The Portrait

There are a lot of great names in this film; Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall and director Arthur Penn. Gregory Peck & Lauren Bacall had appeard in the film 'Designing Woman' in 1957. It was a wonderful movie and they became friends whilst filming the movie. Now they appear again in this tv-movie 'The Portrait'. It is a very weak story. The film goes about the life of two retired people how going to move away from there house. But there daughter (played by the real daughter of g. peck) came along and want to made a portrait of them. Nothing really new and very amusing, but I watched this movie because it was with lauren / betty Bacall how I still love watching on the screen, sadly she didn't appear in movie since The Diamonds with Kirk Douglas in 1999. I really hope she will appear soon again in a movie and maybe win her first oscar. I think everyone tried to made a good movie and there are also very good moments in it. But I saw the film with French voices and that wasn't good, I prefer the real voices.

7/10

"The Portrait" is a made for TV film which features the tremendous talents of Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall in the leads. The pair play an elderly couple who are moving to a smaller home, as they are getting up in years. However, their daughter (Cecelia Peck...Gregory's real-life daughter) is horrified and doesn't want to seem any change. After a while, it becomes obvious some changes are necessary.

The film features some darn fine acting. Peck and Bacall are great. But after this, the film stumbles. First, Cecelia Peck's character is poorly written and it's pretty easy to dislike her (which muddles the story a bit). Second, the story really doesn't go much of anywhere. In other words, the acting is great and that makes the film worth seeing...but not much else.

New York artist Margaret Church (Cecilia Peck) is working on her first solo show. She goes home to her parents, Gardner Church (Gregory Peck) and Fanny Church (Lauren Bacall). She wants to paint their portrait. Unbeknownst to her, they have sold the family home and is in the process of moving out.

This is a TV movie on TNT. I am sure that everybody was happy to just see the veteran actors doing the work. Both legendary actors still have it. The real life daughter has less of it. While some haters may want to play the nepo card, I would point more at the writing. The story needs something to drive it. Instead, it is just a bunch of stuff happening. His big speech should be the big climax. The portrait is just the title. I find this boring despite the two screen legends.

They are all three excellent, not just Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck, but also Cecilia Peck as their daughter, an artist, who goes out to visit them to finish a portrait of them which evidently already once had been difficult to complete, the difficulty of which you understand as they pose for her and make themselves thoroughly impossible. But she needs the portrait for her exhibition, she will not have the gallery without it, so she simply has to bear with them and, like in all families, encounter all kinds of personal crises, especiially as the old couple are on the verge to dementia. But it is beautifully made, the sensitivity all through is genuine, the character play is marvellous, and there will even be a reward in the end. This film is not to be missed by all those who have enjoyed various films with Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck since the golden 40s to find them still going strong at 69 and 76.

The actors, directors, and camera people did a nice job making this movie, the story was very loose. I was an extra in this movie and can attest that Gregory Peck was a great person in addition to his incredible acting talent. Director Penn got a lot out of the story and worked very hard. True story, shooting on Duke campus had to be suspended for thirty minutes for the bells in Duke Chapel. It was an exasperating day of shooting and Penn's facial expressions and comments when told it was an unavoidable break were priceless. It is well acted and a good Sunday afternoon over a cold glass of sweetened ice tea kind of movie.