Plenty

All elements of this fine drama point towards greatness, but a choppy narrative style (feeling like chunks of information are missing) causes occasional frustration. Streep is wonderful in the lead, though the exact nature of her problems are never really explored (is she mentally ill, suffering from post-war shock?) Gielgud effortlessly steals all of his scenes, and Dance is exceptional as Streep's husband. Schepisi also knows how to use the widescreen, resulting in many gorgeous compositions.

Epic fail. Streep is miscasted. Clumsy scenario, weird actions and hard working actors who try to make crooked sentences and decisions believable. Ulman is one of the worst actresses I’ve come across - she’s mediocre Dutch soapseries level. And then there is this script that makes the actors say things to indicate that something deep and literary is going on. But it’s not.

A rather pointless tale only worth any time for Gielgud/Mckellen and Dances performances.