Today, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee becomes available on DVD & Blu-ray!
Starring Robin Wright (Forrest Gump, State of Play) as the enigmatic Pippa Lee, the film follows Pippa as she dutifully retires with her aging, avuncular husband (Arkin) to a new life in a sleepy Connecticut retirement community. After twenty years of marriage and motherhood, Pippa’s seemingly idyllic world is put to the test as she confronts her volatile past. With the help of a divorcee loner (Reeves), she embarks on a bittersweet midlife breakthrough.
Rebecca Miller’s adaption of her novel, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee is fantastic. It is storytelling at its finest. It’s a dramedy with a perfect balance. Viewers are taken on quite an emotional ride as Pippa Lee reflects on her life from her wild childhood to her life in the present day as a gracious and faithful house wife. It’s quite a moving tale as Pippa seems to search for her identity through the many different lives that she has led. Pippa goes through quite a metamorphosis – inspired by the people she is surrounded by, including her mother, her Aunt’s girlfriend, the drug crowd, her husband, etc…
The supporting cast does a phenomenal job portraying the many (positive and negative) layers to each of their characters. It is very easy to sympathize with a number of characters or at least the situations these characters are involved in. Let’s not forget the tone of the film, the cinematography is beautiful and Rebecca Miller does a wonderful job at directing…who better to direct the film than the author of the novel that the film is adapted from? As mentioned the cast interviews on the bonus features, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee has every single element that you could ever wish for in a movie. Don’t hesitate to buy more than one copy to give out to your family and friends.
Bonus Features:
Commentary – The commentary is conducted by actress, Robin Wright & writer/director Rebecca Miller. Miller dominates the commentary, as she mainly talks about her favorite camera angles and getting in certain shots (the way that she wanted) in the final cut. If you are an aspiring director or are a big fan of Miller’s work, this commentary is definitely worth the listen. If neither applies to you, you are not missing a lot of vital information about the film. Though it is quite interesting to hear the two discuss a few things, including the dinner scene with Lively as Pippa as she watched her mother going crazy over the course of a year. Other fascinating scenes that were discussed include Wright as Pippa sleepwalking in the convenient store and Keanu Reeve’s character wiping her out of her stance. Miller has done a substantial amount of research on sleepwalkers and Wright has portrayed a sleepwalker in such an unbelievably fascinating way, so it’s nice to dwell deeper into this scene. Lastly, the suicide scene was something that Miller discusses in regards to how it would be shot and thankfully, she was pleased with how the shot came out despite the original vision. There was not an abundant amount discussed in the commentary, but was what discussed had great depth, so I urge Miller fans and aspiring directors to check it out.
Cast Interviews (5:35)- This is quite a short feature that viewers will not gain much more insight into the film, moreso find out from Robin Wright about shooting and what it was like working with the cast & writer/director, Rebecca Miller…Alan Arkin discusses what attracted him to the script, his character, and working with Miller…and lastly, Blake Lively also discusses what it was like working with the cast, what attracted her to the script, and how she can relate to her character. This feature would be much more intriguing if typical questions were not asked, though if you have 5 minutes to spare, it’s a fun watch.
Own The Private Lives of Pippa Lee on DVD & Blu-ray today.