I rarely read fiction but I made an exception for this movie. When I learned that it was coming out on DVD, I found the source book in my public library and read it one afternoon. I enjoyed it, and last night I settled in to see the DVD.
The story is nominally about a young English professor (Omar) getting a nice grant to research and write an authorized biography about a somewhat obscure author in Uraguay. But the author has died, actually killed himself, and the three co-executors of the estate write back that they will NOT give their permission, and they don't think having one is a good idea. So the young professor at the prodding of his girlfriend (Deirdre), a fellow English professor, travels to Uraguay unannounced, to Rio Ochos, the large spread of land owned by the family.
It is an unusual grouping. The author's widow Caroline (Laura Linney) shares a home with the author's surviving brother Adam (Anthony Hopkins) and the brother's 40-year-old adopted son Pete (Hiroyuki Sanada) who is has also become his gay lover in adult life. Across the way, a short walk, lives the mistress Arden (Charlotte Gainsbourg) of the dead author and their young daughter. All of them seem to get along quite nicely, mostly living off the land and wealth inherited from their ancestors. But the wealth is running low and a biography may be good to renew the interest in the work of the dead author.
So Omar manages to find them, riding the last part of the trek in the same school bus carrying the young daughter. With no hotels nearby Caroline insists he stay with them, but she tells him frankly she doesn't understand why he came, she had made up her mind and no biography will be authorized. But Omar knows, if he doesn't write an authorized biography he will forfeit the grant and possibly lose his teaching job.
I really enjoyed this movie. The situations are novel and the acting is uniformly fine. It doesn't rush and I found the concluding scenes very satisfying. The movie is very true to the book.
SPOILERS: It becomes clear from the very beginning that Omar is patronized and almost treated like a child by his girlfriend. She wants to go with him to Uraguay because, as she tells him, she doesn't think he has the ability to handle it on his own. So the whole movie is really about Omar finding his own voice, and figuring out where he wants his own life to go. While in Uraguay he really falls for Arden, and after he gets back to his "real life" after 4 months he returns to Uraguay, again unannounced, because that his what he wants his life to be, with them and with Arden. Right before that is a scene in his classroom, he asks a question at the period's end, asks if anyone knows the answer, but they all ignore him and head out of the classroom. The apathy displayed there convinced him he didn't want that life.
The story is nominally about a young English professor (Omar) getting a nice grant to research and write an authorized biography about a somewhat obscure author in Uraguay. But the author has died, actually killed himself, and the three co-executors of the estate write back that they will NOT give their permission, and they don't think having one is a good idea. So the young professor at the prodding of his girlfriend (Deirdre), a fellow English professor, travels to Uraguay unannounced, to Rio Ochos, the large spread of land owned by the family.
It is an unusual grouping. The author's widow Caroline (Laura Linney) shares a home with the author's surviving brother Adam (Anthony Hopkins) and the brother's 40-year-old adopted son Pete (Hiroyuki Sanada) who is has also become his gay lover in adult life. Across the way, a short walk, lives the mistress Arden (Charlotte Gainsbourg) of the dead author and their young daughter. All of them seem to get along quite nicely, mostly living off the land and wealth inherited from their ancestors. But the wealth is running low and a biography may be good to renew the interest in the work of the dead author.
So Omar manages to find them, riding the last part of the trek in the same school bus carrying the young daughter. With no hotels nearby Caroline insists he stay with them, but she tells him frankly she doesn't understand why he came, she had made up her mind and no biography will be authorized. But Omar knows, if he doesn't write an authorized biography he will forfeit the grant and possibly lose his teaching job.
I really enjoyed this movie. The situations are novel and the acting is uniformly fine. It doesn't rush and I found the concluding scenes very satisfying. The movie is very true to the book.
SPOILERS: It becomes clear from the very beginning that Omar is patronized and almost treated like a child by his girlfriend. She wants to go with him to Uraguay because, as she tells him, she doesn't think he has the ability to handle it on his own. So the whole movie is really about Omar finding his own voice, and figuring out where he wants his own life to go. While in Uraguay he really falls for Arden, and after he gets back to his "real life" after 4 months he returns to Uraguay, again unannounced, because that his what he wants his life to be, with them and with Arden. Right before that is a scene in his classroom, he asks a question at the period's end, asks if anyone knows the answer, but they all ignore him and head out of the classroom. The apathy displayed there convinced him he didn't want that life.