To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996)

David Lewis (Peter Gallagher) lost his wife Gillian (Michelle Pfeiffer) two years ago in a boating accident. He is now angry and won't get over her. It's the traditional weekend Gillian's birthday bash, and they're still carry out the tradition. Her sister Esther Wheeler (Kathy Baker) and her husband Paul (Bruce Altman) wrangle Kevin Dollof (Wendy Crewson) to join them. Meanwhile her daughter Rachel (Claire Danes) brings her sexy friend Cindy (Laurie Fortier) to the beach house, and catches the attention of mystery boy Joey Bost (Freddie Prinze Jr.)Adapted from a play by David E. Kelley, this has the feel of a talkative play at times. The great thing in this movie is the great actors involved. They bring the characters to life. The only exception may be Wendy Crewson who seems to be overwhelmed and underwhelming. The weakest part of the movie is actually the conversations with Gillian. They're bland and drags the movie down. It's better to not see the conversations and just imagine them. It would be so much better to see him walking around talking to himself. It would elevate the mental illness angle, and make the danger of losing Rachel even greater.

This was one of my favorite movies ever. I watched it once and was curiously confused by the twists and uncertainties in the plot. Then I watched it again and I cried more than I have ever cried in my life. I quietly bawled, tears flowing, through the entire movie. I have recommended it to many people as a great movie, but I don't know of anyone who has seen it. I think I will go look online and see if I can buy it. It is deep, deep, deep, especially for people with mental illness in their family, or let's say emotional illness in our society. Powerful lessons are taught about love and caring for our children. People need lessons on how to love, value, and treat each other selflessly. Most of us spend so much energy, research and resources on technological and financial advancement and so little on human concerns and relationship development. Commentators are complaining that the husband is fantasizing about an idealized wife, but we actually don't have to settle for poor quality relationships. We can learn to value, nurture, support each other and be real.

When I discovered that David E. Kelley wrote the script for Gillian, it's flaws seem to have made a bit more sense for while I've rarely been privy to such notable TV shows like The Practice, Boston Legal, and Chicago Hope, it became clear that writing dramas that don't pertain to law or medicine isn't his forte and the result is a film in which no elements really work.Of the seven primary characters in Gillian, only three really matter: David (Peter Gallagher), a man who, after two years, still isn't over the death of his wife Gillian (Michelle Pfieffer); Rachel (Clare Danes), his daughter, whose relationship with her father isn't too estranged; and Esther (Kathy Baker), David's sister-in-law, who's determined to remove Rachel from David's care for fear it is unhealthy for the girl. The remaining characters bring little substance to the film. Paul (Bruce Altman), Esther's husband, is aware of his wife's intentions and quietly tolerates his them despite objections while simultaneously voicing his sexual frustrations in the presence of young beautiful women such as Cindy (Laurie Fortier), Rachel's friend, who's equally frustrated and so bored that she uses her sex appeal to taunt men for fun. Kevin (Wendy Crewson), is an acquaintance of Esther and Paul's who was brought by them (unbeknownst to her and David) to the family's gathering for no other reason than to take David's mind off Gillian. Upon this realization, Kevin learns that her presence is unneeded despite being amiably tolerated (at best) by everyone else, especially Esther, who spends much of the first half of the film using Kevin as her pawn to convince David to get over Gillian. Fortunately, Kevin's knowledge that she's unneeded dissuades her from doing anything more than just being present throughout the film. Finally, there's Gillian who appears as an apparition just to remind us of how un-over her David really is and that "Rachel comes first,".The basic conflict of the story lies in Esther's belief that David's perpetual grief has made him an unsuitable parent for Rachel, which she bases solely on a slip in Rachel's grades. Rachel doesn't think so, which is why she defends her father. But the conflict for viewers revolves around Esther, who cannot sympathize at all with David's grief which pertains entirely to the death of her sister! What is wrong with this woman that she's adamant about about speeding up his grief process by threatening to take his daughter away from him despite proclaiming to care for him and not sparing a moment of heartache for the loss of her sister? We never find out and after a night during which Rachel goes to bed drunk and has a nightmare featuring Gillian, the conflict is resolved when Rachel decides to go live with Esther and Paul and "let her mother be dead,". Further (and most predictable) resolution occurs during the final 10 minutes when David decides to get over Gillian, move in the Paul and Esther, and start putting Rachel first. It's far too little too late.Since Gillian does contain a good cast with a notable performance from Danes, I gave it four out of ten stars but the talents of these people are ultimately lost in this poorly written melodrama that might elicit some tears and sighs from the audience, but is mostly a film about a rivalry between in-laws that is devoid of the compassion usually felt after the death of a loved one.P.S. By the way, David E. Kelley, stick to televised legal and medical dramas. Your talents and know-how as a writer and producer are most obvious and bankable in those fields.

I was in a community theater production of Gillian, and my comments echo another review here.(Contains spoilers)David E. Kelley's screenplay used almost none of playwright Michael Brady's dialogue, the characters were obnoxious, and they made Cindy into sleazy little tramp instead of a complex character who uses attitude to cover real growing pains. Esther was just a vicious harpy and Kevin had no substance to her. Rachel gets drunk at a party, and SHE saw Gillian? He also basically scrapped the whole anthropologist angle, and the abortion vignette, which was so key to David realizing that he had indeed constructed an icon divorced from reality. And of course, Paul, my character, was just a tool!