| Then She Found Me | |
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Original poster |
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| Directed by | Helen Hunt |
| Produced by | Helen Hunt Pamela Koffler Katie Roumel Connie Tavel Christine Vachon |
| Written by | Alice Arlen Victor Levin Helen Hunt Based on the novel by Elinor Lipman |
| Starring | Helen Hunt Bette Midler Colin Firth Matthew Broderick |
| Music by | David Mansfield |
| Cinematography | Peter Donahue |
| Editing by | Pam Wise |
| Distributed by | THINKFilm (US) Chelsea Films (UK) International Sales: Odyssey Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | April 25, 2008 |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $8,142,237 (worldwide) |
Then She Found Me is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Helen Hunt. The screenplay by Hunt, Alice Arlen, and Victor Levin is based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Elinor Lipman. The film marked Hunt's feature film directorial debut.
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Deeply religious April Epner, a 39-year-old Brooklyn elementary school teacher, finds her life derailed by a series of events over which she has no control. Her husband Ben abruptly leaves her, her abrasive adoptive mother Trudy passes away the following day, and shortly after she is contacted by Alan, a representative of Bernice Graves, the flamboyant host of a local talk show, who introduces herself as her biological mother.
Although intrigued by Bernice's claim she was fathered by Steve McQueen, April initially resists her efforts to forge a relationship. At the same time, she finds herself attracted to Frank, the divorced father of one of her students, as the two get to know each other via lengthy telephone conversations. For their first date he escorts her to a party at Bernice's apartment.
Complications arise when April discovers she is pregnant, the result of a quick and clumsy coupling with Ben on the kitchen floor just before he left her. April has longed to have a child all her life and is delighted with the news, but is confused and upset by Ben's sudden return, Frank's hasty departure, and Bernice's insistent attempts to create a bond between them. Not helping the situation is the discovery Bernice voluntarily put her up for adoption a full year after her birth and not three days later at the urging of her parents, according to the scenario she initially presented. When April miscarries, her brother Freddy tries to counsel her, but ultimately she must rely on her deep-rooted faith to deal with the betrayals she has suffered not only at the hands of those she trusted but by the God she worships as well.
In a bonus feature included with the DVD release of the film, Helen Hunt discusses her ten-year-long journey to get Elinor Lipman's novel to the screen. After first reading it she tried to interest numerous studios in the material, and her unsuccessful efforts led her to begin writing the screenplay and raising funds to produce it herself. Longtime friend Matthew Broderick agreed to play the relatively small role of Ben for scale, and his commitment inspired Hunt to approach Bette Midler and Colin Firth, who were impressed by her passion for the project and agreed to work for minimum pay as well. Although she originally did not intend to portray April, Hunt decided casting herself in the role ultimately would lighten her work load as a director since she would have one less performance to help mould.
Janeane Garofalo and Tim Robbins make brief cameo appearances as themselves.
The film was shot on location in Brooklyn, including the waterfront community of Gerritsen Beach, and Manhattan. Interiors were filmed at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The film's soundtrack includes "For You" by Duncan Sheik, "In The Red" by Tina Dickow, "I'll Say I'm Sorry Now" by Shawn Colvin, "Naked As We Came" by Iron & Wine, and "Cool, Clear Water" by Bonnie Raitt.
The film premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival. It was shown at numerous 2008 film festivals, including the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Portland International Film Festival, the Boulder International Film Festival, the Cleveland International Film Festival, South by Southwest, and the Ashland Independent Film Festival before going into limited theatrical release in New York City and Los Angeles on April 25, 2008. It earned $72,594 on nine screens on its opening weekend and eventually grossed $3,735,717 in the US and $4,406,520 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $8,142,237.[1]
Critical response to the film was mixed, and it received a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Whereas some critics praised the film for having strong performances, others felt the film was bogged down by a weak script and technical issues.
Stephen Holden of the New York Times said that "Ms. Hunt takes every opportunity to avoid easy comic shtick and cutesy-poo sentimentality in an effort to make her characters act and sound like real people . . . you can feel [her], both as director and actor, discarding sitcom conventions to shoot for something deeper and truer. And she achieves it, mostly through the shaded performances of Mr. Firth and Ms. Midler, as well as her own." [2]
David Edwards of the Daily Mirror, on the other hand, said "the main problem is one of tone, the movie shifting between pale sitcom humour and sloppy romantic overtures, making for an uneven and unfulfilling experience." [3]
Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle observed, "You would think that frontloading Then She Found Me with so much plot would make it play like a soap opera. But Hunt saves the movie from this fate in two ways. First she turns in a touchingly real performance, the best of her big-screen career. Forget that As Good as It Gets won her an Oscar. She's eons better and more realistic in this one . . . By directing Then She Found Me, Helen becomes its savior as well . . . Hunt knows when to rein in the Divine Miss M instead of allowing her to go into full Kabuki mode . . .[She] also coaxes pitch-perfect performances from Broderick and Firth." [4]
Richard Roeper of Ebert & Roeper called the film "consistently mediocre" and said it "practically invites you to forget about it two days after you’ve seen it." [5]
John Anderson of the Washington Post disagreed, saying "Hunt directs a lot of this like a TV movie, and the music by the estimable David Mansfield is used to frog-march the film's emotional content, rather than letting it simply enhance the proceedings . . . Then She Found Me suffers from, if anything, a lack of pure confidence in the story, the actors or the audience." [6]
Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times called the film "unexpectedly sharp, light and appealing," "a testament to Hunt's skills behind the camera," and "a low-key, rather consoling fantasy deftly masquerading as way-we-live-now slice of life." Although she felt Hunt as April was a "slight casting misstep," she thought "all in all, Then She Found Me is a warm, entertaining and well-made little movie and an auspicious debut for Hunt the director." [7]
Helen Hunt was presented with the Audience Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and the Rogue Award at the Ashland Independent Film Festival.
The DVD was released in anamorphic widescreen format on September 2, 2008. The English audio track is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and there are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired and Spanish. Bonus features include director's commentary with Helen Hunt, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, cast interviews, and the original trailer.
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