If you’ve been wondering where Helen Hunt has been hiding these past few years, the answer is behind the camera. Hunt has been indulging in her passion project, Then She Found Me, a small, graceful film adapted from Elinor Lipman’s novel of the same name. Hunt’s feature directing debut (she also produced, co-wrote and stars in the film) reveals tremendous promise for her directing future even as it succeeds beautifully in the here and now.
April Epner (Hunt) is a New York City schoolteacher who devotes her days to her students and her nights to her emotionally stilted husband, Ben (Matthew Broderick). April leads a contented life, yet has an empty hole in her heart only a child can fill. But April’s obsession with getting pregnant frightens Ben and he decides to leave her. When April’s adopted mother dies the very same day, the observant Jew can’t imagine God has any surprises left to throw her way.
She never sees Bernice Graves (Bette Midler) coming. Claiming to be her birth mother, Bernice, who is a local talk show host and celebrity, wants back into her daughter’s life and is ravenous for the very information April would rather not discuss. As Bernice, whose story may be too good to be true, tries to insert herself into April’s life as if she had been there all along, April finds solace in the arms of Frank (Colin Firth), the divorced parent of one of her students. But will Frank stay with April when she discovers that she is, at long last pregnant…with Ben’s child.
So often, independent films are populated with unlikable sad sacks you have little hope of ever identifying with, much less liking. In Then She Found Me, Hunt manages to conjure characters who are no less flawed but always remain likeable.
Admittedly, it’s hard to dislike Colin Firth, who plays the part of an emotionally wounded man with boundless charm, and Broderick (aka Ferris Bueller) who will forever be the quintessential man/child. Midler comes on like Robin Williams or Jim Carrey — a force of nature that simply can’t be contained. But after this initial introduction, Hunt pulls her scene-chewing star back without once losing the panache that makes Midler perfect for this part. Hunt herself is terrific. She keeps her April plain and haggard. There are scenes where she looks older than Midler’s Bernice. Yet her inner fire, which breaks through in several key scenes, is never in any doubt.
Then She Found Me is a gentle film with room enough for comedy and tragedy. Under Hunt’s deft direction, the film has a slight, tender touch. In her first time out of the gate, Hunt isn’t interested in theatrics or flourish. She knows a solid film is the result of a good story and good actors to tell it.
It’s great to see a middle aged romance rather than the usual pubescent drama Hollywood habitually sends our way. Then She Found Me recognizes that true love is found not in the flush of romance but in the stubborn commitment that comes after the initial twiterpation has worn off. It wrestles with very real, very familiar issues, but does so in a way that gives hope rather than perpetuates heartache.
Honesty without cynicism. Now that’s something I could watch a lot more of.
© Copyright 2008 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.
