Hilary
and Jackie is the story of two sisters who were pushed
by parents to become child prodigies—Hilary du Pré in playing
the flute, Jacqueline du Pré as a cellist. During an early
life devoted to music, however, neither child reached maturity,
and they lacked any identity apart from their musical personas,
so they bonded to provide a refuge of happiness by caring
for each other. Hilary strikes out on her own by marrying
an admirer and giving up any ambition in the field of music.
Suddenly, Jackie no longer has ready access to her sister’s
support, and a menage ŕ trois is not the answer. Jackie then
finds love with conductor Daniel Barenboim and soon embarks
on a musical tour of Europe; however, not mature enough to
handle the isolation from her sister, she becomes disoriented.
The stress brings out a case of multiple sclerosis, and her
condition deteriorates badly until her sister returns to comfort
her, albeit too late, as the world is robbed of a musical
virtuoso. The film reminds us of the story in the film Shine
(1996), wherein another child prodigy tries so hard to please
his parents that he becomes disabled. Whereas Patch
Adams sought to heal by removing stress from medical
patients, and Shirl Jennings developed a stress-free accommodation
to his disability, we learn that the pressures on child prodigies
seem to have overwhelmed them, and thus Hilary and Jackie
has a critical lesson about childrearing that goes far beyond
the story. MH
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