The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)

Directed by: Rebecca Miller | 100 minutes | drama | Actors: Robin Wright, Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, Alan Arkin, Winona Ryder, Maria Bello, Monica Bellucci, Zoe Kazan, Mike Binder, Ryan McDonald, Blake Lively, Drew Beasley, Christin Sawyer Davis, Tim Guinee, Madeline McNulty, Bekcett Melville Adam Shonkwiler, Robin Weigert, Cornelius West, Audrey Lynn Weston, Teresa Yenque, Andrew Stephen Bradley, Edie Hofstatter, Harry L. Seddon

‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’ tells an old story of identity and transformation. A serious girl who has a love/hate relationship with her unstable mother turns as an adolescent into a pill-swallowing and bouncing loose cannon. Her life takes another U-turn when she marries a much older publisher, turning into a model wife and model mother. Until she discovers that she has never been herself when she is fifty, tucked away prematurely in a luxurious retirement colony. In fact, she has no idea who she actually is. So she goes looking for the lost time.

To make such a story even more interesting, you have to have the talent of Rebecca Miller. The American writer/actress/cinema already showed a strong personal style in her previous films, ‘Personal Velocity’ and ‘The Ballad of Jack and Rose’. Those films had something slightly eccentric, light enough to end up in the attractive twilight zone between arthouse and mainstream. In ‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’ that eccentricity is mainly due to the elusive character of the title heroine. But the other characters also deviate slightly from the usual. It gives the characters something authentic, without immediately being full-blooded eccentrics.

Another strong point is the dosed alternation of drama and humor. Much more than in Miller’s previous films, there is much to laugh about in this one. It is humor of the intelligent kind, which makes fun of the characters and thus puts their concerns and actions into perspective. The kind of humor where someone is patched up after a suicide attempt with a silly first aid kit and a few soothing words.

Then there’s the sounding cast. Many famous names, of whom Julianne Moore and Winona Ryder in particular enjoy themselves in their respective roles of kinky writer and psychological wreck. Robin Wright Penn convinces as the older version of the title heroine, with an appearance as sympathetic as it is absent-minded. Yet it is Blake Lively who steals the show as the younger version. Young Pippa Lee is simultaneously naive, dopey and horny, and Lively manages to convincingly portray this deadly blend.

With ‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’ Rebecca Miller adds a fine film to a fine oeuvre. An adult drama that is never heavy on the stomach and is captivating from the first to the last minute. Not heavenly, but very pleasant.