Closing the Ring
Encyclopedia
Closing the Ring is a film directed by Richard Attenborough
and starring Shirley MacLaine
, Christopher Plummer
, Mischa Barton
, Stephen Amell
, Neve Campbell
, Pete Postlethwaite
, and Brenda Fricker
.
The film was released in the United Kingdom
and Republic of Ireland
on December 28, 2007.
veteran. The man's daughter Marie (Neve Campbell
) delivers the eulogy
to a church full of veterans who knew and loved her father, while her mother Ethel Ann (Shirley MacLaine
) is sitting out on the church porch, smoking and nursing a hangover. When Ethel Ann begins acting strangely, only her friend Jack (Christopher Plummer
) seems to understand why. It quickly emerges that there is a lot Marie does not know about her mother's past and the true story of her love life.
The movie flips to a time when this mother was young, lively, and optimistic (young Ethel Ann played by Mischa Barton
). She is in love with a young farmer, Teddy Gordon (played by Canadian newcomer Stephen Amell
), who goes off to war with his best friends Jack (Gregory Smith) and Chuck (David Alpay
), but not all of them make it back alive. The plot lines intertwine with the story of a young Ulsterman in Belfast
, Jimmy, who finds a ring in the wreckage of a crashed B-17 and is determined to return it to the woman who once owned it.
Inadvertently caught up in cross-border troubles, Jimmy flees Belfast, travelling to Michigan to give Ethel the ring. Ethel reveals a wall covered in souvenirs of Teddy, which Jack and Chuck boarded up for her in 1944. Marie is shocked and furious to learn that her mother loved not Chuck, but Teddy's memory. Ethel travels to Belfast with Jimmy. She holds the hand of a dying British soldier caught in a car-bomb attack. Quinlan tells Ethel that he was on the hill when Teddy died, and that Teddy's dying words freed Ethel from her promise to love him forever. Joining Ethel in Belfast, Jack admits that he has always loved her. They begin a romance.
and Hamilton, Ontario
, Canada
, and Belfast
, County Antrim
, Northern Ireland
.
The B-17 used in this movie was the Yankee Lady from the Yankee Air Museum
, which was also used in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!
. It was flown by Captain D. Eugene Wedekemper.
on September 14, 2007. The film received its UK premiere at the London Film Festival
on October 21, 2007.
According to the Toronto International Film Festival
it "exemplifies the balance between the epic and the intimate that has been the hallmark of Lord Richard Attenborough’s venerable career...Attenborough traces multiple themes with ease and grace, giving his celebrated ensemble cast ample opportunity to shine". It concluded that the film is "a remarkable tale of love, loss and redemption that stands proudly among the films of one of the cinema’s living legends. Deftly weaving together different eras and locales, Attenborough has produced another grand canvas about the emotional repercussions of a wartime promise."
Derek Malcolm of the Evening Standard
wrote that it "is well-acted throughout and it has a romantic appeal that is not to be sneered at.."
Alan Morrison of Empire
wrote "After recent disappointments Sir Dickie Attenborough is back on better, albeit old-fashioned, form."
Philip French of The Observer
wrote "Woodward's script is more than a little contrived, as well as over-emphatic. But Attenborough has infused it with warmth and mature insight, and older members of the audience are likely to find it extremely moving."
Laura Bushell of BBCi Films called the film a "looping tale of love and loss in WWII which is so old fashioned in its aspirations, it's hard to see why new audiences would flock to see it."
Variety
called the film "decades-skipping schmaltz
" and an "aggressively bittersweet yet oddly uninvolving drama."
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
and starring Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
, Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
, Mischa Barton
Mischa Barton
Mischa Anne Marsden Barton is a British-American fashion model, film, television, and stage actress, best known for her role as Marissa Cooper in the American television series The O.C..-Early life:...
, Stephen Amell
Stephen Amell
Stephen Amell is a Canadian actor known for his role on the television series Rent-a-Goalie, as well as his work co-starring opposite Shirley MacLaine and Mischa Barton in the feature length motion picture Closing the Ring....
