ON a day when there are 20 openings in New York City, it would be easy to overlook Joan Carr-Wiggin’s de lightful “A Previous Engagement,” a rare movie starring and directed by women in their 50s. Do so at your peril.
Juliet Stevenson has her best role since her breakthrough in 1990’s “Truly Madly Deeply” in the tailor-made part of Julia, an unsatisfied Seattle librarian who has an ulterior motive for planning a family vacation on the gorgeous Mediterranean island of Malta.
Twenty-five years earlier, Julia set a reunion date with her then-boyfriend, a dashing Frenchman named Alex (Tchéky Karyo) – and though he shows up with his latest, much younger girlfriend (Kate Miles), sparks start flying between Alex and Julia.
This midlife madness perplexes Julia’s self-centered daughters and especially her dull insurance-adjuster husband, Jack (Daniel Stern), who responds by buying a white suit and taking rumba lessons from a sexy ex-chorus girl (Valerie Mahaffrey).
While this slow-starting update of “Private Lives” has plenty of laughs, the incredibly expressive (and too-seldom seen) Stevenson turns Julia’s romantic dilemma into something genuinely moving. She makes “A Previous Engagement” something special.
Running time: 118 minutes. Not rated (profanity, discreet sexuality). At the Quad, 13th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.