MY LIFE SO FAR

RUN TIME: Spain - 101 Minutes UK - 98 Minutes	AKA: Amintiri de familie - Romania Así es la vida - Argentina (video title) La Mia vita fino ad oggi - Italy Los Secretos de la inocencia - Spain Mitt liv hittills - Sweden Tähäqnastinen elämäni - Finland World of Moss - USA (working title)

FILMING LOCATIONS: Ardkinglas House, Cairndow, Argyll, Scotland,UK Ardkinglas House is located at the top of Loch Fyne near Cairndow in Argyll and close to the junction of the A83 and the A815. Ardkinglas House was built in 1907 in the Scottish Baronial style and is set in a 15,000 acre estate. The house is not open to the public but the adjacent woodland gardens are open all year round on payment of an admission fee.

DIRECTOR: Hugh Hudson	WRITER: Sir Denis Forman (novel), Simon Donald (screenplay)
PRODUCER: Nigel Goldsack, Steve Norris, David Puttnam, Paul Webster, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein	CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bernard Lutic

Cast - in credits order Colin Firth ... Edward Pettigrew Rosemary Harris ... Gamma MacIntosh Irene Jacob ... Heloise Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio ... Moira Pettigrew Malcolm McDowell ... Uncle Morris MacIntosh Robert Norman ... Fraser Pettigrew Tcheky Karyo ... Gabriel Chenoux Kelly Macdonald ... Elspeth Pettigrew Roddy McDonald ... Rollo Daniel Baird ... Finlay Jennifer Fergie ... Brenda Kirsten Smith ... Meg Sean Scanlan ... Andrew Burns John Bett ... Uncle Crawford Anne Lacey ... Aunt Eunice Olivia Preston ... Debs Haig Sarah Turner ... Ruth Haig Moray Hunter ... Jim Skelly Jimmy Logan ... Tom Skelly Brendan Gleeson ... Jim Menries Eileen McCallum ... Mrs. Henderson Carmen Pierquaccini ... Sissie Elaine M. Ellis ... Aggie Julie Wilson Nimmo ... Sarah Elspeth MacNaughton ... Marnie Freddie Jones ... Reverend Finlayson Stewart Forrest ... Donald Burns Caroline Spencer ... Cassie Burns Ralph Riach ... Sir David Drummond Andrea Hart ... Lillian Terry Neason ... Hector Jenni Keenan-Green ... Caroline Jenny Foulds ... Frances Clive Russell ... The Tramp Paul Young ... Doctor Gebbie Pamela Kelly ... Euphemia Gebbie Eric Barlow ... Miner Gordon McCorkell ... Young Miner Neil McMenemy ... Miner's Son Lorenzo Boni ... Baby Fraser Robyn Cochrane ... Baby Brenda Ross Anderson ... Young Rollo Joanne Turner ... Young Debs Haig Nicole O'Neill ... Young Elspeth Victoria Campbell ... Young Meg George Knight ... Old Gardener	Production Companies Enigma Hudson Film Miramax Films Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund Distributors Mars Distribution (France) Miramax Films Special Effects Effects Associates Ltd. Mill Film Other Companies Lee Lighting Ltd. ... lighting Technical Specifications Color info: Color

MUSIC: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Opus 67 - Beethoven String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Opus 135 - Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor (Apassionata), Opus 57 - Beethoven Edward Sits Alone - Colin Matthews Le Cygne - Saint-Saens My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose - Robbie Burns Doin' The New Lowdown - McHugh/Fields The Sunny Side Of The Street - McHugh/Fields Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor (Für Elise), WoO.59 - Beethoven

July 23, 1999, Friday

MOVIES, PERFORMING ARTS/WEEKEND DESK
FILM REVIEW; Glowing Remembrances Of a Scottish Childhood
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
''My Life So Far,'' a winsome childhood reverie of family life in Argyll, Scotland, in the late 1920's, offers such a muted, smoothly textured swatch of British nostalgia that you feel no qualms about languishing in its ''Masterpiece Theater'' vision of a safer, saner, more shining past. With its soft-focus portrait of a mildly troubled family viewed through the adoring eyes of a frisky little boy, it suggests Ingmar Bergman's ''Fanny and Alexander'' with all its demons comfortably subdued.

Amid the prevailing serenity, of course, there are some ruffles. They include a simmering rivalry between brothers-in-law, sexual jealousy and pre-adolescent prurience. A beloved matriarch dies. And there is an embarrassing public spat between the boy's parents. But even the most upsetting events never undermine the film's glowing, child's-eye vision of life unfolding in a stately procession of lovely, adventure-filled days.

The film, based on Denis Forman's childhood memoir, ''Son of Adam,'' reunites the director Hugh Hudson with the producer David Puttnam for the first time since their 1981 blockbuster, ''Chariots of Fire.'' Without turning cloyingly inspirational, the newer film expresses the same quietly optimistic faith in humanity's nobler impulses.

