Ms. Hong rose to the occasion with an elegant, touching performance.
The discovery of the evening is the quietly captivating Ms. Rashad, whose work here outshines her touching performance in Lynn Nottage's "Ruined".
Her later films included an immensely touching performance alongside Michel Serrault as a couple rekindling an ancient passion in Luigi Commencini's Buon Natale, Buon Anno (Merry Christmas, Happy New Year , 1989.
At the other emotional extreme, there was touching performance by Alexandra Ansanelli as a doll who accepts a paper heart from a toy soldier, strongly characterized by Tom Gold in Balanchine's miniature Bizet ballet, "The Steadfast Tin Soldier".
Despite having to wear a dental prosthesis that stretched his mouth into an unsettling grimace, Mr. Veidt (the murderous somnambulist in "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari") delivers a delicately touching performance that nonetheless carries the seed of terror.
But what a triumph this film was for Chapman, who gave a convincing, touching performance as the bewildered everyman who decides to make a stand, and in his battle with the evil empire makes a Luke Skywalker-style discovery about his lineage.
It should be noted that Mr. Hauer, now 67, gives a surprisingly committed, even touching performance as the angry hobo, and that Nova Scotia, which looks so pretty in the Syfy series "Haven" and the CBS "Jesse Stone" movies, makes a very convincing hellhole.
As a final inducement, "Cold Water" offers an unaffected, touching performance by Virginie Ledoyen, 17 when the film was released, as Christine, whose disappointments — in her parents, in Gilles, in life — drive the story and whose obduracy leads to its cryptic yet devastating ending.
The discovery of the evening is the quietly captivating Ms. Rashad, whose work here outshines her touching performance in Lynn Nottage's "Ruined". Even when she is hovering at the edges of the drama, passing in and out of the kitchen or refilling wineglasses in the living room, Ms. Rashad's Cheryl is a powerful presence, sensitive to every hint of condescension directed her way.
It builds to a rather moving conclusion -- Robert Hock, as the doomed monarch, Berenger I, turns in an increasingly touching performance as he finally succumbs to his inevitable fate -- but far too rarely does Mr. Hardy, Mr. Hock or any other cast member find a way to exploit the playwright's humor.
The movie is a bit heavy on the hillbilly stereotypes, but a wonderfully unexpected, oddly touching performance by the Irish-born actor Liam Neeson, playing another of Truman's backwoods brothers, covers a lot of sins -- Wednesday/EarlyThursday at 3 a.m. and Thursday at 11 p.m. on TBS.
