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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good movie but grossly overrated

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The mysterious death of an enigmatic young man newly arrived in the suburb of Wetherby releases the long-repressed, dark passions of some of its residents.Roger Ebert called it "a haunting film, because it dares to suggest that the death of the stranger is important to everyone it touches – because it forces them to decide how alive they really are." That is one way of looking at it. Others have called the film a "puzzle" with pieces out of order and perhaps even missing.I liked the idea of a man who kills himself for no reason, and everyone around left to wonder. I am less thrilled about some of the follow-up. His life as a mystery seems better to me than exploring it, but others may disagree.

There seems to be a good bit of confusion from some viewers of this film, confusion probably because the screenwriter, in order to demonstrate that our actions, both simple and complex, not only affect our own futures, but the futures of our friends and relations, sometimes for decades, has not headlined his message. This film is worth watching simply because of an outstanding cast, legends before they were legends--Vanessa Redgrave, Ian Holm, Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson for starters. And there is a scene early on in the film both graphic and shocking; many reviewers of this film seem to think it has nothing to do with rest of the story except as a plot device which fails to work. I would differ: this intertwined tale bears careful watching, a viewer's ability to link two main stories told nearly simultaneously, seemingly unrelated. There is a good deal that is not said, and one must be like a teacher or a parent to read between the lines: several simple actions combined with expected outcomes provide some guidance. So this reviewer is not going to lay out a spoiler except to say that this complex, well-thought out film makes complete sense once the actions of the characters are made clear; notice particularly the strange young woman who comes to stay with Redgrave after her first unasked-for guest shocks us. See what that young woman sees. Observe what she touches and how she reacts. Understand why she might be a little more unhinged than Redgrave expects. The answers are there; they may not be cut and dried and as easy to solve as a Charlie Chan mystery--but they link us to our own amazing capacity to survive with truth over time. This film, if you have the patience, can be fascinating.

Besides qualms with the musical score, Wetherby has a killer script, intriguing editing, fantastic acting (Vanessa Redgrave is incredible), and a compelling idea driving the film. The echoes of film noir in the intense, high-contrast lighting and the starkness of the violence was perfect, especially when combined with naked silence. It is more than a story about a disturbed young man who shoots himself in front of an aging school teacher, Jean Travers (Redgrave). That comes early in the film. It is about the psychological consequences for Jean in her life and past, violently revealed through that shocking act. Life can never be normal again. Beneath even the most pleasant veneer lurks sadness, secrets, and dark sexuality.

Another puzzle movie where there is are ludicrously scrambled pieces. If this is all about loneliness and despair, look at how much more gripping something like The Entertainer is. There is something extremely shallow about this film: I guess if you want to make something about despair and keep it really boring, really empty, voila, then people can read about what they want the full extent of their own despair and loneliness into it. Probably one of the reviewers here is very right: Pinter seems always lurking in the wings of any scene. Hare, however is certainly his own man, very determined fellow to lead us nowhere with some kind of minor supine surprise at the end, to let us think we have solved the Rosebud mystery of this movie: like Kane, another jigsaw puzzle of a movie.Even Kubrick's The Killing, another scrambled movie, though hardly on this scale, would have been better told straight forwardly. Moreover, notice the blah response of the great unwashed public to this film. This baby shot past them on quiet rails in the dead of night, because it was just too tortured for its own good.As for a great performance by Redgrave, well, sure. The woman cannot deliver a single unbelievable line. She is one of the great great actress of all time: spooky how she disappears into every role she ever did. The only real puzzle for me, is...you guessed it. Why did they ever bother to shoot the first reel.