Un hiver à Central Park

Inevitably seeing this movie brought to mind another with a similar title, "Love And other Drugs", which was released later but I saw first. As well as titles with the same three first words, both films are based on a book (in this case a successful novel by Ayelet Waldman), are scripted by the director (in this instance, Don Roos), have an attractive and young lead actress (in this one, Natalie Portman), and deal with challenging social issues (this time, step-parenting and infant mortality). However, where "..Drugs" was a romantic comedy, "..Impossible Pursuits" has less romance and very little comedy. In fact, at times it is quite harrowing.

It works because of an intelligent script (although the dialogue is sometimes hard to follow) and some fine acting, not just from Portman - who is excellent - but Scott Cohen as her husband, Lisa Kudrow as the ex-wife, and Charlie Tahan as the troubled child of the first marriage. Many films set in New York include scenes in Central Park, but here the location is particularly well used, especially in a silent walk to remember the deaths of the unborn or newly born. The soundtrack too neatly complements the action in a work that is well worth viewing as a contrast to the standard rom-com.

Natalie Portman delivers an astonishing character study as Emilia Greenleaf a woman who has, in her own words, broken one marriage, and seems unable to stop herself breaking her own following the death of her three day old baby. We see her demise through her relationships with William (Tahan), her husband Jack (Cohen), and his first wife Carolyn (Kudrow). When Portman is on screen with William the film seems to move in a believable direction and yet with Jack and with Carolyn, alone or together something seems not quite as understandably real.

At first I wanted to blame a lack of chemistry between Portman and Cohen and yet there are tender moments seemingly nullifying my questions about their relationship. Charlie Tahan is excellent throughout and so I am left with a question mark against the casting of Jack and Carolyn, or, perhaps, the screenplay involving them. Portman's character is simply played out as a determined and privileged young woman who cannot cope with being denied what she really wants and needs above all else - to be seen as the person she thinks she is and not the woman she really is. Her defensiveness is seen in many of the scenes Portman delivers which is why I consider her performance as astonishingly accurate and I just wish the flaws elsewhere could have been better handled.

Although there is a rewarding end to this film, a catharsis if you wish it to be one, it still leaves a feeling that you have watched an unfinished work, one which could and should have delivered so much more from the characters around Emilia. Perhaps, at heart, the film cannot get beyond a feeling of superficiality that surrounds some of the plot, which is a pity because it could have been so much better.

Natalie Portman plays Emilia, the other woman. Emilia had an affair with her boss, Jack. Jack divorced his wife to marry Emilia. Everybody did not live happily ever after. From the moment we first meet her it is obvious Emilia is struggling. There is tension in her marriage, her efforts to be a stepmother to Jack's son are failing miserably. And there is an undercurrent of sadness always lingering, a horrible tragedy having occurred, a tragedy which haunts Emilia. The woman is a wreck, her life is a sad shambles. And she's not getting much sympathy. Jack's first wife Carolyn, not without reason, despises Emilia and does everything she can to make the life of the woman who replaced her completely miserable. Carolyn poisons her son, William, against Emilia. William has no respect for Emilia and acts out against his stepmother in rather cruel ways. All the mothers of William's classmates treat Emilia with utter disdain, scorning her as a home wrecker. Jack is the only person Emilia has to turn to but even that relationship is strained. It's a desperately sad situation yet many people would say Emilia is getting exactly what she deserves.

Emilia certainly is not a perfect person by any means. She has gone down some morally deficient paths. And with her cold personality she's a very hard person to warm up to. But as the story unfolds, flashing back to happier times and then to desperately sad times before catching up with the present, you can see where that coldness might come from. This is a woman who has been emotionally wounded in the worst possible way and who carries around an unbearably burdensome guilt. Yes, she made mistakes but she is now doing the best she can to put things right. She could use a little help but that help is very hard to come by. A woman who breaks up a family is not the most sympathetic of characters and that is a bit of a problem for this movie. Because for the movie to work you really have to sympathize with, and pull for, Emilia. And at times that is very hard to do.

