Hilary and Jackie
October Films | Release Date: December 30, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Emily Watson is ravishingly good -- and brings an amazing focus and intensity to what could have been a disease-of-the-week picture. Read full review
100
The New York TimesStephen Holden
One of the most insightful and wrenching portraits of the joys and tribulations of being a classical musician ever filmed. Read full review
100
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It is a triumph, and one of 1998's few "don't miss" motion pictures. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyTroy Patterson
Neither the stars' harmonious interplay nor director Anand Tucker's insistent urbanity of camera work can disguise that the cello drama is melodrama. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
It takes two to be sisters, two to have a rivalry, and two exceptional actresses to turn Hilary and Jackie into a compelling look at the most intimate and troubling of family dynamics. Read full review
90
The A.V. ClubJoshua Klein
An astoundingly moving and elegiac meditation on life, love, music, and the bonds of blood. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
This sensitively directed film is one of those rarest of accomplishments: a graceful work of art about the very creation of art itself. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie makes no attempt to soften the material or make it comforting through the cliches of melodrama. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
Hilary and Jackie plumbs the cistern of family dysfunction and musical genius to profound and haunting effect. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverJimmy Fowler
The movie felt fresh and resonant in spite of its overall familiarity. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The movie is exquisitely directed by Anand Tucker in an anti-documentary style that sometimes fractures the time sequence, sometimes re-creates moments impressionistically instead of objectively and is vivid in style. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Told from both women's points of view, this fascinating, if sometimes overwrought, tale packs a wallop. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Stratton
Eye-grabbing performances from Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths, who portray celebrated British cellist Jacqueline Du Pre and her older sister, Hilary, distinguish this ambitious but flawed biography. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
First-time feature director Tucker displays an astonishingly assured touch, allowing his phenomenal cast to creep into their characters' skins and surrounding them with images of shimmering and slightly threatening beauty. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The wildly ambitious but flawed biographical film about the English cellist Jacqueline du Pré. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Gripping in purely cinematic terms as an imaginatively told tale of sibling rivalry and the pressures of great expectations. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The sense of period, of ungainly English pride, is funny and acute, but the movie mislays its sense of wit as the girls grow up. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleRussell Smith
For all its knock-'em-dead acting and aggressively stylish direction, Hilary and Jackie is still best described as arthouse comfort food. Read full review
60
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Hilary and Jackie tries far too hard to dictate emotional involvement right out of the gate, and you're left counting off the doom-laden cues for things that are sure to return full circle. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
As drama, Hilary and Jackie is merely sketchy and superficial. As a portrait of the artist, it's puritanical crap. Read full review
25
San Francisco ExaminerAllan Ulrich
You may have surmised that Americans have held the copyright on turning out awful movies about serious musicians (especially musicians with physical or mental afflictions), but along comes the high-gloss weepie. Read full review
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