Hearts of Winter is a lovely, appealing movie based on a very emotional theme. A widower and his teenage daughter have lost a beloved wife and mother, and seem to have established a new life for themselves in the comfort of their warm and familiar home. For some reason, the teenage daughter enters a contest to have their home considered for a makeover by a TV home decorator. Her application is accepted and their home is chosen to be redecorated. This, understandably, stuns the father, who resist any changes to his familiar surroundings. And here is where the movie goes a bit too far in ignoring the emotional underlying issues for his resistance. The designer, played by the always lovely Jill Wagner, forges ahead with her plans to rid the home of its familiar objects, bring in new items, and essentially, change everything from what it had been. Sadly, the writers completely bypass the father's resistance to this project..overlooking the emotions he must be feeling at having all his reminders of his wife's existence carried away and replaced. Not enough dialogue, attention and respect is given, at all, to this aspect of what must be going on for him. This issue is finally articulated somewhere in the last third of the film.
In the meantime, a relationship is seemingly growing between the father and the decorator, but not in a way that takes into account his grieving and his loss. The designer, played by Jill Wagner, does a great deal too much giggling to fill lapses in dialogue..Also, she appears a bit pregnant..Could that be? Usually she appears as a tall, statuesque attractive woman..But, here, there seems to be a great deal of scarves, coats, pocketbook cover-up activity going on..The father, Victor Webster, is always reliable as a romantic, appealing leading man, but is given a weaker image in this film. .until he is fairly allowed to mention the loss of his wife and everything she loved about her house.
The movie is carried, very clearly, by the teenage daughter, Lauren McNamara, whose acting skills far outweigh those of the adult leads. She has developed into a truly skilled actress, and even shows some impressive ice-skating skills in one brief scene. This is a really fine young actress. The designer's assistant is played with great dignity and maturity by Rukiya Bernard, who by this time, should be given leading roles in Hallmark movies..She is an elegant, nuanced actress with not enough presence in her secondary roles.
The movie rests on a valid theme of death of a spouse, loss, grieving...However, its development of that theme is superficial and not explored nearly enough to merit more stars.. Emotions run high in films about widowhood, single parenting, and life changes. This script did not take full enough advantage of all the deeper possibilities the situation offered. The eventual romantic ending seemed contrived and superificial.
