Christine Vachon Movies

Screen starlet Julia Stiles assumes the role of ambitious reporter Ester Greenwood in this screen adaptation of the critically acclaimed, semi-autobiographical novel by celebrated author Sylvia Plath. When a bid to seek out fame in New York City proves too much strain for the young writer to bear, she sinks into a deep depression and moves back to her hometown of Boston. Later, after undergoing electroshock therapy, the troubled Greenwood becomes increasingly suicidal. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A teacher who prides herself on being different meets a student who matches her non-conformist nature in this period drama. It's 1934, and Miss G (Eva Green) is a teacher at a private school for girls near the Eastern coastline of England. While most of the teachers at the school are severe and straight-laced women who reinforce its reputation as a repressive environment, Miss G is more youthful and glamorous than her colleagues, and enjoys dropping hints of a free-spirited past to her young charges. Miss G encourages her students to challenge conventional norms of the day, and organizes a diving team at the school that she oversees with great interest. Miss G also sees a danger in the cliques that dominate the school, and she tries to undermine them, much to the annoyance of Di (Juno Temple), who hold a high place in the school's pecking order. But things change for both Miss G and her students when Fiamma (Maria Valverde) enrolls at the school. Fiamma is from Spain and has a strong independent streak; she doesn't look to her peers for approval and insists on doing things her own way, which makes her all the more exotic and appealing to the other students. Fiamma also earns the approval of Miss G, but before long rumors begin to spread that the teacher's interest in her new student is more than academic. Cracks was the first feature film from director Jordan Scott, whose father is the noted filmmaker Ridley Scott. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Uma Thurman, Minnie Driver, and Anthony Edwards star in writer/director Katherine Dieckmann's slice of life indie Motherhood, which follows a hapless mother of two as she attempts to prepare for her daughter's rapidly approaching sixth birthday party. Along the way, the harried mother is forced to contend with a monumental series of unexpected urban challenges. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Academy Award-winning actress Helen Hunt makes her feature directorial debut with this adaptation of Elinor Lipman's best-selling novel about a Philadelphia schoolteacher (Hunt) whose long-lost birth mother (Bette Midler) reappears at the very moment her daughter is careening into a midlife crisis. Abandoned by her husband (Matthew Broderick) and still grieving the death of her adoptive mother, the emotionally fragile teacher enters into a relationship with the father of one of her students just as her biological mother, an eccentric talk-show host, appears on her doorstep attempting a reconciliation. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Todd Haynes' unconventional biopic of the legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan features different actors playing the part of the Minnesota native at various stages of his remarkable career. Among the actors playing the singer are Cate Blanchett, who portrays the man during his Don't Look Back era incarnation; Heath Ledger, as an actor playing one of the fictional Dylans in a movie within the movie; Christian Bale, as the Dylan beginning to chafe at being associated so strongly with political causes; Richard Gere, portraying the post-motorcycle accident period; and Marcus Carl Franklin as the young Dylan who passed himself off as the second coming of Woody Guthrie. Each section of the film not only has a different lead actor, but offers different looks that reflect various aspects of popular culture at the time. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Adapted from the nonfiction book by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson, Tom Kalin's Savage Grace recounts the true crime tale of the death of Barbara Baekeland. Stephen Dillane stars as Brooks Baekeland, the son of the man who invented Bakelite, one of the early forms of plastic. As the family fortune begins to decrease after years of wealth, Brooks marries Barbara (Julianne Moore), who desires to mingle in the highest social circles. They have a child, Antony, who is homosexual. Antony grows up to kill Barbara, in part because Barbara takes a personal interest in "curing" her son of his orientation. This was Kalin's first film since 1991's Swoon, a film about the infamous Leopold and Loeb murders. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Celebrated and vilified in equal measure, the pinup goddess Bettie Page inspired a legion of followers -- and an indecency scandal -- by appearing in a series of nude, sado-masochistic, and/or revealing magazine spreads in the 1950s. An era later, writer/director Mary Harron casts a knowing eye upon the woman who indirectly gave birth to modern pornography in the biopic The Notorious Bettie Page. As a teen, Page (Gretchen Mol) is a smart, plucky girl with ambitions beyond her Tennessee roots. Suffering varying degrees of abuse from her father, her first husband, and suitors of dubious virtue, Page makes her way to New York City, where an amateur photographer discovers her lounging on the beach. It isn't long before images of the shapely brunette reach Irving and Paula Klaw (Chris Bauer and Lili Taylor), brother-and-sister entrepreneurs who publish illicit magazines dedicated primarily to men's fetishes. The casual nudist Page eventually finds herself acquiescing to their requests to don thigh-high boots, whips, and chains, which raise the ire of the smut-fearing senator Estes Kefauver (David Strathairn). The Notorious Bettie Page had its North American premiere at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

