The Door in the Floor (2004)
April 3rd 2008 01:19
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, Jon Foster, Elle Fanning, Mimi Rogers
Director: Tod Williams
Screenplay: Tod Williams (based on a John Irving novel)
Running Time: 111 minutes
FEATURE came as part of a boxed set as a birthday present - there were a couple of nuggets in there already, and this one turned out to be a nice little surprise.
Based on John Irving’s book A Widow for One Year, it tells the coming of age story of Eddie O’Hare (Foster), who is hired over summer as Man Friday for best-selling children’s author Ted Cole (Bridges) at his house in the Hamptons. Cole is an alcoholic, whose beautiful wife Marion (Basinger), has yet to get over the death of their two teenage sons in a car accident. Since the accident they have had a daughter, who covets her brothers’ presence by looking at their photos on the wall every day. Of course the movie has its Graduate moment when O’Hare and Mrs Cole start having an affair – not that Ted can talk, as he beds the models he uses when doing his drawings.
Pic definitely belongs in the Chick Flick category, but having two sons (somewhat younger), I can empathise with Marion and how hard it would be to get over such a tragedy. I’ve never been a huge fan of Basinger (Oscar or no Oscar), but she really does play the tharn-induced, lost wife quite well. Foster is quite good in a Chris O’Donnell kind of way (think Scent of a Woman), and Bridges encompasses the idiosyncrasies of the character so well, I wonder how much he is stretching himself.
There are some moments of mirth that fit nicely, but I’m not going to oversell this one. The cinematography is great, and helmer Williams makes a good fist of his first “commercial” feature.
3 out of 5 stars
NB: Tharn is a term used by Richard Adams in Watership Down when describing the look a rabbit has when caught in headlights. I love the word and use it often as I can! So all those trainspotting wordsmiths who are scratching their heads and wondering if there is such a word in reality, the answer is no! ;O)
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