Then She Found Me (2007)

Director:

Helen Hunt

Writers:

Alice Arlen (screenplay) and
Victor Levin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 May 2008 (Israel)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Life can change in a heartbeat.

Plot:

A New York schoolteacher hits a midlife crisis when, in quick succession, her husband leaves, her adoptive mother dies and her biological mother...

Plot Keywords:

Talk Show Host | Birth Mother | Unhappy Marriage | Syringe | Biological Clock

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Helen Hunt	...	April Epner
Bette Midler	...	Bernice Graves
Colin Firth	...	Frank
Matthew Broderick	...	Ben Green
Ben Shenkman	...	Dr. Freddy Epner
Lynn Cohen	...	Trudy Epner
John Benjamin Hickey	...	Alan
Salman Rushdie	...	Dr. Masani
Daisy Tahan	...	Ruby
Tommy Nelson	...	Jimmy Ray
Stephanie Yankwitt	...	Stacey
Lillias White	...	Sheila (as Lillias D. White)
David Callegati	...	Gianni
Rabbi Kenneth Stern	...	Rabbi (as Rabbi Kenneth A. Stern)
Robert LuPone	...	Ted

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some sexual content.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:M | Canada:14A (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | UK:15 | Finland:K-7 | Netherlands:AL | Ireland:15A | Singapore:PG (cut) | New Zealand:M | Argentina:13 | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Black Watch Productions

Trivia:

When Tim Robbins directed his first feature film, Bob Roberts (1992), Helen Hunt appeared in a brief cameo as a television news reporter. When Hunt made her feature directorial debut with this film, Robbins returned the favor and appears briefly as one of the interviewees on the Bette Midler character's talk show.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Barbetta is on 46th between 8th and 9th. Traffic goes west to east. But when they come out of the restaurant and walk to the car (which would be going east) the cars are all parked going west, and April backs her car up from west to east. There are also no clothing boutiques along that stretch of the street. And the cosmetic counter where Bernice says she worked would not be towards the Hudson where she points.

Quotes:

April Epner: I know what I did to you, to you in particular. Kinda worst nightmare kind of thing, right? I knew that. Even at the time I knew that.
Frank: What else?
April Epner: I'll do it again, I will, I'll hurt you again and again. Not like that, you'd have to leave me if I hurt you like that. If we were together you would leave me if I hurt you like that again, wouldn't you?
Frank: Yes. Yes, I would.
April Epner: Good. But I'll hurt you in other ways, little ways, I won't mean to but I will. And sometimes I will mean to.
Frank: This is quite an offer you've worked out.
April Epner: You'll hurt me too, you know. You'll hurt me and change on me, you might even leave me after you promise you won't, how about that?
Frank: I wouldn't.
April Epner: But you might.
Frank: But I wouldn't.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References The Sand Pebbles (1966)

Soundtrack:

In The Red

Bonding: Necessities and Consequences

In a featurette on the DVD release version of THEN SHE FOUND ME writer (with Alice Arlen and Victor Levin) /producer/director Helen Hunt shares a ten year journey to have a film made of a novel by Elinor Lipman. Her cast shares in the very sentimental story of Hunt's devotion and seemingly endless charisma and abilities. The explanation for making this budget film are in many ways more successful than the film, a work the cast seems determined to classify as a comedy but a work that is far more a human drama.

April Epner (Helen Hunt) is married to fellow schoolteacher Ben Green (Matthew Broderick) and longs to have a baby before her advancing age prevents her dream. April was adopted as an infant by a Jewish couple who subsequently gave birth to April's brother Freddy (Ben Shenkman): April has always longed to have been Freddy's biological equal, wondering what it would feel like NOT to be adopted. April's busy life implodes: Ben has decided he doesn't like his life and leaves April, April's mother dies, April meets Frank (Colin Firth) a recently divorced writer and father of two children, and April is contacted by a man who can put April in touch with her birth mother - popular TV talk show hostess Bernice Graves (Bette Midler). And if these turns of events weren't traumatic enough, April discovers that she has become pregnant by Ben and Ben is unsure whether he can handle the restructuring of his life to accommodate April. Cautiously April and Frank begin a rather tenuous courtship which is almost immediately threatened by April's discovery of her pregnant state. April and Bernice meet, exchange backgrounds, and make pacts to test their biologic relationship. How each of these characters makes promises that eventually damage each other and then resolve in unexpected ways becomes a study of the meaning of love and compassion among fragile human beings.

While not a satisfying story on every level and a film too cluttered with inconvenient editing choices, the cast is strong and obviously committed, and the story (neither a comedy or a drama but a mixture of the two) tests credibility. But there are some fine moments and the lessons in human behavior are worth examining. Not a great movie but a strong little small budget film. Grady Harp