Our take
The Great Lillian Hall doesn’t do anything particularly great to a familiar premise, but it’s still worth watching for the knockout performances. There’s Lange, whose dementia both complicates her desire to mount one last performance and resurfaces her guilt for being an absent mother. There’s Bates, who offers both sympathy and tough love. And then there’s Rabe, who’s gut-punching as the pained daughter crawling her way into her mother’s stiff arms. Everything else about the film is not as noteworthy as it drags the film for way longer than it should be. But that trifecta of performances makes it all worthwhile.
Synopsis
As beloved Broadway star Lillian Hall pours her heart, soul, and time into preparing for her next big role, she finds herself blindsided by confusion and forgetfulness. Battling against all odds to make it to opening night, while holding on to her fading memories and identity, she must navigate a tumultuous emotional journey – balancing her desire for the spotlight and the stark demands of the real world.
Storyline
While preparing to mount a play on Broadway, the revered Lillian Hall (Jessica Lange) finds it difficult to remember her lines, worrying her colleagues, her daughter Margaret (Lily Rabe), and her assistant, Edith (Kathy Bates).
TLDR
It’s almost like watching a modernized take on All About Eve, except more dramatic than funny.
What stands out
Perhaps Lange’s love letter to acting cuts as deep as it does because she’s been in the industry for so long, and in that time has delivered some of the most memorable turns in Hollywood history.