DVD Review: Great Acting Elevates ‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’

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CHICAGO – Is there anything more damaging to an actor’s performance than a Botox needle? It’s heartbreaking to see faces that were once so expressive become stiff and embalmed. Robin Wright is living proof that a naturally older appearance is infinitely preferable to a synthetically younger one. Her face has only gotten better with age, and has rarely been used to more mesmerizing effect than in “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.”

This is the fourth film written and directed by Rebecca Miller, a versatile artist whose work has always been provocative and insightful, though it often fails to coalesce into a satisfying whole. Miller based “Pippa Lee” off of her own novel, and there are moments when the film seems as uneven and unstable as its titular protagonist. Though it occasionally stumbles into overwrought waters, the film maintains a playful, off-kilter charm that is quite appealing.

DVD Rating: 3.5/5.0

Wright stars as a housewife quickly verging on a mid-life crisis. She speaks in soft, polite tones that sound as if they were preserved from childhood. Pippa’s aging husband (Alan Arkin) loves her, but the passion between them has long since died. Her daughter (Zoe Kazan) wants nothing to do with her, causing Pippa to reflect on the turbulent relationship she had with her own mother (Maria Bello). Miller poetically juxtaposes her heroine’s arrested coming-of-age with her current journey of self-discovery. It becomes apparent that Pippa’s comfortable, somewhat repressed lifestyle was a voluntary choice on her part. Wright brilliantly conveys the quiet desperation brewing beneath Pippa’s sunny, squeaky-clean demeanor. It’s like watching Vanna White have a nervous breakdown. As was also evidenced in recent gems such as Rodrigo Garcia’s “Nine Lives,” Wright’s angular face is capable of conveying nuances within nuances, as her restlessness and neuroses cause her to second-guess herself, sometimes between syllables.

Robin Wright and Keanu Reeves star in Rebecca Miller’s The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.
Photo credit: Screen Media Films

Miller’s dialogue is periodically guilty of being overwritten, most obviously when Pippa’s son (Ryan McDonald) calls her an “adaptable enigma” right off the bat. But there are other times when Miller finds the right words for the right moment, such as when Pippa recalls how her “mother’s moods ruled [her] life.” The visual and verbal poetry of Miller’s film could’ve become painfully pretentious in the hands of lesser actors, but what’s surprising is how nearly every member of the ensemble matches Wright. Though Blake Lively (of “Gossip Girl”) may seem like an odd choice to play the young Pippa, she fits the character beautifully, and actually starts to resemble Wright in her later scenes. Bello’s character is as destructive and tragic in her own way as Mo’Nique’s role in “Precious,” and offers the actress multiple chances to overact (most of which she resists, though she does capture the woman’s inherent theatricality).

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on March 2nd, 2010. Photo credit: Screen Media Films

Keanu Reeves has always fared best in wise airhead roles, and his role as Pippa’s tattooed love interest is no exception. Arkin is also perfectly cast, but it’s a shame that Miller couldn’t get a different actor for the flashbacks, instead of forcing the actor to wear a bad hairpiece. Kazan cements her status as one of our most promising young actresses, Julianne Moore has great fun as a ballsy lesbian photographer, and Winona Ryder delivers her best work in years (her character’s disintegration toward the end leads to some great cathartic laughs). The only actor wasted here is the ever-masochistic Monica Bellucci, whose key subplot supplies the film with its weakest material.

“The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” is presented in its 1.78:1 aspect ratio, and though it’s also available on Blu-Ray, the DVD’s picture quality is second to none. Miller ends up doing most of the talking on the audio commentary, while Wright occasionally interjects a revealing tidbit. The director discusses the difficulty of mixing Pippa’s flashbacks with her present-day life, and praises Wright for her subtle double takes and ability to silently portray Pippa’s empathy. Wright, in turn, praises Miller for cutting scenes before they become a cliché, and says that she approached an intimate moment with Reeves by portraying the experience of childbirth. There’s a fair amount of back-slapping on the commentary, but the majority of it is justified. Wright, Arkin and Lively also appear in brief interviews, answering lame questions with spirited sound bites.

By MATT FAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com matt@hollywoodchicago.com