Widows' Peak (1994) User Reviews (18)

Secrets and Bickering Women.

[nycritic · 8/10 · 10 May 2005]

The 1990s saw an interesting resurgence of very British comedies set in or around the turn of the century, possibly with the success of Merchant-Ivory outings or the universally acclaimed ENCHANTED APRIL. All in all, this one came and went and barely received little more than a nod here and there but proves that good -- even great -- films don't need to be Oscar-touted and have a grandiose feel.

As a matter of fact, like the Irish town of Kilshannon where the story is set, WIDOW'S PEAK is intimate and small scale. It tells the tale of a clique of widows who are all manners, social rules and regulations, led by Mrs. Doyle Couninhan (Joan Plowright in full matriarch mode), presiding over the town like a sinister spider. Miss O'Hare (Mia Farrow) is not a widow but has a past, and this past comes to taunt her once Edwina Broome (Natasha Richardson) comes into town: immediately they rub each other the wrong way and every encounter escalates in intensity, with each of the women put in a position where we sympathize with them at times, and then we don't (since both behave in less than noble ways), which leaves us unsure of where this is all going -- but enjoying the suspenseful ride nevertheless. While reviewing this film could reveal major secrets, it's enough to say that when the pay-off comes around, it's completely satisfying. All three female leads perform their roles without out-shining the other, but for once, Farrow doesn't act like she's an automated mold straight out of the Woody Allen factory of actors. A delicious comedy, one of those small-yet-hidden gems of films that are worth a try, and worth seeing as a companion piece to A MONTH BY THE LAKE.

Irish humour at its best

[taita · 8/10 · 9 January 1999]

A delightful stroll in a Irish village ruled by the iron hand in the steel glove of local widow, Joan Plowright, who gives her usual impeccable and entertaining performance. The pace, the humour, and the plot are all perfectly executed, culminating in a climax that your best guess would not anticipate. Probably more a woman's movie, but then most of the best ones are. I have watched it numerous times and my enjoyment has not abated. Definitely worth the time.

More than a chick flick

[SluggoGal · 8/10 · 3 January 2006]

Yes, this movie has the elements of a chick flick: it's about relationships, most of the main characters are women, it's set in the 1920s and has lovely costuming and beautiful English countryside settings, and there is a love story-- but it's also more than that. It's a complex story about a single woman (Mia Farrow) in an English village, and how she interacts with her widowed and single neighbors. It combines comedy and drama in a good mix. There is action, and good pacing, with a surprise twist at the end. There are excellent actors in this film and great chemistry between them. You care about the characters; even the annoying ones. One can tell that the actors enjoyed making this movie. I would recommend this film to just about anyone. If you are of the persuasion that normally avoids chick flicks or period pieces, give this one a try. You might be surprised at what you've been missing.

A delightfully humorous "mystery"

[DeeDee-10 · 25 March 1999]

A truly lovely look at Irish humor and it's not so subtle jabs at the Brits. But there's more. How these characters weave a tale is fascinating and the plot thickens, as they say, with a marvelous twist that caught me totally off guard. Wonderful performances by all especially Joan Plowright who kept me laughing whenever she was on screen. It was nice to see Mia Farrow successfully widening her range, and Natasha Richardson wafted through the film with an aire of mystery about her -as did Farrow- commanding out attention throughout.

the best film I have ever seen

[kpb-2 · 10/10 · 16 January 1999]

This is an absolute masterpiece. I have watched the film innumerable times and still enjoy, with the best and most unpredictable climaxes I have ever seen. This film starts off as a great film and just gets better and better.

It kept me guessing

[gvclimber · 9/10 · 13 January 2019]

I'm one of those annoying people who try to figure out the plot and the ending very early into the film. In my head I created multiple plots while watching Widows Peak, but kept getting distracted by the great acting in the film. I was initially intrigued by the roster of Joan Plowright, Natasha Richardson and Mia Farrow in the same film. Each could and had carried a film on her own so this ensemble was impressive. Their portrayals of their characters drew me in and made me forget they were acting. I won't give spoilers but freely admit that I was taken by complete surprise at the ending.

What James Ivory could've done with this!

