evening be the beautiful story of the flaw love of a mother . the movie split in time and be magically shot and amazingly act and have a touching script . vanessa redgrave play anne grant lord and a woman sun set out of life . lie in her bed and her mind remembering and misfiring and she recall her first mistake . claire dane play the young anne and give a youthful vitality to die bed ridden woman . daughter nina ( toni collette ) and constance ( natasha richardson ) try to decipher the real story from the dishearten dementia . her first mistake revolves around harris arden ( patrick wilson ) while the man her best friend lila ( mamie gummer ) deeply love . the daughter must come to term with their mother past and and their future . the cast be glow in even . the collective act energy of this movie could have power the equipment for the production of this entire film . i be so glad to see claire dane work again and especially in this role . she be so young and and alive and fully live the joy and mistake and heartbreak of young anne first mistake . this be a true feat when you realize she be play a woman and die in bed . when her life overwhelms her and you can feel her desire to crack and her hopeless hope that she would not . some of her facial expression grind on me a little and but over all her performance be so radiant and i be leave with that only a a side note . toni collette continue to prove that you can be a powerful actress without be a super model . she play the black sheep of the family while a little lost . nina find a great deal of strength in her mother mistake . collette delicately avoid create a cruel character who revel in the mistake of her mother and instead choose the wise path of learn from her mother mistake . there be a great deal of infighting between nina and her sister constance . their fight remind me of one i have with my sister all the time . mamie gummer and who play anne youthful best friend and be wonderful . her character be stuck between her heart and her status in society . even when she be cry and her heart be break and she be incredibly regal and charm . i can not wait to see her act in something else in the future . vanessa redgrave performance be very hard for me to describe . her talent at make her mental status ambiguous without be wacko or even especially tragic be why it be so powerful . the audience do not know if she be make up the story because she be slip away or if these event truly happen . physically and emotionally speak and redgrave be act in a box . not much physical space and limited emotional range might have be a stunner to a less actress but she make the limitation work for her . i be constantly amaze . the movie be definitely woman focus but the men in the movie be not just accessory . patrick wilson be mesmerize a harris . it be no wonder that everyone in the movie be in love with him and i sure be . buddy wittenborn be lila brother and spiral out of control . hugh dancy spiral buddy out of control without send his act down the drain . glen close have my favorite scene in the movie . it remind me of the famous scene from monster ball . it be terrible and jaw drop grief . i be utterly stun . the one acting disappointment be natasha richardson . while her fight scene be memorable and most of her acting reek of melodrama . it would have suit her to take an acting bath before we have to breathe her stink . it a good thing she wasn not in charge of the visuals . the visuals of the movie be sparkle . cinematographer gyula pados couldn not make a film richer in color and light so perfectly match to mood and emotion . the visual concept of the flash back sequence be powerful and resonate . there be many scene that could have be stop and print and mount and sell a art . i admit it and i cry . evening be a powerful movie . evening be defiantly a chick flick but a really great chick flick . if you want to impress a woman with a movie choice and pick evening .