Then She Found Me

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 2007, 100 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

April Epner is thirty-nine and in the last year she has had the feeling that she has finally got her life in order. The marriage on which she based her hopes, however, suddenly falls apart: Ben calls it a mistake and leaves her. April is haunted by the implacable ticking of her biological clock and feels she has lost the opportunity to ever have a child of her own. At the same time, she has to deal with her own “childhood” problems: her adoptive mother dies and she is confronted with her biological mother, the energetic and quirky Bernice. Moreover, she learns that her “last fling” with Ben was not without consequence… Under the pressure of her circumstances will she be able to find a new equilibrium in her life? And will she be helped in this by her pupil’s charming – and divorced – father Frank? This independent tragicomedy, inspired by the bestselling novel by Elinor Lipman, marks the directorial debut of Helen Hunt, who received an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the comedy As Good as It Gets (1997). The star-studded film, in which the actress also plays the lead role, won the Audience Award at the IFF in Palm Springs.

About the director

Helen Hunt (b. 1963, Los Angeles) is one of the leading Hollywood actresses of the middle generation. The daughter of theatre director Gordon Hunt, she began her career in television in the mid-1970s. She debuted in film in 1977 with Rollercoaster (directed by James Goldstone). Her talents were plied in all kinds of genres from disaster movies (Twister, dir. Jan De Bont, 1996) to political dramas (Bobby, 2006, dir. Emilio Estevez), however, it was the romantic comedy that remained her real domain (As Good as It Gets, dir. James L. Brooks, 1997 – Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role, What Women Want, dir. Nancy Myers, 2000, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, dir. Woody Allen, 2001). The role of Jamie Buchman in the TV series Mad About You brought her a Golden Globe and three Emmy Awards, and also introduced her to directing (four episodes in the years 1998-99).