THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE is a surprisingly interesting story about the mundane life of a housewife with a wild past.


STARRING: Robin Wright Penn, Alan Arkin, Maria Bello, Monica Bellucci, Blake Lively, Julianne Moore, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Mike Binder
 
Written and Directed by Rebecca Miller
Executive Produced by Brad Pitt
 
RELEASED: 10 July 2009
 
CERTIFICATE: 15a / 15
R/T: 98 MINUTES

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZBeLhv6moI

Rebecca Miller handles the opening scene of THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE perfectly. It introduces the majority of the main players in a way that subtlely gives you a direct insight into their personalities. Herb Lee (Alan Arkin), celebrated publisher, has moved to the sticks after his third heart attack and is being toasted by his friends. A sidebar to the toast sees his wife, Pippa (Robin Wright Penn) receive praise for being an enigma. Nobody knows who she really is. This gets Pippa thinking and we are brought back to her egression from her mother’s ovaries via a big pink title sequence.

Pippa’s relationship with her mother (Maria Bello) was fraught from the beginning due to the fact that she emerged from the womb as a shoe-in for the Craggy Island Hairy Baby Competition. After this we are reintroduced to contemporary Pippa who is amazed by the cheese available at the local market. The movie continues to flit between the past and present with her past being wild and manic while her present is boring and hazed by senility.

The flashbacks take us through Pippa’s transition from infant to parent. Her mother was addicted to drugs, her aunt Trish’s “roommate” (Julianne Moore) was fascinated by her, she has her own dalliance with drugs and she meets the then married Herb. The genesis of their relationship is sweet and intelligent. Their conversations get a bit artsy fartsy but Herb was trying to be a writer at the time so that’s understandable. Of course they are married and have kids and the time between this and the present Pippa is unexposed either because Lee thinks it is unimportant or she doesn’t have time to go into detail.

In any case, the current Pippa doesn’t seem bored by her boring life as a publisher’s housewife. She is more troubled by the fact that she appears to be losing her marbles quicker than her elderly husband. She acts as an amateur marriage councellor for the wife of Herb’s friend (Winona Ryder) and develops an odd relationship with one of her neighbour’s grown up son (Keanu Reeves) as he is probably closer in age to her than anyone else in her new community, all the while developing a habit for shopping, cooking, and eating in her sleep.

The story is interesting enough on its own but what sets it apart from your average life story flick is the depth of character. Each person, not just Pippa, is thoroughly and intricately sculpted. They all have carefully constructed back-stories. It wouldn’t surprise if somebody told me that Rebecca Lee wrote screenplays for at least ten of the characters and picked Pippa out of a hat.

This level of detail makes it easy for all of the actors to breathe life into their onscreen personas. The casting is exemplary also. Robin Wright Penn plays the owner of an amazing life, who is overshadowed by her husband’s success, masterfully. Keanu Reeves does his Bill ‘n’ Ted type performance but instead of it looking lazy as usual, it fits his recently separated, adopted as child, seminary reject like a glove. Winona Ryder’s inclusion sums up the movie. A woman who has been written off and is perceived as disturbed. Her depiction of a mentally fragile poet is brilliant.

A movie about a middle aged housewife becoming disillusioned by her situation may not sound especially gripping but the expertly concocted characters slowly work their arms around you and pull you close like a tipsy girlfriend. This will open up the channels in your brain that you wish you spent more time with. Give it a bash.