This memoir of her parents by the writer Kaylie Jones, daughter of James Jones, is exceptionally well acted by Kris Kristofferson and Barbara Hershey but rather slight for its two-hour running time and sometimes a little dull. Director James Ivory pays his usual immaculate attention to time and place, as Kaylie, here called Channe, relates the story of her childhood in Sixties' Paris, usually in the company of other misfits, not least her own own adopted brother. The onset of her father's congenital heart disease triggers the family's return to America and her entry into puberty. Kristofferson conveys the progression of illness with great skill, but the film's lack of substance leaves it without an emotional core. Luisa Conlon and Leelee Sobieski as the young and teenage Channes, do what they can to fill the void.

©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes