Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10221 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-11-05
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.com
It earned Oscar nods, yet this cinematic look at a genius--that of English cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who enraptured audiences with her bold, emblazoned, and wholly unconventional playing style, and who died at age 42--was criticized for its "lapses" in truth by people who purportedly knew du Pré. Some of the controversy revolved around the other main character in Anand Tucker's gorgeous, involving movie--du Pré's sister, Hilary, whose book, A Genius in the Family (cowritten with brother Piers), dished some dirt on Jackie's sleeping with Hilary's husband. But don't let that deter you from this ebullient movie experience. The film is a bisected story (each sister's tale is told in the same amount of screen time) teeming with heartfelt drama that belies the cheap shots it received from its detractors. It's stirring, reckless, loving, involving, and rife with unconventional passion; passion for music, life, art, and the delicate relationship between these two synchronous, extraordinary sisters as played by brilliant actors Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths (both of whom earned Oscar nods). Though Watson got the juicy, showy role as Jackie, it's Griffiths who provides the heart, soul, and spine of the film. And director Tucker has that gift of being able to explain through the visual medium what is happening inside of his character's heads. He's helped by a fine screenplay by Frank Boyce Cottrell. No matter what the truth of Hilary and Jackie might really be, this is an exceptional, rare film that is defined and graced by fine acting and writing. --Paula Nechak

From The New Yorker
Anand Tucker's film takes us through the politely fraught story of the cellist Jacqueline du Pré and her sister Hilary. We see them first as young girls, and follow their rivalry; Hilary, the sensible flutist, is gradually outstripped by her more impassioned sister. 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, in which the now famous Jackie (Emily Watson) starts up a rural threesome with Hilary (Rachel Griffiths) and Hilary's husband Kiffer Finzi (David Morrissey), 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; that is certainly the effect of Watson's strains and strivings, and you feel grateful whenever Griffiths and Morrissey (both excellent) manage to calm her down. With Celia Imrie as the girls' tireless mother, and James Frain as Daniel Barenboim. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

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The only reason I gave this movie 5 stars was for the acting and directing. Superb!! But the story is very one-sided, being based on the book by Hilary. I think Jackie's story would be very different. I was very young when I had the honor of attending a concert of Jacqueling du Pre. To say that she was great, impressive, fantastic - all understatements. She had talent such as had never been and has still not been. Her private life is not very interesting compared to seeing her play the cello - and hearing the sounds that only she could bring forth from that instrument. After having said all that, I really enjoyed the movie! As I said, it was so well acted and directed that it would be difficult to dislike it. Having seen Jaqueline play, Emily Watson was Jaqueline du Pre - on stage.

Excellent Movie!
Excellent Movie, I am a cellist and I can tell you that this movie won't disappoint you.
Good Presentation.
Fast delivery.

Two great actresses playing two disturbed sisters...WOW!!!
HILARY AND JACKIE is still one of the most disturbing and unsettling pieces of film that I have ever seen! From the very beginning of the film there is a looming foreboding and an uncomfortable uneasiness that follows through every frame in this account of the lives of sisters Hilary and Jackie Du Pre. Rachel Griffiths and Emily Watson are each disturbingly terrific and I am always amazed at the incredible performances.No small wonder that each actress has gone on to such acclaim in their respective careers.

It is essential to remember that this screenplay is adapted from Hilary and Piers Du Pre's account A GENIUS IN THE FAMILY.The book as well as the film is extremely intimate and disturbing at best. What is positively fascinating is how this film 's narrative runs. The story commences with a portrait of the two sisters and their childhood as musical prodigies together. Then the film diverges in their teen years and tells the remaining story and timeline through each of the sisters' perspectives with gut wrenching honesty that balances each girl. Though I was well acquainted with the music of Cellist Jacqueline Du Pre and her husband pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim as a conservatory student in the 1970's, it is not really essential to know anything about music or these people to be totally immersed in a truly good story that is informative and very revealing about the mechanics of genius, motivation and family.

If you offended by the exposing of warts and "speaking ill of the dead" perhaps HILARY AND JACKIE will not be for you. If you are willing to accept that this account of the lives of the Du Pre sisters COULD be true, then by all means come with an open mind and be blown away by what you see! Whether true, not true or somewhere in between, HILARY AND JACKIE presents two great actresses playing their hearts out for all of us to behold.