Stepmom

Five writers are credited: the story by Gigi Levangie, the screenplay by Levangie, Jessie Nelson, Steven Rogers, Karen Leigh Hopkins and Ron Bass. Chris Columbus keeps the roles separate. Julia Roberts plays Isabel, a fashion photographer; Susan Sarandon plays Jackie, a publisher who gave that up to stay home; Ed Harris is Luke, the father between them. John Williams composed and conducted the score, having worked with Columbus on Home Alone. He wanted something simple and lyrical, choosing a classical rather than electric guitar because gut strings carry a human quality. Christopher Parkening plays the guitar solos, John Ellis the oboe. Jackie’s illness is lymphoma. To break the bond Isabel is forming with Anna, Jackie takes the girl to the Pearl Jam concert herself. The film closes not on a death scene but on a Christmas morning family photograph, Jackie calling Isabel into the frame. Sarandon was nominated for a Golden Globe in the drama category; Jena Malone and Liam Aiken won young performer prizes and the film took the family drama award at that ceremony. A good fit if you want the truce to arrive through an open division of the children’s past and future, not a speech. Not for viewers who expect the illness to stay in the background: the last stretch is given to the goodbye.