[moonspinner55 · 2/10 · 21 July 2001]

Undernourished costume drama from writer Hugh Leonard and director John Irvin, with Natasha Richardson playing pretty war widow from 1920s England who comes to gossip-laden town in Ireland and gets on the wrong side of a surly spinster (Mia Farrow, looking wrung-out). This small Irish village is beset with the usual gaggle of hot-headed supporting characters, all sounding off on cue as if they were on stage. Poor in nearly every department: the color photography is bad, the twist at the finish is outlandish, and the handling is skittish and lumpy. One can only imagine the team of Merchant-Ivory expanding the central idea of this piece, giving that final twist a few more screws and applying more gloss and luster to the production. Alas, that panache just isn't present. *1/2 from ****

I Love this Film

[howdy2 · 10/10 · 7 November 2020]

I have treasured this film, since I first saw it in the theatre when it was first released. It is a treasure. I do not know why we do not see it broadcast more often.

Not a guy movie

[Michael J Olson · 4/10 · 27 March 1999]

Widow's Peak is a sugar coated predictable girls' movie that did not motivate or excite me in the least. I just sat and kind of stared at the screen until it was done. I guess it did have its moments in humor, but I'm a guy and I need more action.

What a terrific film!!

[timmauk · 16 August 2001]

I was forced to watch this and ended up loving it. I just can not believe how terrific this film is. I thought I knew where this thing was going, and then it went the other way, and then yet again!!

This is my first film experence of Natasha Richardson. How delightful she is in this. Joan Plowright is a gem of course, and what a surprise it was to see that Mia Farrow could actually act!! I have never seen such abilities before, at least not since "Hannah and Her Sisters"(not much then either).

Natasha is a newcomer to Widow's Peak and not all are glad to see her. She seems to change the quiet little village into a media circus. I won't spoil it by telling you any more. You will have to watch and enjoy it for yourself. This is a must see!

Mean spirited depressing story

[deexsocalygal · 4/10 · 17 July 2021]

I thought I was going to watch a period drama & be taken back to the good old days. Usually movies involving widows are loving, caring, sweet, positive stories. I enjoy films depicting the days of yester-year, old ladies & churches in small towns. This is about two widows who ruin a small town & everyone in it. This is a story of a widow who moves into a small town & sets her plan of revenge in motion. She works in cahoots with another widow, Mia Farrow. Mia plays a Widow who had given a baby up for adaption. The new widow in town is her baby all grown up but nobody knows it. The two widows start their "play" immediately. It's a play about getting revenge on all the old ladies in the town because they had helped the widow out when she was alone & pregnant by figuring out how to put the baby up for adoption & set her up in a house where she could survive alone without a man or a job. Instead of being grateful she searches for her baby & finally finds her a full grown woman. They both plan to blackmail the ladies. It's an awful disgusting story that made me feel sick to my stomach. They fool everyone in the town. The last scenes are of their attorney telling a widow to give large sums of money up or suffer horrible gossip spread thru the town. The black mail works & they milk the widows for all they're worth. The last scene shows the two all dressed up, mia has a silver tiara in her hair, eating in a fancy restaurant discussing how well their plan worked. Depressing movie.

beautiful, funny, suspenseful, surprising

[dcfort · 15 March 1999]

A great movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. Tremendous performances all around, but specifically from Natasha Richardson and Mia Farrow. Others have described this as a "more a woman's movie" but I beg to differ. This is a great movie for anyone and as a man I must say that Ms Richardson looked absolutely ravishing in the beautiful vintage costumes and makeup. A must see for any man or woman.

Three queens.

[dbdumonteil · 8 March 2002]

Nowadays,nine movies out of ten feature two male actors as the leads.For a change,"Widows Peak' boasts three actresses at the top of the bill.And what a threesome:Mia Farrow,a spinster,the Cinderella of a bunch of posh and distinguished ladies whose queen is none other than Joan Plowright.This wealthy widow ,with her hoity-toity ways, annoys anyone and all,including her son,a would be handy man,actually a big ninny,always tied to his mother's apron strings,although he firmly denies it.Enter Richardson,who plays a beautiful English widow,and Plowright would like her offspring to marry this rich heiress.A mortal feud begins between Farrow and Richardson.But things are not what they seem and prepare yourself for a lot of unexpected twists,till the very end.And you'll dig such witty lines as (the ironical lawyer to Plowright)"your real treasure is the love of your son".

