For Mother
Following the war Serena Principessa Alessandro di San Tibaldo (Eva La Rue - Help for the Holidays) is left with nothing but her name and her family's heritage. It is why when she meets the kind and caring Col. Brad Fullerton (Jeffrey Nordling - Trail of Tears) they end up marrying except when he goes to fight in Korea she ends up a penniless widow. With no money and a daughter to support she turns to modelling where she meets Vasili Arbus (Michael Lowry) who manages to work hard and party harder but hides a dark secret which could destroy Serena.
"Remembrance" starts with a young girl called Vanessa being woken by her mother's screams, next thing we know she is being picked up by her Uncle Teddy whilst her mother is placed in a body bag by the cops and medics. This is to introduce us to Vanessa who is the movies narrator and who tells the story of her mother who has faced many battles and romantic troubles in her life. Now I haven't read Danielle Steel's novel from which this is adapted from but as I understand it huge chunks have been left out such as the back story to Serena's troubles in Italy following the war. And in a way whilst I haven't read the book I would have loved to have seen that part as to me "Remembrance" suffers because it needed more back story".
Anyway as to the story, well in typical Danielle Steel style it stars at point A and goes to point B and then C, D and E as well. If you don't known what I mean by that is that "Remembrance" first seems about Serena coming to America with Brad and finding that his mother Margaret, played by Angie Dickinson, disapproves and tries to pay her to clear off as she had always had great plans for Brad. But the story evolves as Brad ends up dying, Serena and their child ends up destitute and having to battle to survive, although unaware that her brother-in-law Teddy is secretly looking out for her. It evolves a few more times before coming to, well you can guess especially if you have watched other movies adapted from Danielle Steel novels.
On the subject of watching other Danielle Steel movies well "Remembrance" is soap opera like with big melodramatic performances from the entire cast especially Angie Dickinson who as Margaret plays the domineering head of the family. But the star of "Remembrance" is Eva La Rue who has that air of naivety which just adds to her attractiveness. But all the performances whilst working in context of the movie are forgettable due to the characters being cliche and lacking real depth.
What this all boils down to is that "Remembrance" is a typical melodramatic, soap-operaish Danielle Steel movie which whilst entertaining leaves no lasting impression.
Tags: Danielle Steel Movies
