Farewell to Chase - DVD

Film: Chase Philips (Helen Mirren) is an intrinsically happily married woman and mother of two sons. Even though she could actually live the life of a picture-perfect family, Chase feels enormously unhappy. So much so that she falls into deep depression and suffers a nervous breakdown. When she returns to her loved ones on the picturesque island of Martha's Vineyard, her husband Richard (Beau Bridges) hires college student Elizabeth (Kyra Sedgwick) to take care of the household, the boys, and Chase's needs for a bit so she can regain her strength in peace. At first, Chase is very hostile towards the young woman and never misses an opportunity to provoke Elizabeth. But when Richard has to go away on business and the women now have to cope with each other alone, a close friendship slowly develops between the two, which also reveals to Chase the real reasons for her depression...

With the sensitive drama Farewell to Chase actor Kevin Bacon tried 1996 for the first time as a director. For the US cable channel Showtime, Bacon's wife Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer) stood in front of the actor's camera alongside Helen Mirren, who won a Golden Globe for her leading role. Next to this concentrated female power, the rest of the cast, most notably Beau Bridges, have a very hard time holding their own. But that's not too bad, because Helen Mirren knows very well how to carry and enhance the sometimes shallow story with an extremely strong performance.

Because without the good actors Farewell to Chase wouldn't be much more than a typical TV drama, which remains dramaturgically a bit too superficial to do justice to the strong performance of Helen Mirren, despite a beautiful and touching story. It's true that Kevin Bacon succeeds very well in building up the sensitive story and establishing the relationship between the two women to a dramaturgical climax. But for its impact and resolution is ultimately dealt with far too quickly to really exploit the emotional potential of the conflict. Therefore, the whole thing remains a bit too shallow to leave a lasting impression.

Besides that, Farewell to Chase is a drama worth watching, a well-acted and solidly directed chick flick that too rarely rises above ordinary TV level, but can still convince and entertain on the strength of the good actors alone. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: No audiovisual revelation should be expected from this sixteen-year-old TV production. The picture, which is only available in 4:3 format, looks a little washed out here and there, minor dirt and blurring can also be made out here and there. At least the colouring is convincing, which is why the picturesque images of Martha`s Vineyard still come across very well despite the visual weaknesses. The stereo sound also doesn`t offer much more than a clear and clean reproduction of the dialogues and the music, which is completely sufficient for a drama like this.

Extras: The DVD has no extras to offer.

Conclusion: Farewell to Chase is a nice TV drama that is elevated above the usual genre level primarily because of Helen Mirren's award-winning performance. Kevin Bacon's 1996 directorial debut, while a bit shallow overall, is sensitively and movingly realized. And even if the DVD technically offers no more than good average and also offers no bonus material, lovers of emotional women's dramas should not miss this film. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp