Hilary and Jackie - film

Well, after reading Jacqueline du Pre’s biography by Carol Easton and watching terrific documentaries by Christopher Nupen, it’s very difficult to come up with anything positive about this film. 

Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths show great performances here, but, the storyline and a rather grotesque description of her state of mind spoils the whole concept of the production. No wonder the film was harshly criticised by people who knew her. 

Obviously there’s always a great danger of canonising this great musician. At the end of the day, she was a human being with all familiar defaults like the rest of us. And there’s no way now of judging her character because she’s already gone. 

However, reading lots of stuff written by people who were very close to her, I do think the film was very unfair. 

And, to make things more complicated, it was based on the book written by her siblings.

Well, that’s another example of human frailty.