Evening (12A)

Some big names have been assembled for this old-fashioned "woman's picture" about thwarted expectations and lifelong regrets. Vanessa Redgrave plays a mother attended on her death-bed by her two daughters (Toni Collette and Natasha Richardson) and still haunted by the love triangle her younger self (Claire Danes) experienced with two men (Hugh Dancy, Patrick Wilson) at a wedding weekend in a Gatsby-esque New England mansion back in the 1950s.

Meryl Streep, Eileen Atkins and Glenn Close contribute in smaller roles, though what they liked about Susan Minot's screenplay (from her novel) is difficult to discern: there's not a moment of real life in its two long hours. Lavishly dressed, well-mannered, nicely acted – and very, very boring.