnificent performance making Pippa this enigma but a woman we warm to, fall in love with as her life takes strange turns both in the now and in the past. And the way she comes to life, looking younger and younger is magnificent. It is because of Wright's performance more than anything else that "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" keeps you watching when you have long stopped trying to figure out the point of it all.

What this all boils down to is that "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is entertaining but entertaining for being beautiful, whimsical and featuring brilliant performances especially that of Robin Wright. But from a storyline point of view, other than being a bit amusing it doesn't feel like it has a point and because there is so much depth it feels like there must be.

Tags: Age Gap Romances


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