''My Life So Far'' follows a year in the life of Fraser Pettigrew (Robert Norman), a 10-year-old boy growing up in Kiloran House, the sprawling castlelike home of the Macintosh clan in the Scottish highlands. Presiding over the property is Fraser's benign, widowed grandmother Gamma Macintosh (Rosemary Harris), whose daughter Moira (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) has married Edward Pettigrew (Colin Firth), a handsome eccentric gentleman inventor. The film's most complex character, Edward is a passionate, fiery-eyed nonconformist who worships Beethoven (whose music he tells his son is the sound of God talking in his sleep) and is obsessed with aviation. When not tinkering with new gadgets, Edward oversees a marginally profitable moss factory that he has established on the estate. Not all of his inventions work. His most notable dud is a subterranean chimney system that leaks so profusely that smoke that was supposed to have been piped underground billows up through the lawn in spectacular plumes.

Mr. Firth's deep, quietly tempestuous performance portrays Edward as both a caring father who delights in being a heroic role model for Fraser, and a petulant, self-absorbed visionary. The movie's central drama, observed by Fraser without his fully comprehending what is happening, is the continuing power struggle between his father and his uncle (Moira's brother) Morris Macintosh (Malcolm McDowell). A hard-headed businessman, who hopes one day to inherit the estate, Uncle Morris, as Fraser calls him, disapproves of Edward's silly schemes.

When Morris brings home his new wife, Heloise (Irene Jacob), a beautiful, charming, much younger Frenchwoman and amateur cellist, Edward becomes instantly besotted and begins recklessly pursuing her right under his wife's nose. Relations between the brothers-in-law, which heretofore have been courteous, are strained to the breaking point, as is Edward and Moira's marriage.

''My Life So Far'' observes all this through the eyes of the curious Fraser, who also falls under Heloise's spell in the innocent way children do with adults who pay attention to them. At the same time, the boy makes secret sojourns into the attic, where he has discovered his grandfather's books, some of which contain erotic illustrations and definitions of sexual practices. In the film's most amusing moments, Fraser, unaware of what he's saying, naively regales his puritanical family with the details of his sexual education.

The film is peppered with small, colorful incidents that loom large in Fraser's memory: the landing on the property of a plane whose dashing pilot (Tcheky Karyo) sweeps his older sister Elspeth (Kelly MacDonald) off her feet; a joyous skating carnival that ends with a tragic accident, and the appearance in the house (through Heloise) of early jazz records, whose music Edward ominously declares to be the sound of the devil.

What gives the film the flow of a good novel is its consistency of tone. Sparingly narrated by Fraser, the movie finds a perfect middle ground between the world as seen through Fraser's eyes and a more worldly wise authorial omniscience. It's good old-fashioned storytelling done with panache.

Published: 07 - 23 - 1999 , Late Edition - Final , Section E , Column 5 , Page 22

My Life So Far
Apollo Movie Guide

My Life So Far begins like other light costume comedies set in the early 20th Century: pleasant family goings on in the countryside, with witticisms and interesting characters aplenty. Like the leisure-time activities featured in such films, they are a pleasant diversion and little more.

We meet little Fraser Pettigrew, first in 1920 as a three-year-old, and then as a ten-year-old, played by Robbie Norman. He's one of numerous children in an eccentric family living on a large Scottish estate. His father, Edward (Colin Firth), has a creative but not terribly disciplined mind. He spends his days devising inventions and operating Europe's only Sphagnum moss processing plant. The matriarch of the estate is Fraser's grandmother (Rosemary Harris), who appears to be quite severe, but has a kind heart. Fraser's Uncle Morris (Malcolm McDowell) is a wealthy man who visits regularly, never failing to criticize Edward's schemes and warn that he might boot the family off the estate when he inherits it from his mother.

Fraser struggles with the challenges of near-adolescence. He's curious about all the things 10-year-olds tend to be curious about, and his research on these topics is aided immeasurably by a secret book collection of his deceased grandfather, complete with racy narrative and pictures that leave little to the imagination. Fraser's interest, and that of his father, is further piqued by the arrival of Morris' fiancée, the spectacularly beautiful young Heloise (Irene Jacob).

My Life So Far soon progresses well beyond its initial shallowness. The generally light tone continues throughout the film, but darker issues are introduced as Edward deals with his attraction to Heloise. The film's depth is enhanced by the performances of the lead players, who help raise the film to a high level. Particular credit must go to Norman, who is entirely believable as a 1920s child, Harris who brings depth and warmth to her role as the family matriarch, and McDowell, who plays nasty Uncle Morris with appropriate haughtiness. The film also benefits from well-drawn minor characters, who are exceedingly well played by the supporting cast. While some of the leading players don't always seem particularly Scottish, the supporting players bring authenticity to the whole exercise.

By the end of My Life So Far, we care about spunky Fraser and his family, and we're cheering for a successful resolution of the challenges they've encountered. It's a highly enjoyable film.

Brian Webster