, Neve Campbell
Neve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. After beginning her career on stage, and on numerous commercials, she starred on the Canadian television series Catwalk. She then rose to international fame on the Golden Globe-winning 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of teenager...
, Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
, and Brenda Fricker
Brenda Fricker
Brenda Fricker is an Irish actress of theatre, film and television. She had appeared in more than 30 films and television roles...
.
The film was released in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
on December 28, 2007.
Plot
The film opens in 1991, with the funeral of a World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veteran. The man's daughter Marie (Neve Campbell
Neve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. After beginning her career on stage, and on numerous commercials, she starred on the Canadian television series Catwalk. She then rose to international fame on the Golden Globe-winning 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of teenager...
) delivers the eulogy
Eulogy
A eulogy is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services. However, some denominations either discourage or do not permit eulogies at services to maintain respect for traditions...
to a church full of veterans who knew and loved her father, while her mother Ethel Ann (Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
) is sitting out on the church porch, smoking and nursing a hangover. When Ethel Ann begins acting strangely, only her friend Jack (Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
) seems to understand why. It quickly emerges that there is a lot Marie does not know about her mother's past and the true story of her love life.
The movie flips to a time when this mother was young, lively, and optimistic (young Ethel Ann played by Mischa Barton
Mischa Barton
Mischa Anne Marsden Barton is a British-American fashion model, film, television, and stage actress, best known for her role as Marissa Cooper in the American television series The O.C..-Early life:...
). She is in love with a young farmer, Teddy Gordon (played by Canadian newcomer Stephen Amell
Stephen Amell
Stephen Amell is a Canadian actor known for his role on the television series Rent-a-Goalie, as well as his work co-starring opposite Shirley MacLaine and Mischa Barton in the feature length motion picture Closing the Ring....
), who goes off to war with his best friends Jack (Gregory Smith) and Chuck (David Alpay
David Alpay
David Alpay is a Canadian actor.-Education:Alpay had planned to pursue a career in neuroscience when he was studying at Earl Haig Secondary School in North York, Ontario. He even went so far as to win the University of Maryland, Baltimore's Brain Bee in grade 12...
), but not all of them make it back alive. The plot lines intertwine with the story of a young Ulsterman in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Jimmy, who finds a ring in the wreckage of a crashed B-17 and is determined to return it to the woman who once owned it.
Inadvertently caught up in cross-border troubles, Jimmy flees Belfast, travelling to Michigan to give Ethel the ring. Ethel reveals a wall covered in souvenirs of Teddy, which Jack and Chuck boarded up for her in 1944. Marie is shocked and furious to learn that her mother loved not Chuck, but Teddy's memory. Ethel travels to Belfast with Jimmy. She holds the hand of a dying British soldier caught in a car-bomb attack. Quinlan tells Ethel that he was on the hill when Teddy died, and that Teddy's dying words freed Ethel from her promise to love him forever. Joining Ethel in Belfast, Jack admits that he has always loved her. They begin a romance.
Main cast
- Shirley MacLaineShirley MacLaineShirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
- Ethel Ann - Christopher PlummerChristopher PlummerArthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
- Jack - Mischa BartonMischa BartonMischa Anne Marsden Barton is a British-American fashion model, film, television, and stage actress, best known for her role as Marissa Cooper in the American television series The O.C..-Early life:...
- Young Ethel Ann - Gregory Smith - Young Jack
- Stephen AmellStephen AmellStephen Amell is a Canadian actor known for his role on the television series Rent-a-Goalie, as well as his work co-starring opposite Shirley MacLaine and Mischa Barton in the feature length motion picture Closing the Ring....
- Teddy Gordon - Neve CampbellNeve CampbellNeve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. After beginning her career on stage, and on numerous commercials, she starred on the Canadian television series Catwalk. She then rose to international fame on the Golden Globe-winning 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of teenager...