Portman does a reasonably good job in the starring role. The story requires Emilia to be cold and often unpleasant. Perhaps Portman made Emilia just a little bit too cold for the movie's good. Lisa Kudrow, playing Carolyn, holds nothing back. If Emilia is somewhat cold Carolyn is the absolute ice queen. If anything makes you sympathize with Emilia it is the way Carolyn berates her at every opportunity. Charlie Tahan, playing young William, seems to grow into his role as the movie progresses. At first William comes across like a total brat but the kid has been put in a tough spot. It seems he wants to hurt Emilia but maybe he's just a kid, maybe he doesn't even realize the impact of his words and actions. As the relationship between William and Emilia evolves Tahan and Portman have some nice moments together. And in a movie filled with so much hurt we really need some nice moments. You would think the role of Jack would be vitally important, and it probably should be. But Scott Cohen does not make much of an impression in that role. A few other characters pop up with their own accompanying subplots, most notably Emilia's parents. But the movie is really all about Emilia, all that she has to deal with and her struggles to handle it all. In the end it does not come together perfectly. Things get a little melodramatic and the movie rushes through an awkward ending which doesn't really work. However there are enough good things here to make The Other Woman worth seeing. The story isn't perfect, the characters are flawed but the movie still holds your attention. Not a great movie by any means but reasonably compelling and entertaining.

"The Other Woman" or "Love and Other Impossible Pursuits" as it is called, is labeled as a comedy and drama? Comedy? Are you kidding me? The movie is pretty far from being funny. A drama, yes. But comedy? No way...

The story told in the movie is about Emilia having to come to terms with being the stepmother to William, a rather unique child. But at the same time she is struggling with the trauma of having lost her child, a rocky marriage to Jack and having to take the verbal beatings of his ex-wife Carolyne. The movie deals with a lot of good subjects, matters that are close to heart and real life. However, sadly enough, it never really fully delves into these matters, it is just superficially touched. And that is a terrible shame, because the movie had potential to become a very touchy and heartfelt movie. Instead it just came out as a superficial, shallow movie that wanted too much but delivered too little.

As for the cast in the movie, well they had some really good names on the list, lots of good actors and actresses. Natalie Portman portrays Emilia in a very good way, and you do buy into her performance, except for the crying scenes, they were just not sinking in, they didn't work at all. Lisa Kudrow did a good job as Carolyne (Jack's ex-wife), however, Kudrow is still stuck with the Phoebe Buffay image, so it was casting a big shadow over her, unfortunately. Charlie Tahan did a marvelous job in portraying the troubled boy William. And he was perhaps the most memorable of all in the movie.

This movie had potential to be great, but it failed to deliver, and that was a shame. When the movie was over, I was left with a thought saying "was that really it?". I was disappointed in how the movie dealt with the deep matters that were part of the storyline. And as such, I am only rating the movie a 4 out of 10. The superficial nature of the movie drags it way down, but the solid performances of the cast manages to make the movie bearable to sit through.

Sadly, this movie was not all it could have been...

is basically what this movie is about. And the film goes out of its way to make the two female character, played by Portman and Kudrow, seem very dislikable. Kudrow is the ex-wife and is just plain ugly at times with what she says and is a control freak. You don't feel sorry for her that her husband left her for a younger woman. Who would want to listen to her carry on at home. Portman, is the younger woman, Emilia, whom steels her boss, Jack, from Kudrow. She gets pregnant, so he decides to divorce and marry her. Their baby dies 3 days after being born. Then there is the stepson, William, whom seems to set Emilia off. She seems very annoyed by him and always does or say the wrong thing. Emilia also has problems with her father and brings that into her marriage. The way everyone is portrayed in the movie makes you wonder how they ever got married in the first place.

FINAL VERDICT: No one is likable in this. Not worth a viewing.