Lilian's Story

Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense) turns in an affecting performance as Lilian, a woman just released from spending several decades in a mental institution, where her father had her committed as a young woman. Told mainly through flashbacks, the "secret" of Lilian's Story turns out to be not much of a surprise, really, given the father's intensely repressive sexuality. But the manner of the storytelling in this rough little 1995 gem--along with Collete's portrayal of Lilian's coming to terms with her father's betrayal and her own freedom--is what makes the somewhat hackneyed psychodramatic element easily forgivable. Whether quoting Shakespeare, befriending another misbegotten soul, or reconnecting with a long-lost love, Lilian (effectively played as a senior by Ruth Cracknell) cuts an indomitable figure of someone who's been beaten down but isn't going to stay there. Generally recommended. (T. Rich)