ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1996 TAG: 9610280118
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
David Lewis hangs out on the beach in front of his Nantucket cottage and talks to the ghost of his dead wife.
Maybe she's not a ghost. Maybe she's a psychological obsession.
He walks with her, swims with her - even kisses her sometimes when they rollick in the surf.
Maybe she's not a ghost, though. Maybe she's a psychological obsession.
Sometimes she asks about their daughter, Rachel, and tries to be supportive about what her husband is going through.
Still, maybe she's not a ghost. Maybe she's a psychological obsession.
"To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday," a movie presumably about grief - but maybe about ghosts - is one of the most infuriating movies in recent memory. It refuses to choose an interpretation of events and, consequently, is forced to commit so many errors in logic that its strengths - the boldness of its characterizations and raw truthfulness of its script - are obscured.
Gillian (pronounced ``Jillian'' and played by Michelle Pfeiffer) was killed exactly two years hence on the occasion of her 35th birthday. She, her husband (Peter Gallagher), daughter (Claire Danes), sister, Esther (Kathy Baker), and brother-in-law, Paul (Bruce Altman) were out sailing when Gillian got it into her head to climb the mast. The boat hit a wave, the mast snapped and down came Gillian.
Widower David has not let go of his wife, and his daughter often sees him on the beach, carrying on what appear to be imaginary conversations with her, swimming with her, God knows what else. But Rachel is still keeping her dad's secret when Esther, Paul and their female friend Kevin (Wendy Crewson) show up for a weekend at David's beach house.
It's a special weekend - Gillian's 37th birthday - but Esther and Paul have neglected to tell Kevin, who they hope to fix up with David, that he is still very much grieving the death of his wife.
Honestly, how's a guy supposed to get over a woman who keeps popping up from behind the dunes in all her luminescent splendor?
Unquestionably, the makers of this movie hoped to draw the millions of people who loved the movie "Ghost" (gag). Unfortunately, the story pulls hard in a different direction and is so intelligent at times that it just seems schizophrenic.
It's a shame, too, because Baker, Danes and especially Altman are excellent. Crewson hits just the right note as a woman on the blind date from hell.
Michael Pressman, who also directed "Gillian" on Broadway, didn't have a handle on how a play must renegotiate with reality in order to translate effectively to film. So "Gillian," the Selfish Ghost, ends up looking like pretty thin stuff.
To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday **
A Triumph Films release showing at Salem Valley 8. 93 minutes. Rated PG-13 for numerous F-words and adult situations.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Peter Gallagher and Claire Danes are father andby CNBdaughter in ``To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday.''