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Derek Malcolm's rating
The Girl in the Park grabs attention
By
Derek Malcolm
4 Dec 2008
You would expect something a bit special from David Auburn, writer of Proof, the award-winning play, and his first film as director gives us just that. There are three notable performances in this story of a woman who loses her child in Central Park and never finds her but instead gains a kind of surrogate daughter many years later.
Sigourney Weaver is Julia, who has still not recovered from her loss when she encounters Kate Bosworth’s Louise, a troubled young woman whom she saves from prosecution when she is caught stealing sunglasses from a shop. Allowing the girl, who reminds her powerfully of her lost child, into her home, she begins a fraught relationship with her.
The girl is needy and unreliable and Julia’s son (Alessandro Nivola), who is just getting married and is trying to reconnect with his now divorced mother, knows something strange is going on. Trying to get through to his mother seems almost impossible.
We never learn whether Julia really thinks the attractive but waif-like Louise is her daughter or not. Perhaps she just wants to believe it. But The Girl in the Park is well enough written, and certainly well enough acted, to be an unusually subtle portrait of loss and possible renewal.
Weaver’s Julia is a fine study of a woman whose bereavement has left her totally alone psychologically and there is a wonderful scene in Central Park when the police are called to stop her talking to children around the age of her long-lost child.
Bosworth’s Louise and Nivola as Julia’s son could hardly be better. They, and Auburn, create a portrait of everyday life with considerable skill. It is not without its problems, but this is, at the very least, an attention-grabbing first feature with a fine example of ensemble playing from its cast.
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Reader views (9)
The whole film is basically trying to say that despite the fact that Louise is not the daughter, Julia learns to love her like her own offspring.
- Trace, London UK, 24/09/2010 17:54
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The whole film is basically trying to say that despite the fact that Louise is not the daughter, Julia learns to love her like her own offspring.
- Trace, London UK, 24/09/2010 17:54
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Quite stunning. I watched this late night on British tv. If I had read what it was about I would have avoided it. Instead the subtlety of the plot and the excellence of the performances kept me riveted. And I think it is shown at the end that Maggie is her daughter. The photo is of her and her foster parents. Just before that, Bosworth has seen a photo of Maggie at the same age - and the two children are the same. But it's too subtle a film to spell it out.
- Matthew Campling, London England, 22/09/2010 11:36
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I don't get it... I am actually quite disappointed. I sort of wanted Julia to succeed at the end, but I really don't get if she's her daughter and what about the picture she has... I really enjoyed the movie but the end made it really bad.... In my opinion it just had to be Maggie... Proving once and for all that Julia is not crazy...
- Alexandra, Mexico, 25/06/2010 15:23
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i just saw this movie and it was not clear AT ALL. Louise had a picture of them all together but then at the end she DOESNT have the birth markk?!?!?!? reallllly confusingggg:/
- Morgan, merrick united states, 23/12/2009 03:07
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I can be a bit slow sometimes but could someone confirm whether or not Louise is actually her lost daughter Maggie or not ?
- Dermot, dublin,Ireland, 23/09/2009 09:27
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The film was rubbish. so many scenes not needed and ditn gel together, and what happened with chris and NOT showing him fall? yeah ok we knew it would happen, but the next scene had about as much glue as a blue peter sticky-back plastic project.
and Louise doesnt have the birthmark...so what was that all about?
thumbs DOWN
- Lauren, mk, 21/09/2009 00:16
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Saw this movie on torrent via the internet & cannot wait to see it in the cinema. You're right everyone gives stellar performances. Not a commercial piece at all, this movie takes some delving into & viewers should not watch it superficially. I thought it was the best performance I have seen out of Kate Bosworth. Sigourney was her usual excellent (like she was in Snowcake), never seen Alessandro Nivola before but he delivered too.
- Elizabeth, originally Florida, now in London temporarily, 20/09/2009 23:16
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I saw this movie on DVD (it was released in Germany and Sweden). Both performances are just amazing. Sigourney is great as always. She is like a dark storm and creating one of the strongest female characters ever. Highly recommended!
- Mariusz Max, Brussels, Belgium, 20/09/2009 23:16
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