FILM REVIEW: THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE

Robin Wright Penn and Alan Arkin in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.

Look back in wonder

By Miranda Inganni 

Stepping forward in cinematic quality, actor turned writer-director Rebecca Miller (Personal Velocity; The Ballad of Jack and Rose) has made her best film yet, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.  

Pippa Lee (Robin Wright Penn) and her publishing mogul husband, Herb Lee (Alan Arkin), have just relocated from New York City to a retirement community in a quiet suburb in Connecticut. Herb is 30-odd years Pippa’s senior and his health is failing.  Surrounded by their creative cronies from NYC at their inaugural dinner party, one of Herb’s friends, novelist Sam Shapiro (Mike Binder), offers a toast to Pippa referring to her as an “icon of an artist’s wife.” Indeed, Pippa seems the embodiment of the trophy wife: beautiful, charming, gracious and reserved. But there is something too reserved about Pippa. There is a vapid, indefinite quality about her, practically a vacancy in her eyes. While transitioning to this new life, Pippa is forced to confront her storied past.

Through a series of voiceovers and flashbacks, we learn that Pippa grew up with a drug-addicted mother (Maria Bello) whose mood swings dictated Pippa’s own emotional ups and downs. Always trying to please her neurotic mother, Pippa Sarkissian (Blake Lively) feebly attempts to be the beautiful, quiet girl her mother desperately wants her to be, but eventually she rebels and runs to NYC to live with her aunt (Robin Weigert) and her girlfriend, Kat (played wonderfully by an understated Julianne Moore). 

Exposed to a lifestyle so unlike her home life, teenage Pippa (Blake Lively) seems at first to be in control and enjoying her newfound freedom. However, she soon slides into a life of drugs and debauchery.

It’s during this lost time that Pippa meets Herb. Despite the fact he’s married to the gorgeous Gigi (Monica Bellucci), the two begin a love affair with Pippa taking the place of Gigi (who in turn replaced Herb’s first wife). Herb, apparently always wanting the newer, younger model, takes on a Pygmalion presence, transforming the wild child into his ideal wife. Unfortunately, while Herb may know exactly what he wants Pippa to be, she herself doesn’t seem to have a clue.

As Pippa, now nearly 50, questions her seemingly idyllic life, we start to see the cracks that are eroding – her tense relationship with her daughter, her somnambulant binge eating and trips to the store for cigarettes.

It’s at the convenience store where Pippa repeatedly encounters her new neighbor’s son, Chris (Keanu Reeves), a recent divorcee temporarily staying with his parents (Shirley Knight and J.R. Horne). These two misfits form a bond – neither one belongs in this aging community.  

It is through Chris that Pippa believes she is beginning to discover her true self. But why does Pippa need a man to figure out who she is? Pippa relies on others to define her, even though she reaches a point where she could go out on her own to discover herself.

The lead performances of Wright Penn and Arkin are strong and the excellent supporting cast contributes an enormous amount. Each role is integral to the story and the cast creates an impressive ensemble. Lively is her usual sun kissed, stunning self, just with more eyeliner and bigger hair. This works well for the character as Lively’s screen presence is clearly there, but she lacks personality (all the better for Herb to easily manipulate). 

Miller, on whose book of the same name the movie is based, creates a compelling character study, taking two actresses playing the same role and tying their disparate narratives into a tidy package. I just wish Pippa, not unlike a lot of women, could have done more for herself by herself.