OBSERVER: The Great Lillian Hall
The Great Lillian Hall is an inspiring, funny and emotionally challenging subject about a difficult subject – dementia.
LilLian Hall (a towering performance from a mature Jessica Lange) is the first lady of theatre, and while rehearsing for a new production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, she becomes distracted and keeps forgetting her lines, something that has never happened in her long and successful career. She also starts to hallucinate and see her dead husband.
Her loyal offsider, general factotum and acerbic friend with a heart of gold, Edith, a lovely performance from Kathy Bates in her usual quick-witted style, reveals the depth of her care for Lillian as the story starts to plunge into the darkness of dementia.
Eventually, Lillian is forced to see a doctor by her sympathetic director, David (Jesse Williams), who diagnoses Lewy Body Dementia.
The progression of the disease means LiliLan will still have good days but gradually the bad days will increase, which is not good news for Broadway’s leading lady.
Complicating matters are a bumpy relationship with her daughter Margaret (Lily Rabe), who is desperate to have the company of her mother Lillian, not the Great Lillian Hall of the stage.
While this may sound heavy duty, it is leavened by a lot of humour, much of which is provided by Lillian’s next door neighbour Ty (Pierce Brosnan as a sexy senior).
Edith finds a way to help Lillian’s unreliable memory on stage, which enables her to make it through to a triumphant opening night, still retaining her crown as the first lady of American theatre, thus giving us a truly feel-good ending that includes a rapprochement with her daughter.
The Great Lillian Hall is a challenging film to watch but well worth the journey and handles the difficult subject of dementia with sensitivity and love.
Julie Houghton