To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday Movie Review 1996

Overly sentimental weeper explores the effects of a mother's death on the ones she's left behind. Gillian's been dead for two years but widower David Lewis (Gallagher) hasn't been able to let her spirit go and daughter Rachel (Danes) is having trouble growing up with a father who spends more time on the beach with his dead wife's ghost than with her. Enter nosy sister-in-law Esther (Baker) and annoying husband (Altman) who try to set him up on the anniversary of Gillian's death and you've got a mental family breakdown coming. Pfeiffer appears as Gillian in this script by husband Kelley, based on the play by Michael Brady.

Distribution

Sony Pictures Home Video, Sony Pictures Plz., 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232, Phone: (310)244-7306, Fax: (310)280-2485, URL: http://www.spe.sony.com, Remarks: Formerly Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 92 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Widows & Widowers, Heaven Sent, Obsessive Love, Tearjerkers, Death & the Afterlife, Ghosts, Ghouls, & Goblins, Teen Angst, Family Ties, Dads, Sail Away, Birthdays

Screenplay

David E. Kelley

Cast

Peter Gallagher, Claire Danes, Kathy Baker, Wendy Crewson, Bruce Altman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Freddie Prinze

Cinematography

Tim Suhrstedt

Director

Michael Pressman

Music

James Horner

Producer

Marykay Powell, Triumph Films