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Hilary and Jackie

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Hilary and Jackie
UK theatrical poster
Directed byAnand Tucker
Screenplay byFrank Cottrell Boyce
Produced byNicolas Kent
Andy Paterson
Starring
CinematographyDavid Johnson
Edited byMartin Walsh
Music byBarrington Pheloung
Distributed byFilmFour Distributors
Release dates
  • 5 September 1998 (1998-09-05) (Venice)
  • 30 December 1998 (1998-12-30) (U.S.)[1]
  • 22 January 1999 (1999-01-22) (United Kingdom)
Running time
121 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£3.9 million (UK/US)

Hilary and Jackie is a 1998 British biographical film directed by Anand Tucker, starring Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths as the British classical musician sisters Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and Hilary du Pré (flute). The film covers Jacqueline's meteoric rise to fame, her alleged affair with Hilary's husband Christopher Finzi, and her struggle with multiple sclerosis starting in her late 20s ultimately leading to her death at the age of 42.

The screenplay by Frank Cottrell-Boyce claimed in the end credits to have been based on the 1997 memoir A Genius in the Family by Piers and Hilary du Pré (later republished under the title Hilary and Jackie).[2] However, that memoir had not yet been published when Hilary and Jackie was being filmed. Cottrell-Boyce stated, "Hilary was working on the book at the same time as I was working on the film ... it was at a very early stage when we were doing the script".[3] The film was instead based on conversations with Hilary and Piers; unlike the book, it does not claim to be the true story and contains some fictionalised incidents.

The film attracted controversy and criticism for allegedly distorting details in Jacqueline's life, and several personal friends of Jacqueline du Pré publicly condemned the film. Hilary du Pré publicly defended her version of the story.[4][5]

Hilary and Jackie generally received critical acclaim, and both Griffiths and Watson were nominated for an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, respectively.

Plot

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In 1960s London, sisters Hilary and Jacqueline "Jackie" du Pré both pursue musical professions after being instructed throughout their childhoods in music by their mother; the flute for Hilary, and the cello for Jackie. Though Jackie rebelled against practising as a child, she became a virtuoso in early adulthood, quickly rising to international prominence.

While Jackie tours throughout Europe, Hilary remains in London with her parents and brother, Piers, and struggles in her musical studies at the Royal Academy of Music. She becomes acquainted with a gregarious fellow student, Christopher "Kiffer" Finzi, son of composer Gerald Finzi, and the two begin a romantic relationship. Hilary begins playing in a community orchestra, where she garners local fame. Jackie returns home from touring in Moscow, and pleads with Hilary to share a flat with her. Instead, Hilary marries Kiffer, and the two relocate to a farmhouse in the country to start a family. Meanwhile, Jackie begins dating pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, with whom she bonds over their mutual love of music. Her eventual conversion to Judaism and subsequent marriage to Daniel garners significant publicity.

Later, Jackie arrives unannounced at Hilary and Kiffer's home, inexplicably forgoing scheduled engagements she has in Los Angeles. She confides to Hilary that she wants to have sex with Kiffer, and makes attempts to seduce him. The next day, Hilary finds Jackie stripped naked in the woods in the midst of an emotional breakdown. Daniel arrives and attempts to console her, but she is indifferent to him. Jackie remains at Hilary's home, and Hilary consents to Jackie having a sexual encounter with Kiffer, hoping it will help her work through her nervous breakdown. This, however, ultimately drives a rift between the sisters as the affair becomes emotionally suffused. Jackie leaves and resumes touring, but yearns for a different life.

From Jackie's perspective, Hilary chose a life with Kiffer over their relationship. While Jackie found solace in her marriage to Daniel, she began to notice a subtle yet progressive deterioration of her motor skills and hand-eye coordination. It had in fact been unspoken anxieties over her health that led to her previous visit to Hilary's.

During a live performance, Jackie finds herself unable to stand, and has to be carried offstage by Daniel. She is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and Hilary goes to visit her in hospital. Jackie remains optimistic about her diagnosis, but the disease progresses rapidly, leaving her unable to position her fingers or use a bow. Daniel continues to conduct around the world, and Jackie finds he is having an affair. As her disease progresses, she becomes paralysed before becoming deaf and mute. One night, Hilary goes to visit Jackie–who is in the throes of tremors–and recounts a cherished childhood memory of the two playing on the beach. Shortly after, Hilary hears news of Jackie's death on the radio. The film ends with Jackie's spirit standing on the beach where she used to play as a child, watching herself and her sister frolicking on the sand as little girls.

