Customer Reviews

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee [Blu-ray]

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In a male-dominated industry like Hollywood, it is refreshing once in a while to watch a movie in which the main character is a woman (Robin Wright). It is additionally rewarding - a bonus, if you will -- if the director is also a woman (Rebecca Miller, who wrote the story). The result, "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee," is satisfying and remarkable. This film touches you and stays with you.

The story is about Pippa Sarkissian (Wright) - who would later become Pippa Lee --, an attractive woman with a troubled past, reaching middle age, who is trying to get her life together. Her mother Suky (the always dependable Maria Bello) was moody and addicted to antidepressants, and was repulsed by Pippa when she was born, because she was hairy. However, this situation improved throughout the years, and Suky got very attached to Pippa. Unfortunately, her mother's problems persisted, and Pippa eventually had to leave home. After some time living carelessly by herself, she finds Herb Lee (Alan Arkin), a man thirty years her senior, who happens to be a successful publisher. They get married and life appears to be good for everyone. That is, until Pippa's past begins haunting her -- a situation that is worsened by her current problems.

This is a real life drama, spiked with humor, especially provided by Wynona Ryder, in a surprising supporting role. It examines a woman's life that "keeps swinging back and forth from generation to generation, getting it wrong." Robin Wright shines as Pippa Lee, and Arkin as her husband. The magnificent cast also includes Blake Lively (as Pippa in her younger years) Monica Bellucci, Julianne Moore, Shirley Knight, and Keanu Reeves. The Blu-ray edition includes commentaries by Wright and Miller, and interviews with Wright, Arkin, and Lively. (USA, 2009, color, 98 min plus additional materials)

Reviewed by Eric Gonzales exclusively for [...] on March 1, 2010.

My husband picked up this DVD on a whim, thinking I might like it, and he was right! "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is a thoughtful, leisurely-paced drama about a woman who though anchored in a stable relationship in the present, is haunted by her turbulent past. Robin Wright Penn plays Pippa Lee, a sort of prim and proper wife to an aging yet indomitable older man, Herb (Alan Arkin). The couple have recently moved to a retirement community, though Herb, who has already suffered previous heart attacks, refuses to buckle down and lead a quiet life. Pippa who is 30 years younger than Herb, tries her utmost to take care of her husband, despite his protestations and suffers from exhaustion, finding herself spacing out, binge eating in the middle of the night (but having no recollections of it later), and finds herself experiencing flashback moments of her younger days.

The movie flows well between the past and the present. We see baby Pippa being initially shunned by her mother Suky (Maria Bello) for being overly hairy as an infant, and how this relationship changes over time. As Pippa grows (the teenage Pippa is played by Gossip Girl's Blake Lively), a close relationship forms between Suky and her daughter, but Suky's own deteriorating mental health and over-dependence on anti-depressants causes a friction in their relationship. Pippa runs away, meeting interesting characters along the way - photographer (Julianne Moore), successful publisher Herb (Arkin),co-dependent friend (Winona Ryder in a great supporting role), and a store clerk (Keanu Reeves). Having settled down to a sedate married life, Pippa ponders her life's purpose, and some startling revelations throw her scheduled life off-balance.

Robin Wright delivers a finely nuanced performance, and the excellent supporting cast make this movie an above average viewing experience. There is a great deal of character development, insights, and self-introspection here - a woman who has been so driven to care for others (husband, son, daughter), that she has lost her own identity along the way, choosing to 'settle' instead. Will Pippa Lee set herself free? The movie credibly addresses this question and the compelling performances by the lead actress and supporting cast make it a worthwhile watch.

Screen Media hardly ever puts any money into their BDs (as is the case here again) but Rebecca Miller put together a good story told in a less than simple way.

The story follows the life (if told lineally) of a woman from birth to her rebirth as an older woman (Robin Wright). Along this journey we jump back and forth in her time line as we see the different lives she has led. Mario Bello competently played her drug addled mother, Alan Arkin her much older husband, with some interesting short roles from Monica Belucci and Winona Ryder. The criticism I have read regarding confusion and casting choices to play the same person I can see having some validity, but I enjoyed the challenge of figuring things out while watching this. Keanu is once again picked to play a non-emotional role and he does it fine. The Blu quality is standard at times, above average in others. The vehicle motion scenes are difficult to figure out though, as they chose to film with the windows rolled up in each scene so the resulting reflections are always blurring the scenes - really the only shortcoming of the Blu quality. The DTS gets used infrequently and the special feature of interviews from a screening lasts only a few minutes and is forgettable. The commentary was adequate but as admitted by Wright - a little awkward to do at times.

You would be getting this for the performances alone, but I do not think there would be any significant disappointment in the BD either. No region coding listed, English and Spanish subs only.

It took a little while to warm up to Pippa Lee, but that's one of the things that makes this film so magical. We get to watch Pippa come out of the deep freeze and fully into her own being after a life of dissociation. The script is insightful and wonderful. The acting is superb. This film is a real treat.

