"Nights in Rodanthe" is a well-acted, competently-written movie shot in an almost impossibly-beautiful but ruggedly rustic house on the shore of one of North Carolina's "Outer Banks," not far from Cape Hatteras National Seashore. This is an area that's been sadly neglected by movies; this was based on a popular novel by Nicholas Sparks ("The Notebook," "Message in a Bottle"), and was reasonably popular itself. I'm sure both increased tourism in this scenic area of sand dunes and lonesome stretches of water.
And it's a reasonably good movie, too, with excellent art direction, which benefits greatly from the high definition of this Blu-ray disc. However, and this is a warning, like all too many romantic melodramas, it seeks to prove its importance by having a sad ending. Hollywood all too often regards happy, upbeat endings as being trivial or frivolous, and it is true that some, if not most, movies in this category don't end happily. At least they give audiences a good cry. Sorry to provide a spoiler, but I do think many people appreciate being warned about mournful endings.
Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane) frantically gets her two children ready to go on a trip with her estranged husband Jack (Christopher Meloni), who drops the bomb of seeking a reconciliation just as Adrienne is heading for her annual working vacation. Jean (Viola Davis), her best friend--they grew up together--manages a bed-and-breakfast on the Outer Banks, near the town of Rodanthe. She has to go to Florida on business, so Adrienne, seeking a distraction from her fracturing home life, has offered to manage the place while Jean's away. There's only one guest booked anyway, as it's off-season, near hurricane time.
We also meet Dr. Paul Flanner (Richard Gere), who's in the process of selling his home. We never learn very much about his wife other than that she's still alive, and that they're divorced (or at least permanently separated). We gradually learn that Paul reacted badly--that is, inappropriately--to the death of a woman he was operating on, and is on the brink of giving it all up. His son, also a doctor, has angrily gone off to run a clinic in Ecuador; Paul hopes to join him.
I presume the script by Ann Peacock and John Romano is faithful to the novel; it feels like that, and Nicholas Sparks is one of the reigning kings of the weepers. This has all the requisite elements: two adults whose lives have not gone the way they wanted, who are plunked down in a gorgeous setting, isolated from the rest of the world--not only is this three-story bed & breakfast right at the edge of the sea in a long line of empty sand dunes, but a hurricane blows in, too. Of course, Paul learns important life lessons while he and Adrienne--who doesn't need to learn any, being a victim rather than an instigator (her husband was cheating on her)--fall picturesquely in love.
The virtues of "Nights in Rodanthe" are many, but not quite strong enough to offset the predictability of the familiar storyline. Lane and Gere are very attractive people, and sensitive actors (they appeared together in "Unfaithful" some years back), who flesh out rather obviously-written characters. Their sensitivity lends nuance to a story that really needs it, and their strength as movie stars is very useful here, as there really are very few other characters who even have lines, much less scenes. (Scott Glenn as a grieving widower, as they say, acquits himself well.) It's almost all Lane, Gere and that wonderful house.
It seems to be a real place, a rental home on the Outer Banks. It's tall and narrow, clad in brown shingles, with many porches, blue awnings, and tall pilings raising it above the sand and sea. The interiors, undoubtedly shot on sound stages, are equally beautiful and art-directed to a fare-the-well. Production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein has done her work well; almost every angle reveals more small details, more treasured heirlooms, tchotchkes galore--there's probably a story behind every beaded curtain, beneath every curio and keepsake. High definition allows these details to add lustre and depth to the story, which it needs, but this is almost to the point of the house becoming not just another character in the story, which was intended, but to be the leading player. We worry about it when the hurricane hits, even though Jean assures Adrienne that the place, which belonged to Jean's great-grandmother, has survived many previous hurricanes. The sound here comes into play as well, with the (brief) hurricane swirling around you.
The extras on the disc are routine, and of little interest. Director George C, Wolfe, here making his feature debut, provides commentary for a few routine deleted scenes but, oddly, not for the film itself. Another featurette is a standard making-of, with intelligent comments by Gere and Lane; another focuses on writer Sparks, who seems to think he's been creating serious literature. Oddly, a third focuses on Emmy Lou Harris, who wrote a song for the movie and sings it over the end credits. She had nothing else to do with the film.
"The Notebook" was almost entirely letters written between lovers, and entries in a journal one of them kept. The last quarter or so of "Nights in Rodanthe" consists of letters exchanged by Adrienne and Paul; he has gone to Ecuador to work with his son, who's surprised to learn that his father has become a better person. (Adrienne, you see.)
If you like romantic movies, you're halfway there with "Nights in Rodanthe," because it certainly is romantic, with good performances by attractive stars. But it's also routine and tiptoes up to the brink of being merely maudlin. It's a handsome film with that astonishing house and all its furnishings, plus occasional scenes on the dunes of the Outer Banks. But its familiarity can be dispiriting; the non-romantic are warned.
Leave a comment