Cast

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Production

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Scenes were filmed in the Blue Coat School, the County Sessions House, George's Dock, St. George's Hall, and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. Additional scenes were filmed at the Royal Academy of Music and Wigmore Hall in London, and most interiors were shot at Shepperton Studios in Surrey. Brithdir Mawr, an ancient house in north Wales, was used for location shots of Hilary's house.[6]

Classical pieces performed in the film include compositions by Edward Elgar, Joseph Haydn, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, César Franck, Matthias Georg Monn, Georg Friedrich Händel, Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Antonín Dvořák. Jacqueline du Pré's cello in the movie was played and synchronised to Emily Watson's movements by Caroline Dale.

Release

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Box office

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Hilary and Jackie was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on 22 January 1999[7] and grossed £1 million ($1.6 million).[8] In the United States, it premiered on 30 December 1998 in a limited release.[1] In the United States and Canada, the film grossed US$4,912,892 (£2.9 million) at the box office.[9]

Critical response

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Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths' performances as the Du Pré sisters gained widespread acclaim, leading both to be nominated for Oscars, for best actress (Watson), and for best supporting actress (Griffiths).

In his review in The New York Times, Stephen Holden called the film "one of the most insightful and wrenching portraits of the joys and tribulations of being a classical musician ever filmed" and "an astoundingly rich and subtle exploration of sibling rivalry and the volcanic collisions of love and resentment, competitiveness and mutual dependence that determine their lives." He went on to say "Hilary and Jackie is as beautifully acted as it is directed, edited and written."[10]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described it as "an extraordinary film [that] makes no attempt to soften the material or make it comforting through the cliches of melodrama."[11]

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Guthmann stated, "Watson is riveting and heartbreaking. Assisted by Tucker's elegant direction and Boyce's thoughtful, scrupulous writing, she gives a knockout performance."[12]

Anthony Lane of The New Yorker said, "The sense of period, of ungainly English pride, is funny and acute, but the movie mislays its sense of wit as the girls grow up. The nub of the tale... feels both overblown and oddly beside the point; it certainly means that Tucker takes his eye, or his ear, off the music. The whole picture, indeed, is more likely to gratify the emotionally prurient than to appease lovers of Beethoven and Elgar."[13]

Entertainment Weekly rated the film A− and added, "This unusual, unabashedly voluptuous biographical drama, a bravura feature debut for British TV director Anand Tucker, soars on two virtuoso performances: by the rightfully celebrated Emily Watson . . . and by the under-celebrated Rachel Griffiths."[14]

Rana Dasgupta wrote in an essay about biographical films that "the film's tagline – 'The true story of two sisters who shared a passion, a madness and a man' – is a good indication of its prurient intent. The book's moving account of love and solidarity, whose characters are incomplete and complex but not "mad", is rejected in favour of a salacious account of social deviance."[15]

Controversy

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Although the film was a critical success, and received two Academy Award nominations, it ignited a furore, especially in London, centre of du Pre's performing life.[16] A group of her closest colleagues, including fellow cellists Mstislav Rostropovich and Julian Lloyd Webber, sent a "bristling" letter to The Times in February 1999.[17][18][19] Webber noted in an article published in The Telegraph:

Hilary and Jackie is an ugly film, not because it is badly made or acted – quite the reverse – but because Emily Watson's du Pré bears no resemblance to the radiant Jackie I remember so well, first as a brilliant cellist, and later when I came to know her after she contracted MS. The film woefully fails to convey Jacqueline du Pré's wonderful joy in making music and her unique ability to bring that joy to her audience. Worst of all, the book that spawned the film was written by her elder sister, Hilary, and younger brother, Piers – two siblings apparently eaten up by bitterness and jealousy.[7]

Clare Finzi, Hilary du Pré's daughter, charged that the film was a "gross misinterpretation, which I cannot let go unchallenged." Daniel Barenboim said, "Couldn't they have waited until I was dead?"[17] Additionally, a friend of Jacqueline du Pré's, guitarist John Williams, in an interview for The Observer, called the film "macabre" and "sick", adding: "My friend Jackie has been betrayed".[20]

Hilary du Pré wrote in The Guardian, "At first I could not understand why people didn't believe my story because I had set out to tell the whole truth. When you tell someone the truth about your family, you don't expect them to turn around and say that it's bunkum. But I knew that Jackie would have respected what I had done. If I had gone for half-measures, she would have torn it up. She would have wanted the complete story to be told."[4] Jay Fielden reported in The New Yorker that she'd said, "When you love someone, you love the whole of them. Those who are against the film want to look only at the pieces of Jackie's life that they accept. I don’t think the film has taken any liberties at all. Jackie would have absolutely loved it."[19]