Secret Lives of Pippa Lee was a fantastic movie. I became hooked within a few minutes of starting the film and it did not disappoint. The film focuses on Pippa Sarkissian (who later becomes Pippa Lee) as she moves in to a retirement community with her older husband, played wonderfully by Alan Arkin. There are frequent flashbacks to her youth in an unstable household with her minister father and speed addicted emotionally unstable mother. When Pippa finally moves out, she temporarily finds relief at her aunt's home, but ends up on a wild and detrimental path of drugs and sex. She meets her husband and is saved from that life, but now wonders about her choices. There are also side stories involving her children, a neighbor's middle-aged "half-baked" son, and a friend of hers which make the movie a dynamic and engaging must-see.

Interesting regarding the mind's abilities of how we perceive where we are in life at different times of life.

Acting by Robin Wright was convincing and there were several interesting characters in the movie. Keanu Reeves played an integral part of Pippa Lee finally coming to terms with herself and life as it is. He was cast appropriately and did a good job. Most of the casting of characters was very good/appropriate.

Overall, we enjoyed the movie...

I purchased this movie on recommendation and was pleased with the experience. The movie is engaging, interesting, titillating and even mildly erotic at times. Pippa's journey from girl, teenager, to young woman and ultimately mature woman is interesting and compelling. I wouldn't write this movie off as a kind of feel good, chick flick either. I'd recommend this movie to anyone looking for a departure from the typical fare. All the significant actors in the movie do very well with their respective performances. Interestingly enough, it's produced by Brad Pitt.

Okay, let's have a show of hands: How many of us are going--or went--Middle Age Crazy? (Yes, my hand is raised proudly.) Might as well make (another) movie about it, with the latest offering being THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE, a quirky, bittersweet film that reminds us it's never too late to be happy--and that Robin Wright (or was she Robert Wright Penn when she made this?) is still fine eye candy.

Fortysomething Pippa Lee is ambivalent--about her much-older husband (Alan Arkin), her kids, her life. And she can't seem to control bouts of sleepwalking that always make her delightfully vulnerable; it's her self-conscious crying out for Pippa to re-examine her life and get back in the game. Thus Pippa goes on a new journey of self-discovery, augmented by flashbacks of a most tumultuous and uninhibited life (her younger self is played by an ebullient Blake Lively). The flashbacks are extraordinarily entertaining, dominated by Arkin's character's hopeless infidelity, along with a most interesting aunt (Julianne Moore). The present storyline is less so, in spite of Wright's solid performance, as best friend Sandra (Wynona Ryder) is utterly annoying, and love interest Chris (Keanu Reeves) is as wooden as the desk my PC rests on.

Any weaknesses aside, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE is still a fine tale of midlife crisis and one more soul saved. Yes, it's quirky, but sometimes quirky is good.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning

If ever an actress was born to play a role, Robin Wright was born to play the titular character in "The Privates Lives of Pippa Lee". Wright is a beautiful woman and marvelous actress whose career has perhaps been overshadowed by her marriage to volatile, high-profile actor Sean Penn. So Wright is perfect to play Pippa Lee, a devoted wife and mother whose role as caretaker has overshadowed her own needs and desires.

One of the central premises of the film is that people often lead multiple "lives" in one lifetime. As the film begins, the audience sees Pippa as a dutiful, middle aged woman who has just moved into a retirement community for the sake of her much older husband. This transition begins causing rifts in both Pippa's marriage and mental state, and so as Pippa begins to look back on her life, the audience sees that she was not always the conservative, supportive woman she is now. The film shows Pippa's childhood with her minister father and erratic, pill-addicted mother, her time spent as a teenager living with her compassionate aunt and her wild, magnetic female lover, her rootless, bohemian young adulthood, and finally, her romance with the much older man who she eventually marries and has children with. The film cuts back and forth between Pippa's current life, which seems to be eroding, and her previous "lives," to show that, perhaps, Pippa is ready for her next metamorphosis.

Although a far from perfect film, any bumps or clumsiness in the script are easily made up for by the film's inspired casting and great performances. Regarding the characters in Pippa's current life, Robin Wright gives a pitch-perfect, subtle, and at turns dramatic and comic performance as Pippa Lee; Alan Arkin is charming as her warm but selfish husband; Winona Ryder gives a comic supporting performance as Pippa's histrionic, back-stabbing friend; and Keanu Reeves inhabits his sullen but good-hearted character well. Regarding the characters who make up Pippa's bumpy past, Blake Livey does just fine playing the youthful, lost Pippa; Maria Bello brings gravitas to her portrayal as Pippa's unstable mother; Julianne Moore's considerable acting chops allow her to morph perfectly into the role of Pippa's aunt's charismatic lover; and Monica Belluci brings just the right combination of strength and torment to the role of Pippa's husband's first wife.

Sly, imaginative take on a young party girl who marries an older man for money and what happens to her when she hits middle age and the older man is now REALLY old - the dialogue is sophisticated, the direction is lively and the cast is very appealing - Robin Wright Penn's best performance, and Keanu Reeves is very entertaining as a ne'er do well who is incapable of lying -