I've been waiting to watch this year's star-studded soap for some time, and a holiday weekend pushed me right in. There's always at least one -- an glamorous vehicle for major stars to do the easy crap usually offered on daytime networks -- and this year it boasts Michelle Williams and Julianne Moore. What's not to like, right? Turns out there's a lot to be desired in the latest from Bart Freundlich, who is apparently married to Julianne Moore, but I've never seen any of his other films. And now I probably won't.
Isabel (Williams) is the American founder and manager of an orphanage in India; we meet her as she travels to New York to meet Theresa (Moore), a potential major donor to her cause. Isabel seems more than a little anxious at having to leave her chosen home, and more than a little annoyed at having to justify Theresa's charitable giving. The film feels too pristine, too rich; the kind of bourgeois arthouse film that a wealthy film student might have made for his thesis. Everything is soft light, shining surfaces, tastefully simple decor; most of the film takes place in rich people's houses and offices where panoramic views through floor-to-ceiling glass reveal cityscapes or private estates. Make no mistake, this is a movie about sad rich white people who try to do the right thing but can't quite manage to escape themselves.
There's not much plot, but the film is determined to eke a few gasps from you on its way to an underwhelming climax. Structured much like a soap opera, the story works through revelations and confrontations to reveal that Isabel was once in love with Theresa's husband Oscar (Billy Crudup) and that together they had a daughter. Isabel, not ready to be a mother, gave her child up for adoption and left for India; Oscar fell in love with his baby and kept her, named her Grace, and didn't tell Isabel of these changes in his life. Theresa became a mother to Grace, and the weekend of Isabel's arrival is of course the weekend of Grace's wedding. On top of it all, Theresa has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has a few months to live.
I think somewhere in all this mess could have been a moving story about motherhood; Isabel is ironically a great foster mother to many dozens (if not hundreds) of children in India, and Theresa has clearly been a good mother to her non-biological daughter. In the same vein, it could have been a biting critique of the demands we put on mothers, and how even an unfit mother, once given a time and place to enact motherhood on her own terms, can far exceed our societal expectations. Unfortunately, these are not thematic concerns with this film, and actually motherhood itself is largely invisible here, betrayed by a surprising lack of interaction between either mother and Grace.
Another lens on this film might reveal the disturbing ways rich people commodify and control the lives of people they deem beneath themselves. Theresa summons Isabel to a place she intentionally left and all but forces her to beg for this large donation. But because it's in the name of charity, we're supposed to go along with it? Similarly, Isabel's seeming generosity towards Indian children is bankrupt when she's faced with her former lover and alienated daughter, and she is suddenly ferociously selfish. The film becomes a sort of catfight between the three leads over secrets and lies, but it's all done in such a Hallmark style that we never see much of the fighting itself. The scene cuts right before the climactic arguments and resumes shortly afterward, debilitating any emotional response the film might possibly elicit.
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