Not much action and even less of a plot, but The Portrait is a good character study of two elderly parents and their relationship with their daughter brought by two Hollywood icons and the daughter of one of them. And no this is not On Golden Pond redux.
Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall who teamed in 1957 for Designing Women co-star again in a very good made for television film in which the comparisons between it and On Golden Pond are startling. Both the leading men have backgrounds in academia, the daughter of the male lead plays the daughter in the film. Both concern the daughter's relationship with her parents. Both deal with the problems of old age, especially the husband who seems to be getting much more frail than the wife and developing Alzheimer's Disease.
Cecilia Peck plays their daughter who seems to have been an odd child out when she was growing up. Gregory Peck was a noted literary figure, a professor of English and Poet Laureate. Bacall was his student teaching assistant back in the day as we find out when two of the old hens who knew them when are gossiping at a faculty lunch.
Cecilia seems to have finally made it as an artist and she's anxious to have Mom and Dad at her first big gallery showing. But they're wrapped up in a big move they've not told her about. The old family homestead is being sold because it's too much to manage for the elderly parents.
But also there are the health issues. When Greg goes out and doesn't return of course Cecilia and Lauren go into panic mode. They do find him unconscious, no heart attack or stroke, but extremely dehydrated which can sneak up on you on a hot summer day.
The film is a bit slow, but the character studies run deep. And of course you can't go wrong with Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall at the top of the billing. Other than Cecilia's character, there are no secondary characters developed. But seeing the two icons is more than enough reason to view this well crafted story of old age.
