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• Street Date: 21 September 2004. Studio: BBC/OPUS ARTE DVD.
• Region: 0: Region-Free. Display: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard), NTSC.
• SubTitles: French, German, Spanish. Audio: PCM Mono, PCM Stereo, English.
• Disc Info: Discs:1 ~ Format:Ntsc ~ Region:0 ~ Country:Usa. Cast: View Cast For Jacqueline Du Pre In Portrait.

HILARY AND JACKIE - DVD MovieIt earned Oscar nods, yet this cinematic look at a genius--that of English cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who enraptured audiences with her bold, emblazoned, and wholly unconventional playing style, and who died at age 42--was criticized for its "lapses" in truth by people who purportedly knew du Pré. Some of the controversy revolved around the other main character in Anand Tucker's gorgeous, involving movie! --du Pré's sister, Hilary, whose book, A Genius in the Family (cowritten with brother Piers), dished some dirt on Jackie's sleeping with Hilary's husband. But don't let that deter you from this ebullient movie experience. The film is a bisected story (each sister's tale is told in the same amount of screen time) teeming with heartfelt drama that belies the cheap shots it received from its detractors. It's stirring, reckless, loving, involving, and rife with unconventional passion; passion for music, life, art, and the delicate relationship between these two synchronous, extraordinary sisters as played by brilliant actors Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths (both of whom earned Oscar nods). Though Watson got the juicy, showy role as Jackie, it's Griffiths who provides the heart, soul, and spine of the film. And director Tucker has that gift of being able to explain through the visual medium what is happening inside of his character's heads. He's helped by! a fine screenplay by Frank Boyce Cottrell. No matter what th! e truth of Hilary and Jackie might really be, this is an exceptional, rare film that is defined and graced by fine acting and writing. --Paula NechakIt earned Oscar nods, yet this cinematic look at a genius--that of English cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who enraptured audiences with her bold, emblazoned, and wholly unconventional playing style, and who died at age 42--was criticized for its "lapses" in truth by people who purportedly knew du Pré. Some of the controversy revolved around the other main character in Anand Tucker's gorgeous, involving movie--du Pré's sister, Hilary, whose book, A Genius in the Family (cowritten with brother Piers), dished some dirt on Jackie's sleeping with Hilary's husband. But don't let that deter you from this ebullient movie experience. The film is a bisected story (each sister's tale is told in the same amount of screen time) teeming with heartfelt drama that belies the cheap shots it received from its detractors. It's! stirring, reckless, loving, involving, and rife with unconventional passion; passion for music, life, art, and the delicate relationship between these two synchronous, extraordinary sisters as played by brilliant actors Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths (both of whom earned Oscar nods). Though Watson got the juicy, showy role as Jackie, it's Griffiths who provides the heart, soul, and spine of the film. And director Tucker has that gift of being able to explain through the visual medium what is happening inside of his character's heads. He's helped by a fine screenplay by Frank Boyce Cottrell. No matter what the truth of Hilary and Jackie might really be, this is an exceptional, rare film that is defined and graced by fine acting and writing. --Paula NechakFrom the moment Jacqueline du Pré first held a cello at the age of five, it was clear she had an extraordinary gift. At sixteen, when she made her professional debut, she was hailed as one of the world's! most talented and exciting musicians. But ten years later, sh! e stoppe d playing virtually overnight, when multiple sclerosis removed the feeling in her hands just before a concert. It took fourteen more years for the crippling disease to take its final toll.

In this uniquely revealing biography, Hilary and Piers du Pré have re-created the life they shared with their sister in astonishing personal detail, unveiling the private world behind the public face. With warmth and candor they recount Jackie's blissful love of the cello, her marriage to the conductor Daniel Barenboim, her compulsions, her suffering, and, above all, the price exacted by her talent on the whole family. For proud as they were of Jackie's enormous success, none of them was prepared for the profound impact her genius would have on each of their lives. . . .Jacqueline du Pré saw the outlines of her short, brilliant, and tragic life when she was still very young. The first time she heard a cello (she was 4 years old), she said, "Mummy, I want to make that sound." Sh! e got a cello for her 5th birthday and made her professional debut at age 16. She went on to become one of the century's most amazing musicians for 10 years. Then her career was ended by multiple sclerosis. She seems to have foreseen that crippling illness, which killed her at age 42 after years of slow deterioration. She was 9 years old when she confided in her sister, Hilary (who coauthored this biography with their brother, Piers), "Don't tell Mum, but... when I grow up, I won't be able to walk or move." Before she was stricken down, Jacqueline du Pré led a life of unusual richness and complexity. Here that life is examined by her siblings in loving but realistic terms, including the flaws and conflicts as well as the achievements.

