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The Invisible Circus (2001)
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Theatrical Release: Feb 2, 2001 Limited
Synopsis: In THE INVISIBLE CIRCUS, sixties idealism meets headlong with family conflict and, mysteriously, death. This compelling drama, based on Jennifer Egan's novel, begins in the infamous Summer of '69, when radical hippie Faith O'Connor (Cameron Diaz), and her English boyfriend Wolf... In THE INVISIBLE CIRCUS, sixties idealism meets headlong with family conflict and, mysteriously, death. This compelling drama, based on Jennifer Egan's novel, begins in the infamous Summer of '69, when radical hippie Faith O'Connor (Cameron Diaz), and her English boyfriend Wolf (Christopher Eccleston) take off for Europe, feeling that they will change the world for the positive. Faith diligently writes postcards to her younger sister Phoebe (Jordana Brewster). When they suddenly stop, the next Faith's family hears of her is that her body has been found at the bottom of a cliff outside a tiny Portuguese fishing village, the victim of an apparent suicide. Seven years later, Phoebe, a haunted, introverted teenager, still doesn't believe her adventurous, life-loving sister would have taken her own life so, against the wishes of her protective mother (Blythe Danner), Phoebe decides to retrace Faith's journey across Europe, using the postcards she had received from Faith as her only clues to a growing mystery. From a houseboat in Amsterdam to a flat in Paris, Phoebe follows Faith's footsteps right to the end. Along the way, she finds Wolf married and settled into a life of bourgeois complacency, one of the many twists in this chilling, engaging story. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Jordana Brewster, Christopher Eccleston, Cameron Diaz, Patrick Bergin, Camilla Belle
DVD Info
Release:
Dec 10, 2002
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Dual Side - Dual Layer
- Full Frame - 1.33
- Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
- Stereo Surround - English
Additional Release Material:
- Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer
- DVD-ROM Content
Reviews
Adam Brooks' film is a total miss, both as a potentially intriguing look into the tumultuous politics of the 1960s and 1970s and as a coming of age of a girl obsessed with her sister's mysterious death
Cameron Diaz and Christopher Eccleston? Good. Jordana Brewster? Actorly indication, stilted line readings and nostril-flaring petulance. The result? A bad day at the Circus.
By the time the uninspiring finale occurs the audience is completely lost in boredom and longing for the credits.
Picturesque European locations, a mystery whose successive folds will be uncovered by Faith’s ex-boyfriend (Christopher Eccleston, in a ratty wig he will have to live down for years), and some heavily psychological sermonizing.
For fans of any of the performers involved, it should be a must-see.
Brooks tries to cram too much into his scenes, combining both the film's external world and characters' inner thoughts in a way that is cluttered and lacking in imagination.
It is both admirable in its convictions yet unaware of its limitations; it strives for beauty and meaning, but ends up looking silly.
A credible portrait of an era, and draws in its tensions and conflicts with quite some power.

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