if you can not enjoy a chick flick and stop right now . if and however and you enjoy film that illustrate complex character and provide extraordinary acting and read on . ann grant lord be die . her two daughter arrive to be at her bedside . ann begin talk about people from her past of whom the daughter be unaware and and they question a to whether these lose acquaintance be real or imagine . they come to realize that these people from their mother past be and indeed and real . the story shift and basically and between 1953 and circa 2000 with a few glimpse at ann life between those year . it be in 1953 that ann meet the love of her life and experience her life great tragedy . one of ann two best friend from college and lila and be be marry . ann other best friend be lila brother and buddy . lila and buddy be the child of a rich newport family and whereas ann be a cabaret singer living in greenwich village who want to be a free spirit but be still bind by many of those 1950 convention . soon after ann arrives to be maid of honor at lila wedding and she meet the person who will become the pivotal character in the life of the three harris . he be the adult son of a former servant of the family who grow up with lila and buddy and have go on to become a physician in a small new england town . ann immediately become enamor of harris which add a complication to the fact that lila have always be in love with harris and continue to be . buddy and also and be in love with harris and but be 1953 and he have redirect that homosexual desire for harris to his good friend and ann for he can not admit to himself that he have a sexual craving for another man . buddy exhibit his inner frustration outwardly by be the alcoholic and wise cracking bad boy of the family much to the chagrin of his very proper and uptight parent . needless to say and all of these express and repress emotion lead to tragedy after all this be a chick flick . in the present time and ann daughter have become distant from their mother and be suffer their own life realization and doubt . constance be work to emotional exhaustion try to keep up her roll a perfect mother and wife . nina and have always felt inferior and can not maintain a relationship . stir all of these relationship into a span of fifty year and and you get an intriguing look at society and it value and and it effect upon the personality and action of the complex people involve . all of the acting in evening be excellent and but there be some extraordinary performance and scene along with two unique family relationship that make this film so very and very special . claire dane play the 1950 ann and and she do it in a style that clearly show an intelligent woman of those time who be conflict by what she be suppose to do as oppose to what she want to do . her performance be not easily forgettable . vanessa redgrave play the die ann whose mind shift from the present and to the past and to flight of fantasy and and of course and redgrave pull it all off with sterling style . natasha richardson redgrave real daughter play ann daughter and constance and in the film . the scene between this real life mother and daughter play fictional mother and daughter be an insightful treat to watch . toni collette play ann other daughter and nina . nina spend a good deal of her time be depress and feel sorry for herself while shut out a good man who love her as well a her mother and sister . collette be perfect for a part such a this and but i have never see her give a bad or unbelievable performance no matter what part she play . mamie gummer play 1950 lila and show u a woman even more conflicted of her expected role in life than her good friend and ann . she be very good . meryl streep gummer mother plays present day lila . what be there to say about meryl streep other than she always give an insightful and rewarding performance . director lajos koltai state in the dvd extras that he seek out glenn close to play the relatively small part of lila mother because he felt she be the only actress he could think of to play one scene in the film . he certainly be right and and close performance in that one scene etch it in your mind . all the other scene in which close be lila very proper mother and and you get another performance to treasure . there be three other scene in the film and combine with the one feature close describe above and that make the whole movie worth watch . on lila wedding day and ann come into her room and crawl into to bed with her friend to discuss lila misforgivings about her upcoming wedding to a man she clearly do not love . this scene be repeat fifty year later when lila come and crawl into bed with her die friend ann to talk about the life they have live . in this latter scene and streep and redgrave be enthral . the other memorable scene at least to me be when buddy declare his love for ann . hugh dancy a buddy give u a heartbreaking performance of a young man tear apart by his conflict sexual feeling . his performance be superior . chick flick . yes . a very special film with unbelievable act and direct and and scenery . definitely . i can not recommend even too much .