Awards and nominations

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Award Category Recipient(s) Result
Academy Awards[21] Best Actress Emily Watson Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rachel Griffiths Nominated
British Academy Film Awards[22] Outstanding British Film Andy Paterson, Nicolas Kent and Anand Tucker Nominated
Best Actress in a Leading Role Emily Watson Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Frank Cottrell-Boyce Nominated
Best Original Music Barrington Pheloung Nominated
Best Sound Nigel Heath, Julian Slater, David Crozier, Ray Merrin and Graham Daniel Nominated
British Independent Film Awards[23] Best British Film Nominated
Best Director Anand Tucker Won
Best Actress Rachel Griffiths Nominated
Emily Watson Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards[24] Best Actress Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rachel Griffiths Nominated
Chlotrudis Awards[25] Best Actress Emily Watson Nominated
Golden Globe Awards[26] Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Nominated
Golden Reel Awards Best Sound Editing – Foreign Feature Nigel Heath, Julian Slater, James Feltham, Arthur Graley, Stan Fiferman,
Pam Finch and Lionel Selwyn 		Nominated
Best Sound Editing – Music – Musical Feature (Foreign & Domestic) Robert Hathaway Won
London Film Critics Circle Awards British Actress of the Year Emily Watson Won
Online Film & Television Association Awards[27] Best Drama Actress Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rachel Griffiths Nominated
Online Film Critics Society Awards[28] Best Actress Emily Watson Nominated
Satellite Awards[29] Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Frank Cottrell-Boyce Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Awards[30] Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Emily Watson Nominated
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Rachel Griffiths Nominated
Venice International Film Festival[31] Golden Lion Anand Tucker Nominated
Young Artist Awards[32] Best Performance in a Feature Film: Supporting Young Actress Auriol Evans Nominated
Keeley Flanders Nominated

References

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  1. ^ a b "Hilary and Jackie". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  2. ^ Du Pré, Piers; Du Pré, Hilary (1997). A Genius in the Family: An Intimate Memoir of Jacqueline du Pré. London: Heinemann. ISBN 0-434-00344-1.
  3. ^ 'Inside Film' programme, handed out at early showings of the film
  4. ^ a b Du Pré, Hilary (21 January 1999). "The truth about our wonderful sister Jackie". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  5. ^ Moss, Stephen (21 January 1999). "Du Pré sister defends film". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Loggerheads – Moel Famau". British Listed Buildings.
  7. ^ a b Lloyd Webber, Julian (4 January 1999). "An insult to Jackie's memory". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 February 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  8. ^ "Top 10 UK Indie Releases". Screen International. 28 January 2000. p. 18.
  9. ^ "Hilary and Jackie (1998)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
  10. ^ Holden, Stephen (30 December 1998). "'Hilary and Jackie': Discordant Concerto, Played Upon Two Hearts". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  11. ^ Ebert, Roger (15 January 1999). "Hilary and Jackie". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  12. ^ Guthmann, Edward (15 January 1999). "Commanding Presences: Watson plays it perfectly as tortured cello star in 'Hilary and Jackie'". San Francisco Chronicle.
  13. ^ Lane, Anthony (25 January 1999). "Hilary and Jackie". The New Yorker.
  14. ^ "Movie Review: Hilary and Jackie". Entertainment Weekly. 8 January 1999. Archived from the original on 9 June 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  15. ^ Dasgupta, Rana (21 September 2008). "The next idea of the artist: Art, music and the present threat of creativity". Essay about Beethoven, du Pre and biographical films.
  16. ^ Hornaday, Ann (22 January 1999). "Sour notes mar 'Hilary and Jackie'". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  17. ^ a b Nordlinger, Jay (22 February 1999). "Music: Twisted Sister – Review". National Review. ISSN 0028-0038. Retrieved 20 April 2018. Closed access icon
  18. ^ "Du Pre film blasted by the critics". BBC News. 22 January 1999. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  19. ^ a b Fielden, Jay (8 February 1999). "The Talk of the Town: The Pictures". The New Yorker. Subscription required.
  20. ^ Williams, John (24 January 1999). "'It's macabre. It's sick. My friend Jackie has been betrayed'". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  21. ^ "The 71st Academy Awards (1999) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  22. ^ "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1999". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. 1999. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  23. ^ "1999 BIFA Winners and Nominations". British Independent Film Awards. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  24. ^ "1988-2013 Award Winner Archives". Chicago Film Critics Association. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  25. ^ "5th Annual Chlotrudis Awards". Chlotrudis Society for Independent Films. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  26. ^ "Hilary and Jackie – Golden Globes". HFPA. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  27. ^ "3rd Annual Film Awards (1998)". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  28. ^ "1998 Awards (2nd Annual)". Online Film Critics Society. Retrieved 21 November 2021.
  29. ^ "International Press Academy website – 1999 3rd Annual SATELLITE Awards". Archived from the original on 1 February 2008.
  30. ^ "The 5th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards: Nominees and Recipients". Screen Actors Guild. 1999. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  31. ^ "VENICE – 1998 – SPEARS OF LIGHT". Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  32. ^ "The 20th Annual Youth in Film Awards". Young Artist Awards. Archived from the original on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
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