- Marie - Brenda FrickerBrenda FrickerBrenda Fricker is an Irish actress of theatre, film and television. She had appeared in more than 30 films and television roles...
- Grandma Reilly - Martin McCannMartin McCann (actor)-Biography:McCann born to Anne McCann, he grew up with a brother and sister in the working-class Divis Flats area of Falls Road in Belfast.He credits his mother with helping him with his success...
- Jimmy Reilly - Pete PostlethwaitePete PostlethwaitePeter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
- Michael Quinlan - John TraversJohn Travers (actor)John Travers is an actor from Belfast, Northern Ireland.He was best known from his role in the Song for a Raggy Boy and 48 Angels. His role as Liam Mercier in Song for a Raggy Boy is probably the most notable achievement so far...
- Young Michel Quinlan - David AlpayDavid AlpayDavid Alpay is a Canadian actor.-Education:Alpay had planned to pursue a career in neuroscience when he was studying at Earl Haig Secondary School in North York, Ontario. He even went so far as to win the University of Maryland, Baltimore's Brain Bee in grade 12...
- Chuck - Layke AndersonLayke Anderson-Selected filmography:*Re-Kill*House of Boys*Closing the Ring*Dolphins*Popcorn*X2: X-Men United-External links:*...
- Dying Soldier - Ian McElhinneyIan McElhinneyIan McElhinney is an actor and director.-Personal life:He is married to playwright/actress Marie Jones. Together they started their own company, Rathmore Productions Ltd.-Filmography:-External links:...
- Cathal Thomas
Production
Closing the Ring was filmed in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
.
The B-17 used in this movie was the Yankee Lady from the Yankee Air Museum
Yankee Air Museum
The Yankee Air Museum is an aviation museum located near Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display aircraft outdoors.-History:...
, which was also used in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!
Tora! Tora! Tora!
is a 1970 American-Japanese war film that dramatizes the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, to the extent these facts were known at the time of production. The film was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars an all-star cast, including So Yamamura, E.G...
. It was flown by Captain D. Eugene Wedekemper.
Festival appearances
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film FestivalToronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on September 14, 2007. The film received its UK premiere at the London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
on October 21, 2007.
Reception
The film attracted a mixed critical response.According to the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
it "exemplifies the balance between the epic and the intimate that has been the hallmark of Lord Richard Attenborough’s venerable career...Attenborough traces multiple themes with ease and grace, giving his celebrated ensemble cast ample opportunity to shine". It concluded that the film is "a remarkable tale of love, loss and redemption that stands proudly among the films of one of the cinema’s living legends. Deftly weaving together different eras and locales, Attenborough has produced another grand canvas about the emotional repercussions of a wartime promise."
Derek Malcolm of the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
wrote that it "is well-acted throughout and it has a romantic appeal that is not to be sneered at.."
Alan Morrison of Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
wrote "After recent disappointments Sir Dickie Attenborough is back on better, albeit old-fashioned, form."
Philip French of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
wrote "Woodward's script is more than a little contrived, as well as over-emphatic. But Attenborough has infused it with warmth and mature insight, and older members of the audience are likely to find it extremely moving."
Laura Bushell of BBCi Films called the film a "looping tale of love and loss in WWII which is so old fashioned in its aspirations, it's hard to see why new audiences would flock to see it."
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called the film "decades-skipping schmaltz
Schmaltz
Schmaltz or schmalz is rendered chicken, goose, or pork fat used for frying or as a spread on bread, especially in German and Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. Also is very common in Ukrainian cuisine Schmaltz or schmalz is rendered chicken, goose, or pork fat used for frying or as a spread on bread,...
" and an "aggressively bittersweet yet oddly uninvolving drama."
External links
- Closing the Ring at Yahoo! MoviesYahoo! MoviesYahoo! Movies , provided by the Yahoo! network, is home to a large collection of information on movies, past and new releases, trailers and clips, box office information, and showtimes and movie theater information. Yahoo! Movies also includes red carpet photos, actor galleries, and production...