Good start, but then it gets ruined

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

I would refer readers of this review to the review written by Steve Skafte in this review forum. He has pretty much nailed the movie in his review and I agree with most of what he has to say.However, I would add the following. Heather Graham's struggle with the role of young Alexandra entails more than just the written dialog. She also struggles with a Swedish dialect (as to other characters). It's too bad because she really looks like she could be a young Jessica Lange. I would add that Reed Diamond's performance as Emil seems stilted to me. Maybe that is just the dialog, as Steve Skafte suggests, but I really think it's an acting problem. These two aren't the only actors that fall short.To the praise of Jessica Lange, I would add significant praise for Anne Heche as Marie. She really brings this role to life and you will see no issues with her dialog. Her performance alone makes the love between Marie and Emil believable.Now, for the spoiler. If you haven't seen the movie, don't read this part!!! The story of Emil and Marie is beautifully done and when they finally consummate their love, great tension is generated as her husband goes through a series of actions that lead to his taking up his rifle. This part is very, very well done. And when he kills the lovers, it is a perfect tragic moment.I wish I could give this movie seven stars instead of six, but the great photography, locations, directing, music, and the performances of Lange and Heche cannot make amends for the poorly written dialog and the other unprofessional performance issues that keep this from being a great film.

Such a stunningly beautiful film, lovely score, Jessica Lange and David Strathairn are wonderful as Carl and Alexandra. Any fan of Willa Cather's novels will be pleased at how well they have kept to the story of O Pioneers,I loved every minute of it. I wish everyone who sought to adapt a novel for screen {big or small] would do it with the same care and attention to detail that this production shows I thought the film was well cast, the actors look as they are described in the book.I think this film would appeal to a wide range of tastes and interests, beautiful scenery, beautiful people, wonderful love stories. This is one movie that I watch often.

I was expecting a better movie. It just wasn't that touching, and the story was not entertaining. And the scenery wasn't that great. Heather Graham uses a horrible accent. I guess the plot of this film was a young Alexandra takes over her family's land when their dad dies. She tells her brothers they will stick together and the farm will grow. Cut to 20 years later, and we saw how the farm has grown. They grow a lot and have a big house. A subplot involves the younger brother, Emil, who falls for a married woman. Tragedy ensues, surprise, surprise! The end of the film deals with Alexandra getting together with an old friend. So, she has a life other than the farm. Sounds really exciting, uh? Not! FINAL VERDICT: I don't recommend this because it is too boring.

Alternately tragic and triumphant story of Alexandra Bergson's love of the sometimes unwelcoming farmland of the southern Nebraska plains. Captures well the quiet tone of Willa Cather's best work--had she seen this, she might have rethought her (evidently ignored) demand in her will that her work not be adapted. All the performances are excellent, including early performances by Reed Diamond and Anne Heche as the doomed lovers Emil and Marie and one more in a lifetime of stealthily perfect turns by David Strathairn. But the whole enterprise depends on the broad, strong shoulders of Jessica Lange's Alexandra. Looking more than ever before like a beautiful, lanky, long-necked mare of a woman, Lange's spirit expands to fill the wide-open landscape. Don't expect a thriller when this comes up, but if you see it, you'll remember it forever.