Dvd Review

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday September 27, 2008

Gabriel Wilder

Then She Found Me

Rated M

(Hopscotch Entertainment)

Helen Hunt keeps things moving at a fair clip in her first feature as a director: within the first 15 minutes her character, April, has been married and separated, has buried her adoptive mother, been found by her birth mother and met a new man.

April is also grappling with an all-consuming desire to have a child. Frank (Colin Firth, pictured, with Hunt) is the father of two children she teaches. He is still bruised after being abandoned by his wife and, although dedicated to the children he is now rearing alone, feels deeply oppressed by the task.

Into this depressing scenario blows Bernice (Bette Midler), a larger-than-life talk-show host and April's biological mother, who is looking to bond with the daughter she gave up 39 years earlier. Despite her trade - digging out truths from others - Bernice is duplicitous yet somehow disarming at the same time.

Everyone, with the exception of Midler, looks terrible. Hunt's mostly unmade-up face is gaunt and drawn. When Frank, no dashing Mr Darcy himself, tells her she's beautiful, you wonder for a moment who he is talking to. But these are lives in a state of flux - when April finally falls pregnant, she blooms.

It sounds dismal but it's not. The performances are charming - Firth and Midler, in particular, bring a much-needed warmth and optimism. The fine script has funny lines and situations tucked in among the sadness and Hunt directs with a deft hand, ensuring the film never gets mired in misery.