This is a true voyeur film. It focuses at the beginning on the lives of the characters without much insight into who they really are. This is very much like real life, where we only get to know each other in small pieces that may not make...
[+] Read Full Review

This is a true voyeur film. It focuses at the beginning on the lives of the characters without much insight into who they really are. This is very much like real life, where we only get to know each other in small pieces that may not make sense.

By the end of the movie, though, it takes all the standard right turns, introducing a complex scheme to make a lot of money, and goes a little south in an attempt to make the story larger than life.

Frankly, if it had stayed true it's roots, that is, human, it would have been a great film, even worthy of awards. But since it tries to fill the second act with something it doesn't really need to, it looses most of what it established with the first act. Although, the end is beautiful and in a weird way redeems some of what is lost with the side story.

Ms. Blanchett manages to offer a pretty convincing role, but some of what she has to work with is weak. Sam Neill's part is one of those mid storylines that need not even exist, and his talent is wasted in this movie with his minimal involvement.

Over all it is worth a viewing for the humanism of the story.