User Reviews

Kim Bassinger plays a woman married to Psychiatrist Bruce Greenwood, who goes back to her childhood home to find out why her mother deliberately severed a finger. The home is on an island, presumably off the Northwest coast, which houses a fishing village, and a monastery.

The religious myth guiding the monks is about a Mermaid who saves the island, and the monks seem to spend their time sewing fishing nets for the local industry.

Kim meets up again with her old women friends. There is the usual assortment for a chick flick; a wise Black woman; a "mentally challenged" but "intuitive" girl; and her tough, but lovable mother, who runs the local tourist Kitsch store.

Bassinger's voice over fills us in on all the necessary details of her childhood, the local mermaid story, and her frustration with her mother's behavior. The music lets us know that this is going to be one of those "intelligent" stories, with deep undertones, and unexplained behavior that we are supposed to wait for the story to explain as it unfolds.

A handsome monk soon shows up and we all know where this is going to lead! From what Kim has told us and from other hints we know she is "searching" for herself. The author prefers to call it "travelling" in an effort to take our mind of the clichés that are falling fast and furious.

We are never told why Kim strays,only that she is "unhappy." Apparently we are supposed to allow her the benefit of the doubt. If Bassinger's character is unhappy, then it must be the husbands fault! No that is too easy. What Kim is apparently in angst about is the cloud of guilt from her childhood, that is connected to her father's death.

What motivates the Priest to commit adultery against his vows? Oh wait, he's not officially a Priest yet, or at least a Monk, so he's "travelling" too. He joined the monastery because....well let's just say it's quite the tear jerker of a reason, guaranteed to tug at the heart strings of any co-dependent. He is not above luring Kim off on the flimsy excuse to see some "rare" White Pelicans. Could any woman who is looking for romance to sooth her ails resist?

Will Kim take off with the Monk? Will Kim bury her childhood guilt? Will she discover why mother is determined to keep on cutting off fingers? Yes on the last two. I won't blow the first question, but any serious student of the genre will know the answer.

Yeah, yeah, I'm a male. I know it's a chick flick so butt out; right? Well before I do I just want to have a few things explained to me. Why is it O.K. for a woman "searching" to screw a Priest, without thought, or at least without comment, about: 1. Her infidelity. 2. His motivation to screw up his vocation. 3. No mention of her marital status. If a male character did this most women would call him a pig. Why does the Monk seem to care less about Kim's marital status? It's as if: she's a big girl, she has to have a good reason.

Romance and motivations triggered by the unconscious outweigh any sense of morality, guilt, remorse. As long as you follow your heart, everything can be forgiven!

I watched it with my mom and we were like...

What the hell? We didn't get it at all. I may have this wrong, but a chair had something to do with the death of this woman's father. That movie was terrible! This is not a movie for those who love a good suspense movie. Bad suspense movie! *shakes cane at movie* I'm never seeing it again. And I'm a big fan of lifetime movies, too! They kinda need to quit trying to make movies outta books. It's driving me crazy!!!

And Whit was butt-ugly and yet, she loves him more than Hugh, who was a TINY bit nicer-looking.

My rating: 1/10

Kind of hard to believe that the movie from this book could succeed in topping its awfulness! The plot is so contrived and unbelievable. . . starting with laying a ton of guilt on a small child to spare her pain! Then we have the collusive behavior of at least six and maybe more people(including clergy) involved in what is a crime everywhere. Next we have a wife who seemingly in the length of a ferry ride goes from being comparatively happy to very shortly kicking over the traces. A very unpleasant and coo coo mother, aided, abetted and supported by a politically correct group of friends! Moving the setting from an island off the coast of South Carolina, did not help the story although it may have helped the film makers budget. The very beautiful buildings supposedly housing the monastery did not seem to logically suit an island small enough to need golf carts and such a small ferry service. Kim Basinger whom I do really like is painfully thin in this movie and her hairdo certainly belongs in another decade. Also there is simply no chemistry at all between her and either of the male leads. I thoroughly disliked the book from which this was taken but did read it all. The movie I kept surfing back and forth to, had to leave whenever that saccharine music got too much. Unless you like an unbelievable story, wooden acting, a contorted mixture of religious/mythological/allegory my advice is to skip this one. Oh and maybe a small carping criticism, but wouldn't a caring father have a life jacket on a small child on a small boat? The best part of this movie is the scenery

SPOILER ALERT! This movie was awful. I'm a guy who loves "people" movies where the characters grow in some way. Movies that women like. Touching movies. But this movie was horrendous and amateurish. It does everything a screenplay shouldn't do. The narration/exposition shortcuts, the predictability, the dialogue that is not believable, and most of all, the main character was not likable. My 13 year old daughter was actually laughing at the first five minutes of the movie. I kept checking a screenplay I'm working on to make sure my story was believable and not as corny. I got this weird feeling in my stomach that if I put something out like "The Mermaid Chair" I would be totally embarrassed. No... humiliated. The husband and the monk were so alike they could be brothers. They were both so passive (except when the husband saw the painting of his wife and the monk nude together). They were only outdone by Kim Basinger's trance-like tranquilized narration. I noticed the husband was the only one who knew how to operate a stove both before and after her affair with the monk. It really bugged me when the old couple asks the protagonist (Kim B) about the monastery so she could explain to us about it and how she grew up there. Ugh! Her mother cuts her finger off on purpose and the ladies (I thought I was watching "The View") joke about Vincent Van Gogh and mayonnaise jars. By the way, the women are solidly behind Kim having an affair with the monk. We have a black woman with some magical stuff, African drums and dancing, some neat mermaid/Catholic saint mysterious stuff/boat-journey symbolism, tearing up of old paintings, a monk sanctioned mercy killing, a retarded girl who says "you're in love" to Kim B. and she says something like "I know things or see things" sort of like "I see dead people", but more like "I see morally dead people", blah, blah, blah...So anyway, she meets the monk in minute 10, instantly locks eyes with him (I think she liked the hoodie and I think he had his eye on something besides the fishnets). In minute 18 she sees him again... oh the longing... minute 24 he sends her a note asking her out on a date to a rookery, which is a colony of breeding birds... that had to be a tipoff something was going to happen... so by minute 40 after these short meetings, they are having sex in the rookery... sort of hooking at the rookery. Well, that's where animals breed, so I guess it makes sense. At minute 52, Kim Basinger finally realizes her lines are so lame she says "everything I say is going to sound so shallow". But it was too late by then. They shot most of the movie. So anyway, the mother explains what happened to Kim's father, but it doesn't really matter in the story... other than I can't believe they would just destroy a perfectly good fishing boat like that (I'm not going to spoil that part for you). Somehow they knew that if you took off the battery cable, the boat would hit choppy water and a spark would result, burning up the father and the boat. No police investigation. And what if the boat had hit another boat with a family out for a nice ride in their boat... two innocent little children, a faithful husband and wife... very irresponsible. Here's the lines: "Mommy, why is the boat that's on fire coming at us so fast?" "Don't worry honey, the monks are just practicing shooting off fireworks for the Fourth of July". "No-o-o-o-o-o-o!!!!!" CRASH! (indistinct screams) Katy Perry's "Firework" plays in the background. Okay... a bunch of other stuff happens and at the end, the husband is cooking breakfast again for his wife. Hopefully he is cooking it better than before so that she won't feel so trapped and run off with a minister or something. Wait a minute! She is still at it! She cheated on Sylvester Stallone with Robert DeNiro in "Grudge Match". Man. She's always apologizing. I gotta tell ya, I thought we had enough of this stuff with the "Thornbirds".

If anyone knows who did the soundtrack for The Mermaid Chair, please let me know. It is the recurring theme that runs throughout the movie that I am interested in.

I liked the movie for the most part; scenery was beautiful, acting great and it was good to see Kim Basinger on the screen again. I was disappointed in the ending because I have never understood why someone would jeopardize a marriage that apparently did not have any horrible, deal-breaking factors, especially when there is a child involved, just for a temporary fling. If her marriage was so bad, why did she go back? If the priest was so taken with her, why did he not pursue a real relationship with her? And what can we think about a spouse who can just take a cheater back over breakfast without at least some discussion? Only in the movies, perhaps........

I did love the music -- have heard it before on radio but I could not find it anywhere in the credits so would much appreciate if someone does know what it is. Thanks much.

I watched all three encores of this movie, and enjoyed every minute of all three showings... I have read some comments about this movie being confusing?!?!?!? I have know idea what they are talking about...Its a story about forgiveness and...I felt such empathy for all the characters. I am going to go and buy the book now... I enjoyed seeing Kim Bassinger again I liked the character she plays... Alex Carter was not only handsome but great in the part of the monk... I have not watched Lifetime in a while now I will be tuning in on a regular basis if these are the kind of movies they will be showing. I would definitely recommend this movie