La Villa des souvenirs

Terry McQuinn (Gary Sinese)'s father takes care of the Wentworth family's summer place Serenity Cottage in Rosepoint, Maine. He recalls a time 30 years ago as a kid when Charles Wentworth brought his family for an unusual Christmas visit. On a snowy road after delivering gifts to the hospital, Charles killed a woman and child in an accident. He became despondent, and his wife leaves him taking their daughter. He would work at the hospital until he's gone. Terry constantly clashed with his father and struck out on his own. He returns home from California after 20 years when his father dies. He meets Charles' brother Warren (Gordon Pinsent). He reconnects with Charles's daughter Katherine Wentworth (Joely Richardson) after 30 years who arrives with her adopted blind daughter but she doesn't remember her time in Rosepoint.

The movie takes a bit too long to get to Joely Richardson and even longer to get her together with Gary Sinese. It has a slow sad tone. This is more of a relationship movie between Terry and his dead father as well as Katherine and her father. It's also a very haunting movie. If the movie has more Joely Richardson, this would be more of a tear jerker. This is a sweet melodrama performed well by excellent actors.

I've seen this movie 3 times over the years, at Christmastime. It has a melancholy tone that sets it apart from the usual saccharine, hyper, nasal, peroxided, alternate universe movies served up at Christmastime on TV. It ends on a heartwarming note.

I liked the backstory, the scenery, the inclusive casting, the weight Gary Sinese gave to the piece every time he was on screen (which is pretty much the whole movie).

The weakest part is the woman who is too coy, with Princess Diana doe-eyed silliness, and a manner of speaking that makes her seem mentally challenged.

The fact that I could watch it 3 times over the years speaks well of the overall product, however. It is rare for me to watch one of these Christmas moves even once, let alone 3 times!

I loved this movie. It had a very interesting story that left you wanting to know what will happen next. Love the innocence of it all. They rarely make movies like that anymore so when I saw it I said finally. No sex scenes that you're forced to look at to get to the next part of the movie..LOL....just a really nice well put together movie...had a lot of twists. I didn't understand why someone would leave their family just because of an accident that clearly wasn't their fault. However, that might have been one of the things that made the story interesting. I missed the end but the hallmark channel is airing it again next week so I'll catch it then:)

i saw this movie the other night and i found it to be pretty decent. however, there were some parts that i didn't agree with. for one, i would never believe that a father will abandon his daughter that he loved so much. another is that Gary Sinise's character would not speak to his father after he left. if i was him, i would come back and prove to him that i became a successful businessman.

7.4 stars.

There is a whole lot of really touching and moving subject matter in 'Fallen Angel', and it has potential for greatness. Unfortunately, it misses the mark of a great film. It has a few poignant moments, but never attains greatness. Why not great? First of all the back story is somewhat jumbled, leaving us wondering what is happening and what is the main focus. Is this about him and his father's relationship, or about a customer's family, or a character study on becoming a man amidst the struggles of an absentee father, or maybe how people handle guilt? It feels like the theme of the film doesn't hit the spot until near the very end. Generally, the audience should detect the point of any story sometime in the first act, if not early in the second. In this case, we are late in the fourth act before realizing this is about a woman and her daughter being fulfilled. To me it seemed the whole time this was about the protagonist male (Sinise) but it's really not about him at all. He's more like a figure narrating from the sidelines, but is also pivotal in bringing cohesion to all the scattered components. His backstory is inconsequential to the audience's interpretation of what is important. They should have had the sweet little girl (daughter of lead female) be the narrator sometime in the future as she is retelling the story of a man who found a woman after 30 years of silence and regret.

I say 7.4 stars for the acting and drama aspects, but the entertainment value was compromised by the confusion and lack of direction.