`HILARY AND JACKIE' PLAYS ON DRAMA BEHIND THE MUSIC.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

Those nutty musical geniuses. So egocentric, so demanding, so weird. Good thing they tend to suffer from severe medical imbalances. Otherwise, how could we sympathize with them through a whole movie?

``Hilary and Jackie'' is the latest in the ``Shine''-inspired line of films about oddball classical musicians. This one has a pleasing extra dimension, however, in that it is also about a highly complex relationship between two nearly telepathically close sisters.

Played by England's high priestess of the unhinged, ``Breaking the Waves' '' Emily Watson, and the fine Australian actress Rachel Griffiths (``Muriel's Wedding,'' ``Children of the Revolution''), Jacqueline and Hilary du Pre are one enchanting sister act, mentally as well as musically.

Jackie (Watson) is the family genius, a supremely talented cellist who, with her husband, the Argentine/Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim (James Frain), was the darling of the '60s and '70s classical music scene.

As a child flutist, Hilary overshadowed Jackie but lost her confidence as her sibling's star ascended. The love of a good man, irreverent conductor Kiffer Finzi (David Morrissey), brought Hilary more personal than professional stability; still, the bucolic bliss they enjoy together on an ancient, picturesque farm is markedly more satisfying than Jackie's triumphant but isolating (and seemingly endless) world concert tour.

Indeed, the movie's best scenes come at midpoint when Jackie, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, leaves Barenboim and descends like a fury on her sister's homestead. Insisting that Hilary permit her to sleep with Kiffer, Jackie seems every inch the selfish prima donna we've presumed her to be, insensitively bent on taking yet another precious part of her good sister's life away from her.

Fortunately, screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce (``Welcome to Sarajevo'') does not allow matters to unfold quite so simply. In an artsy but successful ploy, part of the story is told from Hilary's perspective, then from Jackie's quite different view of things. Empathic as the two women are, they see things quite differently.

What's nice is that for all the resentment and rivalry inherent in the story, the film is too openhearted to dwell on recriminations. Besides, it has something more manipulative to emphasize. Jackie comes down with multiple sclerosis, and the last act of the movie can't help but focus on her physical and emotional decline, which Watson plays with rather too much twitch technique.

For the most part, Watson's performance is impressive. She studied the cello diligently to make her concert scenes look convincing (Caroline Dale provides the actual music on the soundtrack), and she gives them a consuming, very physical quality that no doubt was a large part of the real du Pre's stage appeal.

Stuck, like Hilary was, with the less showy role, Griffiths does a marvelous job all the same. She makes Hilary the compassionate, rational heart of the movie without either idealizing the character or making her an object of pity; neither small accomplishments.

The director is Anand Tucker, a British documentarian. He's big on low-slung track-ins and swooping camera moves when Jackie's playing, and he displays similar, self-consciously arty affectations at other times. But he knows enough to keep the drama focused on behavior, and even though some of that feels prepackaged, there are more than enough unique, specific personality notes here to make ``Hilary and Jackie'' well worth seeing and hearing.

The facts

The film: ``Hilary and Jackie'' (R; sex, language, nudity).

The stars: Emily Watson, Rachel Griffiths, David Morrissey, James Frain.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Anand Tucker. Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Produced by Nicolas Kent and Andy Paterson. Released by October Films.

Running time: Two hours.

Playing: Westside Pavilion, West Los Angeles; Laemmle Monica, Santa Monica.

Our rating: three stars