*Retro Review: Nights in Rodanthe

Paul Flanner (Richard Gere) is a surgeon whose life starts to unravel when his wife divorces him and a patient of his has an unexpected fatal reaction to anesthetics and dies on the operating table, while being operated on by Paul. The deceased's husband, Mr. Torrelson (Scott Glenn), files a lawsuit against Paul -- blaming him for his wife's death -- and later writes a letter to Paul, inviting him to his home, so that he may explain what actually took place during the operation and hopefully assuage his pain and give him closure. Paul flies out to the town where the Torrelsons live and while there he stays at a beachside inn that looks like something out of a fairytale. It is here that he meets the equally troubled Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane), who's temporarily in charge of the inn, while its owner, a very close friend, is out of town on vacation. It's just Paul and Adrienne at the inn, since business has markedly decreased, and it is during their stay together that they come to learn each other's problems.

Paul learns that Adrienne is a recent divorcee, that her former husband would like to give it another try and that her children aren't coping with the separation. Adrienne learns that Paul is divorced, is largely absent from his son's life and is tormented by having a patient die under his charge. So Paul and Adrienne, alone in a picturesque house, in a picturesque locale, gradually warm to each other and (spoilers ahead) eventually fall in love, thereby giving each other a new lease on life. And therein lies the story.

There was nothing new about this take on romance, other than that one of the characters dies -- which isn't new per se, just rare. The acting was fair, but Lane's is the only performance that engaged me. When Adrienne tells her daughter of her extraordinary relationship with the recently deceased Paul, Lane's performance is so moving that I actually shed a tear. Gere was adequate. Glenn's salt-and-pepper mop of hair, angular features and steely gaze, lent some weight to his sombre performance. I omitted noting the young and talented actress's name, whose turn as Adrienne's daughter was fairly impressive.

In one scene, Adrienne mentions how her son is always in his own world and how his solitude will produce great things one day. I liked this line because it sounded somewhat like a description of myself. Paul and Adrienne had beautiful costumes -- I wished I had a wardrobe like Paul's and Adrienne's exquisite blues and rustics suited her and blended well with the surroundings. The beautiful score melded well with the picturesque locale and the widescreen photography effectively captured its natural beauty.

All in all, a very paint-by-number film that is, despite this, somewhat appealing. I suppose it deserves at least one viewing, but if one chooses to pass, they won't have missed much, if anything.


*Written about 2 years ago and left to languish in a dusty drawer, until now.