It happens less often for actresses, particularly those over 40 – which makes The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, featuring an Oscar-worthy turn by Robin Wright, a truly happy surprise.

Wright gives the title character a complexity and emotional shading often missing in this kind of ensemble comedy/drama. Pippa has the feel of a heroine in literature, rather than on the big screen.

Pippa, 50, is the seemingly serene wife of successful publisher Herb Lee (Alan Arkin), who is 30 years her senior. She seems to have it all: a good marriage, successful twentysomething children, wealth, good looks and glowing health.

She even weathers a move with her husband to a sleepy retirement community, his "pre-emptive strike against decrepitude." But things slowly start to unravel, and the tumultuous past she tried to ignore comes back to haunt her.

It sounds like standard chick flick/Lifetime movie stuff, but because of the strong cast and a few surprising twists, it rises above expectations for the genre. While the plot can be a bit episodic and has a whiff of the familiar, the psychologically astute dialogue by writer/director Rebecca Miller (The Ballad of Jack and Rose) rings true.

Keanu Reeves has an appealing, low-key turn as the lost-soul son of Pippa's neighbor, and Blake Lively does a nice job as the young and wilder Pippa. But the best performance, next to the nuanced and evocative portrait painted by Wright, is that of Maria Bello. She plays young Pippa's charismatic but deeply diet-pill-addicted mother. It's a particularly fearless performance.

As the mystery of Pippa's character unfolds, her comfortable world topples around her. But she has the grace and wisdom to sway with it.

Enlarge Screen Media Films An Oscar- worthy turn: Keanu Reeves also stars in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, but it's Robin Wright who drives this comedy/drama.