Trick of the Eye

Three writers made a valiant attempt to adapt Jane Stanton Hitchcock's novel for the tube, yet this television movie has ultimately been injected with too much melodrama and just doesn't know when to quit. Struggling artist Meg Tilly suddenly finds herself employed by wealthy, enigmatic Ellen Burstyn, who desires a mural painted on the walls of her unused ballroom. After learning about the last gathering held there--Ellen's daughter's coming-out party--Tilly decides on her artistic theme, never dreaming the daughter died mysteriously before the function even began, nor that she and the deceased bore a striking resemblance to one another! Two superb actresses lend their services to an incredible yarn which doesn't bear close scrutiny, one that fails to match either lady in emotional intensity. Burstyn's role teeters on camp, while Tilly gets stuck doing the dreamy-eyed-waif routine. Only one sequence late in the film (the morning after the mural is finished) is charged with honest feeling, anger and betrayal. The rest is piffle.

As an artist I really connected with this film. Meg Tilly did a sensitive, perceptive job of portraying a contemporary young artist.

... but Meg was better suited for the role, and I was happy to see her working. I just saw this (first time) on TV. It is an interesting story of a young painter and a rich patroness of the arts and their bonding and unbonding. Very good acting by Tilly and Ellen Burstyn with no excess emoting. They both looked young for the movie date ('94); anyone know how long this sat on the shelf before release?

This was a great made-for-television drama, immediately far more richer and engrossing than l was expecting, it ranks right up there with the other all-too rare exceptional ones that I've seen in my life. The cinematography was beautiful, the mansion that's featured is gorgeous, its magnificent yet somehow moody grandeur adding everything to the mysterious atmosphere of the story. I love the powerful artistic themes that run throughout and lie at the heart of this film, I think it brilliantly captures the eager hungry mind of the artist, and what it means to put your heart and soul into something beautiful created out of nothing. To me, despite the plot focusing entirely on one very sad broken-hearted woman's twisted deceptions and impossible fantasies it is a tremendously uplifting film that's full of life and vibrant colour, although it definitely grows more hectic and melancholy as the story progresses. It's very involving, the story unfolding at a leisurely pace that develops the characters well, and although at least as far as one of them goes there's technically nothing at stake, you care and feel for them both, perhaps strangely the 'villain' most of all. Ellen Burstyn was simply excellent in her role as the extremely wealthy and desperate to reclaim something she never can "Frances Griffin." At first her character seems so kind and warm and generous, but then the cracks soon begin to show as she reveals her more subtley manipulative and controlling tendencies, as well as bizarre mood swings. She showers Jennifer Tilly's character with expensive gifts to win her over, persuading her to move into her residence out of 'convenience', and then foolishly attempting to isolate her by blocking her phone calls, and then when the understandably angry Faith is about to leave, she fakes illness in order to make her feel sorry for her and convincing her to stay. Eventually she even offers her the opportunity to become her legal heir and inherit her entire fortune, all if she'll only stay with her... But you also get the sense that despite all the eccentricities and amoral behaviour she's not a bad, cruel person underneath it all. For all the joy and happiness she takes from her estate and elegant home, it may as well be her tomb. For all the riches in the world can never reclaim what she's lost, inadvertently by her own hand, and she knows it. So like the pretty flowers she tends to, the only love she seemed capable of showing her own late daughter was to groom and develop her into an unwilling perfect princess of high society. You can't help but feel great pity for her as she breaks down at the finale, finally revealing the full tragic story of her daughter's death in the movie's most moving scene. The ever-uncanny Meg Tilly was equally strong though in a different way, she was awesome in her role as a fragile but determined young artist who strives to solve the mystery of her 'connection' to her deceased doppelgänger Cassandra Griffin, as well as to see her project through to its very bitter end. At first she doesn't quite seem to comprehend the complex mystery nightmare her dream job soon turns into! I love all the enchanting moments and scenes that are interspersed throughout of Faith as she painstakingly recreates a large mural all around the walls of a vast ballroom of the coming out party of the sixteen year-old Cassandra, who mysteriously died on the night of her débutante ball. Only it's sadly all for nothing in the end, for as soon as she departs Frances cruelly has the incredible work of art immediately erased in a fit of spite and anger. And then as Faith leaves for the final time after returning to inform Frances that neither she nor her talent can never be owned, the hysterical woman pathetically orders her butler to prevent her from leaving and bring her back. And it seems for a second that he will do just that as he blocks her car in a menacing manner, but he merely reassures her that her beautiful work will never be forgotten. This is a terrifically intriguing suspense drama, but in no way should any part of it be considered a thriller. It is somewhat simple and systematic with its developments, but the real meat of this film is the emotionally-charged psychological tension that slowly builds between the two lead actresses, and this highly satisfying picture is well worth seeking out for their performances and chemistry alone. See ya! 🖼

A struggling young artist is caught up in a heavenly opportunity when she's asked to paint the grand ballroom of an upper class Long Islander. The older woman, Mrs. Griffin, seems to have a strange fascination with the painter, and the "vision" created on the ballroom walls, which leads Faith to the mysterious death of the woman's daughter, Cassandra. As she unfolds truth from deception, she lies on the brink of a horrifying discovery...

There are obvious flaws in the structure of this film, which doesn't explain away all the events in the characters' lives, but overall as a thriller it works. The aura of the house and the strange Mrs. Griffin give the piece an eerie feeling, even as we fear Faith is treading on the threshold of doom. The performances are fair and although there's a lack of dramatic action until the last few minutes of film, we really get a sense of who the characters are and even some of their motivations. The final scene is jarring enough to satisfy any mystery fan, even if Burstyn's acting seems a little over the top.