Leonard Schiller has been working on his latest novel for ten years. Now in his seventies, his older novels have gone out of print and he has no one lined up to publish this novel, but he continues on. Then Heather Wolfe enters his life. Heather is a young, exceptionally bright grad student who wants to do her master’s thesis on him and reintroduce his works to the literary world. At first, he declines because she would be a distraction to his writing, but she pushes in various ways into his life. He consents to a few interviews, but the relationship grows in some very interesting directions.

At the same time we see Leonard’s relationship with his perhaps underachieving (in both her professional and personal lives) daughter Ariel. Although Leonard and Ariel seem fairly close, we discover that there are borders there that have been carefully observed over the years.

Starting Out in the Evening is more than another story about a writer with writer’s block. This is a story that delves into issues of relationship, trust, compromise, freedom, and mortality. The three main characters are all at different places in their life journeys. Leonard, who has had a heart attack and occasionally needs nitrates for chest pains, has a sense of the end. He mentions that the experience of the heart attack “focuses the mind” on his writing, so he can complete it before he dies. Heather is just beginning her life. She is full of dreams and promise. She is ready to shake up the world—and to shake up Leonard’s life. Ariel is soon to be 40 and wants a child. Her relationships haven’t always worked out. She senses it’s too late for her to go back to school. She’s beginning to settle in to the life that has found her.

This ensemble (Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose, and Lili Taylor) all provide exceptional work, but Langella’s stands out as one of the best performances of the year. In Leonard we see a man who still takes pride in what he has done and especially in his sense of moral superiority. He steadfastly refuses to compromise his art for commercial purposes. He is utterly old fashioned, often dressing in coat and tie, still working on a manual typewriter. We get a sense that perhaps the reason he has so much trouble with his book is that he has let the world pass him by. Langella shows us all this not with a flourish, but through the gift of understated acting.

Heather worships Leonard. In their first few scenes she absolutely gushes. Her gaze is so adoring that eventually Leonard has to cover her eyes so he can get out of that stare. His books, she tells him, set her free. As their relationship slowly evolves, she seems flirtatious. Leonard stays very proper. The interviews are not standard questions, but quickly become far more probing than Leonard is expecting or is ready to answer. At times he is offended by her brashness, but he is also attracted to her intellect and vitality.

There are times we aren’t quite sure if this relationship is mutually beneficial or if Heather is exploiting Leonard for her own reasons. In a sense, most relationships walk that line. We are in relationship for what we can share with others but also for our own needs and desires. We see that especially in Ariel’s relationships—with her father, but also with two lovers. She is always making compromises for the others, never demanding what she needs. Her life has been a series of disappointments because she has never found that balance that allows both people to be fulfilled in their relationship.

The question the film deals with is not if Leonard will find a way to finish that novel or how any of the relationships will turn out, but whether these people will find the meaning for their lives that will bring satisfaction. That is an issue that goes to the heart of every life.