More than the shrewd plot,the everyday life of the little community is exquisitely depicted:the film (excerpts of De Mille's "ten commandments"(1923,of course!)during which Plowright is enjoying sweets,the mass on Sunday morning,the local dance during which Farrow and Richardson fight for... two tickets for King Vidor' s "the big parade",the regatta,the only time Plowright's son feels manly.

An user regrets James Ivory did not direct it.One would probably have a better movie,for sure.The characters -particularly the lady and her son- verge on caricature. But anyway,watch it,if you like great actresses.

Natasha Richardson

[Anya-fan · 10 September 2000]

I'm feeling a bit silly here, but I thought Natasha Richardson was British. In this film, she has an American accent that sounds very cultivated, although I couldn't tell whether it was fake or simply voice training.

I do like this movie, though, in fact I like it very much! Natasha was wonderful despite my confusion about her accent, and Mia Farrow was quite good, although it was hard to really see her as plain as she was in this film. It was fun to watch, though, and has you thinking at the end. Joan Plowright was superb, as usual.

9/10.

Nawful it is

[treeline1 · 9 June 2010]

Overlooking a tiny Irish village is "Widows' Peak," an area inhabited by a tight-knit group of well-off widows. The doyen of the group is the venerable Mrs. Doyle-Counihan (Joan Plowright), who keeps the ladies in her circle on a short leash. An odd member of their society is Miss O'Hare (Mia Farrow), the only unmarried lady to be accepted as an intimate. When a flamboyant, young American woman (Natasha Richardson) moves in, she shakes up the town by quickly stealing the heart of Mrs. Doyle-Counihan's son and for no apparent reason, making a enemy of Miss O'Hare.

Billed as a comedy/mystery/thriller, this very odd movie falls short on all counts. While it does paint a charming picture of Irish village life in the 1920s, both the plot and the local dialect are nearly incomprehensible and the ending is too much of a twist. Plowright (widow of Laurence Olivier) is wonderful as the foolish grande dame who thinks she knows everything. Farrow, however, is woefully miscast. Her Irish accent comes and goes and she looks like a spaced-out twenty-something, which hurts the ending. Richardson is simply annoying as the pushy and mysterious American. None of the characters, in fact, are likable in the least and I didn't care about any of them - with the exception of the local dentist, played to comic perfection by Jim Broadbent.

This is a confusing, tedious, and disappointing movie that should have been so much better, considering the cast.

Good acting, implausible ending

[tdwig · 23 August 2001]

This is billed as a suspense/comedy, but is really lacking in comedy. The acting is fairly good, but the script forces us to accept numerous incidents of inexplicably outrageous behaviour from the characters culminating in an ending that my wife and I anticipated, but may be a surprise to some. While the ending reveals the characters' hidden motivations, it is paper thin. We really don't care what happens to the characters anyway, so the ending fails to deliver its punch to the viewer.

Echos of Better Films

[tedg · 8 February 2001]

Spoilers Herein.

This is pretty thin Irish tea -- a light amusement. Joan Plowright does her patented old biddy. Mia does a charming if inauthentic accent.

I just couldn't get two other pictures out of my mind. `Enchanted April' had l precisely the same feel and approach but with more subtle intrigue. It had Plowright and Broadbent together in much the same conjunction. It was made only two years prior.

But one of the most memorable films ever was `Drowning by Numbers.' It had three women, including Plowright and Joely, Miranda's sister. I think the drowning son at the end of this film could only have been a reference to the end in Drowning, which also featured a town's gossip about a Richardson girl drowning someone. That was in 1988.

JP would recreate her role as head of a widow's club in 1999, in `Tea with Mussolini.' It all seems to be glimpses through different windows into the same house.

Not Good motion picture but its classic

[AmazingStorkUK21 · 11 August 2021]

This movie for me is not so good, i watched this movie in the cable tv in 1998, i am a male but this thing is a romantic mystery film production made and focused only for women and girls, i give 4 stars for this film that i hated and i would not watch again.

Mia farrow and natasha richardskn was only the roles and acting that were good, the rest of this studf was very awful.