The biography formed the basis for the 1998 film starring Emily Watson. It is a sad chronicle of the pitiless disease that twisted Jackie's personality and sanity as well as her body, but also a joyful book about music, t! he tenderness and rivalries of family life, and above all a s! ingular, tormented, but buoyant personality. --Joe McLellan As might be expected, the soundtrack to Hilary and Jackie plays a highly prominent role in this film about the emotionally fraught relationship between two gifted sisters, one of whom is the brilliant cellist Jacqueline Du Pré. Certainly composer Barrington Pheloung--whose credits include the Inspector Morse series and the evocative score to Truly, Madly, Deeply--faced a heady challenge in writing music to be heard alongside Du Pré's rhapsodic, signature interpretation of the Edward Elgar Cello Concerto, not to mention other classical selections. Even so, the resonantly autumnal, neo-Romantic flavor of his score aptly mirrors the narrative's flashback-oriented technique. His insistence on the cello's urgent high register (played by soloist Caroline Dale) creates a poignant musical portrait of its tragically stricken protagonist. Most of the CD, however, is given to the entire Elgar con! certo--an especially effective choice as against the usual potpourri of classical snippets. This charged, elegiac, and easily accessible work--Elgar's own valedictory composition for orchestra--becomes a sort of musical metaphor for Du Pré's emotional journey and gains from being heard in its full context. While the performance featured here is conducted by husband Daniel Barenboim, you'll probably be inspired to try Du Pré's never-bettered version of the Elgar on EMI with John Barbirolli. --Thomas MayIt earned Oscar nods, yet this cinematic look at a genius--that of English cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who enraptured audiences with her bold, emblazoned, and wholly unconventional playing style, and who died at age 42--was criticized for its "lapses" in truth by people who purportedly knew du Pré. Some of the controversy revolved around the other main character in Anand Tucker's gorgeous, involving movie--du Pré's sister, Hilary, whose book, A Genius in! the Family (cowritten with brother Piers), dished some ! dirt on Jackie's sleeping with Hilary's husband. But don't let that deter you from this ebullient movie experience. The film is a bisected story (each sister's tale is told in the same amount of screen time) teeming with heartfelt drama that belies the cheap shots it received from its detractors. It's stirring, reckless, loving, involving, and rife with unconventional passion; passion for music, life, art, and the delicate relationship between these two synchronous, extraordinary sisters as played by brilliant actors Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths (both of whom earned Oscar nods). Though Watson got the juicy, showy role as Jackie, it's Griffiths who provides the heart, soul, and spine of the film. And director Tucker has that gift of being able to explain through the visual medium what is happening inside of his character's heads. He's helped by a fine screenplay by Frank Boyce Cottrell. No matter what the truth of Hilary and Jackie might really be, this is an except! ional, rare film that is defined and graced by fine acting and writing. --Paula NechakThe subject of the 1998 film "Hilary and Jackie" and gracing the cover of the August 2004 issue of Gramophone Magazine, the cellist Jacqueline du Pré remains as vibrant a figure in the public mind as she had been at the pinnacle of her career â€" before it was cruelly short by illness in 1973 when she was only 28 years old. The tragedy of her death is still felt by people all over the world, because this great cellist had ways of touching the heart that are given to very, very few.

Jacqueline du Pré and the Elgar Cello Concerto, a documentary by award-winning film maker Christopher Nupen, explores the artistic personality of one of the finest performing musicians of the twentieth century, with the recurring theme of her special relationship with the Elgar’s melancholy Cello Concerto. The film begins with an account of what she did after the onset of her illness when she coul! d no longer perform in public. It ends, at her own request, wi! th a re- edited version of the original portrait film which sketches her childhood and the development of her musical talent, her meeting with Daniel Barenboim and their marriage in 1967, her special relationship with the Elgar concerto and, finally, a complete performance of the work with The New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim; a performance which has become legendary.

This DVD portrait also includes Nupen's film The Ghost, which features a performance of Beethoven's Piano Trio No. 5. This is the first in a series of Christopher Nupen films on DVD.

Future titles will include Schubert's The Trout with Jacqueline du Pré and Andrés Segovia in Portrait.

Picture Format: 4:3/16:9 • Subtitles: GB, D, F • Sound Format: LPCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1