America's leading titan of bad taste, John Waters, returns to X-rated territory (well, actually NC-17-rated territory, but you get the idea) for this wildly over-the-top comedy. Sylvia Stickles (Tracey Ullman) is a wife and mother living in Baltimore who, along with her husband Vaughn (Chris Isaak) and mother Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd), operates a local convenience store. One day, Sylvia receives a sharp blow to the head, which leaves her with a concussion. However, the concussion comes with an unexpected side effect -- Sylvia has suddenly become a sex addict, and is soon attended to by the perverse and lascivious sexual evangelist Ray-Ray (Johnny Knoxville). When it becomes evident that Vaughn can't keep up with her sensual appetites, Sylvia throws herself into the strange netherworld of Baltimore's community of erotic overachievers, which includes her daughter Caprice (Selma Blair), who is living a double life as über-buxom exotic entertainer Ursula Udders. A Dirty Shame also features supporting performances from Waters regulars Patricia Hearst, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Channing Wilroy, and Jean Hill. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

After profiling Monica Lewinsky, Billy Haynes, and Tammy Faye Bakker, documentarians Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato make their feature debut with this true-life tale of the rapid climb and lurid demise of a flamboyant young club promoter in late-'80s/early-'90s Manhattan. Based on James St. James' nonfiction account Disco Bloodbath as well as on the writer/directors' own 1998 documentary, Party Monster features former child star Macaulay Culkin as Michael Alig, a Midwestern teen determined to forget his past amidst the bright lights and throbbing house music of New York City's nightlife. Introduced to the club scene by St. James (Seth Green), Alig quickly becomes an event promoter himself, dreaming up bizarrely themed dance parties in such unlikely venues as fast-food restaurants and subway cars. But this archetypical "club kid" orchestrates his own downfall when, stoned on designer drugs, he and accomplice Freez (Justin Hagan) brutally murder their small-time dealer friend Angel Menendez (Wilson Cruz). Party Monster had its world premiere in the Dramatic Competition at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Robert Altman directs the musical drama The Company from an original story by actress Neve Campbell, based on her own experiences with The National Ballet of Canada. At the center of the ensemble cast is the young dancer Ry (Campbell), a rising star with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. She struggles with the demands of being a dancer while supporting herself as a waitress and starting up a romance with Josh (James Franco). Meanwhile, the ballet company director, Alberto Antonelli (Malcolm McDowell), manages to balance his own administrative and artistic duties. Campbell does her own dancing in the film and the rest of the company is played by the actual members of the Joffrey Ballet. The Company was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Maverick director Todd Haynes embraces the look and feel of classic Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s in this period drama. Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) and her husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid), are a seemingly perfect couple; living in a handsome suburban neighborhood in Hartford, CT, in 1957, Cathy and Frank have a beautiful home and two happy, healthy children, while Frank pursues a successful career in sales and Cathy cares for the home. But Cathy has begun to sense something isn't quite right in her marriage, as Frank begins working late, spending less time with her, and seems cold and distant. One day, Cathy visits Frank's work and discovers something she never expected -- her husband is kissing a man. At Cathy's urging, Frank undergoes psychotherapy, but as she tries to keep up a brave face, the emotional trauma takes a great toll on her, and she finds there are very few people she can talk with. Cathy strikes up a friendship with Raymond Deagan (Dennis Haysbert), an African-American gardener who works for the Whitakers, and as she discovers how intelligent and compassionate Raymond is, she finds herself drawn to him. However, Hartford is in many ways still a small town, and when Mona (Celia Weston) sees Cathy and Raymond alone together, it sets off a wave of vicious gossip that threatens to make the Whitakers' many secrets public knowledge. Far from Heaven premiered at the 2002 Venice Film Festival, where Julianne Moore's performance won the prize for Best Actress. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Following up on her 1998 opus Bedrooms and Hallways, Rose Troche directs this ensemble film about suburbia and its discontents. Once an up-and-coming singer/songwriter, Paul Gold (Joshua Jackson) now lies in a coma, attentively nursed by his mother Esther (Glenn Close), who dotes on her son to the exclusion of her husband and her daughter Julie (Jessica Campbell). Meanwhile, Jim Train (Dermot Mulroney) is a workaholic lawyer who is closer to his tortes than to his spouse Susan (Moira Kelly). Their son Jake has taken a morbid fascination with his sister's foot-high girl doll. At the same time, Paul's former lover Annette Jennings (Patricia Clarkson) is trying to pull her life and her family back together after a particularly brutal divorce. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide