Closing the Ring

"Discover the love of a lifetime."

2007 1h 58m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 108

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

During the 1940s, a group of young men go off to war, leaving behind Ethel Ann, who is in love with one of them, Teddy. In modern-day Belfast, a man named Jimmy endeavors to return a ring found in the wreckage of a crashed plane. He travels to Michigan, where the grown Ethel Ann, who married another man after Teddy was killed in battle, now lives. Ethel Ann must decide whether to go with Jimmy to meet the soldier who last saw Teddy alive.

“Discover the love of a lifetime.”

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Cast

Shirley MacLaine
Ethel Ann
Christopher Plummer
Jack
Mischa Barton
Young Ethel Ann
Stephen Amell
Teddy Gordon
Neve Campbell
Marie
Pete Postlethwaite
Quinlan
Martin McCann
Jimmy
Allan Hawco
Peter Etty

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Richard Attenborough
Writers: Peter Woodward
Languages: English
Countries: Canada, United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 19 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: Canada, United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Richard Attenborough, shot by Roger Pratt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Jeff Danna. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Lesley Walker shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer and Mischa Barton carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Discover the love of a lifetime.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0488380 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Attenborough directs. Roger Pratt behind the camera. Jeff Danna scores. Lesley Walker cuts. Produced in Canada, United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 19 years ago.
2International production across 3 countries: Canada, United Kingdom, United States of America.
3Directed by Richard Attenborough, shot by Roger Pratt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Jeff Danna. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Lesley Walker shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer and Mischa Barton carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Discover the love of a lifetime.".
8IMDB entry: tt0488380 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 8 themes, including "airplane", "world war ii", "bomber", "love".

The technical file

Cinematography: Roger Pratt
Original score: Jeff Danna
Editing: Lesley Walker
Production design: Tom McCullagh
Costume design: Hazel Webb-Crozier
Makeup / hair: Christine Beveridge
Runtime: 118 min · 1h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $23,000,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Closing the Ring (2007)

Also by

Richard Attenborough

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-08-30
★ 7/10
Richard Attenborough has assembled a good cast for this nostalgic wartime drama. In a troubles-torn Belfast, the young Wilbur (Dylan Roberts) finds a ring in a burnt out aircraft left over from WWII. His search for the owner leads him to Shirley MacLaine's "Ethel Ann", and our story slowly reveals, via a mix of current and retrospective scenarios, just what happened when and to whom. The beginning is a bit disjointed, the chopping and changing of timeframes and characters happens too soon after the film starts without us having quite enough information to follow the story easily, but once that settles down and the role of Christopher Plummer ("Jack") becomes clearer, this makes for an engaging story of loves lost and bravery. It also doesn't ignore the fact that bombs continued to fall in Belfast for some years after the end of the War too. It's a simple vehicle for the two stars, that isn't the most plausible of stories, but it has a gentle warmth that just about carries it off.

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