Was the acclaimed film Hilary and Jackie a betrayal of a musical genius?
In short: The 1998 biographical film about cellist Jacqueline du Pré earned critical praise and two Academy Award nominations. Yet, it sparked intense outrage from her closest friends and colleagues, who condemned the movie as a distorted, macabre misrepresentation of her life, character, and her battle with multiple sclerosis.
Directed by Anand Tucker and released in 1998, Hilary and Jackie chronicles the life of the renowned cellist Jacqueline du Pré and her sister, Hilary. The screenplay, written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, was developed alongside the 1997 memoir A Genius in the Family, authored by Hilary and her brother, Piers du Pré. While the film was a critical success, earning Oscar nominations for stars Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths, it immediately ignited a firestorm of controversy. Critics of the film, including cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and guitarist John Williams, argued that it failed to capture the genuine joy du Pré brought to her music, instead focusing on salacious details like an alleged affair with Hilary’s husband.
The controversy centered on the film's departure from reality. While Hilary du Pré defended the project as an honest attempt to tell the complete truth about her sister, others viewed it as a product of sibling bitterness. Clare Finzi, Hilary’s daughter, labeled the film a gross misinterpretation, while Daniel Barenboim, du Pré’s husband, famously questioned why the filmmakers could not have waited until he was dead to produce it. The film depicts a fictionalized version of events, including a breakdown in the woods and a sexual encounter intended to help Jacqueline, which friends of the late musician found deeply offensive.
Despite the backlash, the film remains a landmark in biographical cinema for its intense, if contested, exploration of sibling rivalry and the pressures of musical fame. It portrays the rapid decline of du Pré’s health following her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in her late 20s, leading to her death at age 42 in 1987. While reviewers like Stephen Holden praised its insightful look at the tribulations of a classical musician, others, such as Anthony Lane, argued that the film prioritized emotional prurience over the music itself. Ultimately, the film stands as a polarizing testament to the difficulty of capturing a complex life on screen when those closest to the subject disagree on the narrative.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Hilary and Jackie
- Also: Wikidata — Hilary and Jackie · CC0
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