PLIMOTH CINEMA: ‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’

Who is Pippa Lee? When this film opens, we meet Pippa as a comfortable and comforting 50-something wife and mother. But, as the film’s title says, there’s more to Pippa than meets the eye. Is her present, very conventional family life a reaction to the insecure tumultuous life she led before her marriage decades ago to husband Herb Lee? Or is her life too conventional and crushing the real Pippa? 

Personal identity is a main theme of this film, and we learn through flashbacks just how far Pippa has come in life. We also learn that Pippa still has a way to go. Few in Pippa’s sedate world could have imagined that this trophy wife was once a polar-opposite wild child named Pippa Sarkissian.

Writer/director Rebecca Miller (Arthur Miller’s daughter) adapted this film from her own best selling novel of the same name. She has created a poignant and witty satire about identity and relationships.

It’s a credit to Miller’s script that she has attracted such A-list actors. Appearing as Pippa, Robin Wright (Penn) has returned from years away from film and is ditching the Penn part of her name as well as her husband. Alan Arken, who has done almost 100 films, is perfectly cast as Herb. Keanu Reeves appears in a terrific, quirky role later in the film. Winona Ryder and Julianne Moore add a light touch. Madeline McNulty plays Pippa at age 7. And Blake Lively, who has a remarkable resemblance to Wright, plays Pippa in her party girl years. Ryan McDonald and Zoe Kazan are Pippa’s two grown children.

Miller chose to open her film with the older Pippa and, by flashing back and forth to her past, she better conveys the sense of change than if she had chosen simple linearity.

In a flashback we meet Pippa’s amphetamine-addicted, monster mother Suky (Maria Bello), and it’s no surprise to us when Pippa runs away from home. Her immediate refuge is with her Aunt Trish (Robin Weigert) and Trish’s lover, Kat (Julianne Moore), a producer of soft sadomasochistic videos. After her stay with Trish ends abruptly, Pippa moves on to a long and dissolute party-girl life before she meets and is rescued by Herb, a successful publisher who is 30 years her senior.

It seems that Pippa has always been objectified, a pawn in someone else’s life – from the mother who dresses young Pippa up for glamorous photo shoots to Kat who dressed teen Pippa for video roles. Is adult Pippa the real thing or is she, even now, just living a role?

Wright stands out as she gives the part the cautious and deliberate passivity of a woman living a character’s existence not her own.

Pippa’s life comes to a major intersection when aging and ailing Herb suffers a heart attack and decides to move from Manhattan to an upscale Connecticut retirement community, a place Herb calls “Wrinklesbury.” This move has cut Pippa off from her sophisticated and urbane social world and she finds herself bored and at loose ends. The signs are there as Pippa is seen acting out in unusual ways, without even knowing it. It is a culmination of many circumstances that brings Pippa’s past life to her mind, eventually leading her to confront her present state and her own needs. One of the guides helping Pippa find her way is Reeves, who plays a neighbor, himself adrift in life.

Critic Robert Levine says the power of the film “lies in the ways it slowly peels back those layers of disguise to reveal a very different, infinitely more complex soul.”

While identity is a major theme in Miller’s film, the major questions are how Pippa came to be confined in what turns out to be a golden cage and where she goes from there.

Girl On A Train comes to Plimoth Cinema Feb. 19-25, followed by The Maid (do not miss this film).

Remember that on wintry Saturdays Plimoth Cinema features warm, homemade Indian Pudding with ice cream in addition to it’s usual beer and wine offerings. Ask about Irish coffee as well.

The Plymouth Local Foods Winter Market will be held at Plimoth Plantation on the third Thursday of each month through May, the next set for Feb. 18. The market is held in the Visitor’s Center from 3-6:30 p.m. On Market Days, a food-centered film will be offered in addition to the regularly scheduled film.

Plimoth Cinema’s screenings are offered Friday and Saturday at 4:30 and 7 p.m., and Sunday through Thursday at 4:30 only. Check film times by calling 508-746-1622, ext. 8877, or check Plimoth Cinema’s film listings and sign up for e-mail notices of upcoming films at www.plimoth.org.

All films are screened in the Linn Theater in Plimoth Plantation’s Visitor Center. Food, beer and wine are offered each Saturday. General admission is $9.50, $7.50 for Plantation members and seniors. Plimoth Cinema Club Cards, valid for 12 months, cost $10 and entitle one person to $1.50 off admission to any film shown at the Cinema.