`WINTER GUEST' LEAVES YOU COLD.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

Cross-generational bonding and death and coming of age and falling in love and dealing with grief - y'know, life's great, mysterious stuff.

That's what English actor supreme Alan Rickman deals with in his movie directing debut, ``The Winter Guest.'' How he manages to make all this fundamentally dramatic material tedious and unengaging, especially with an ensemble of Brits who are at least as talented as himself, is unfortunately the movie's sole compelling mystery.

Maybe it's because Rickman, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Sharman Macdonald, set the thing on the coldest day in memory in a picturesque but otherwise unremarkable Scottish seaside town. The ocean's frozen, and so, to a great extent, are the performances.

Phyllida Law plays a spunky but deeply concerned old woman, Elspeth, who slip-slides her way determinedly down icy paths to the beach home of her daughter Frances (played by Law's actual daughter, Emma Thompson). Frances, a photographer, has had trouble getting herself out of bed, then out of the bathtub, for quite some time; ever since her husband's death, evidently.

Naturally enough, Elspeth is worried about Frances, though she has trouble expressing her concern without sounding meddlesome or nettlesome. The two women go for a walk along the beach to discuss it further.

While they're out, Frances' almost-grown son Alex (Gary Hollywood) brings home an impudent punkette, Nita (Arlene Cockburn), who's been expressing her affection by tossing snowballs at him. She takes a bath, too.

Also on the beach are two hooky-playing schoolboys, Sam (Douglas Murphy) and Tom (Sean Biggerstaff). For some reason, their curious, pubescent confusions are the movie's most interesting exchanges. And they find abandoned kittens.

The fourth pair of chatterers are two elderly widows (Sheila Reid and Sandra Voe) who take a bus to a funeral, which they rate in quality alongside others they've attended and are looking forward to.

By the end of the day, of course, emotional ties are established or reaffirmed, and everyone has learned something meaningful and trite. And even though Rickman, best known for juicy villainous turns in the likes of ``Die Hard'' and ``Michael Collins,'' clearly designed this whole shebang as a showcase for thespian indulgence, the actors seem generally as unimpressed with its small revelations as we are.

If there were ever a movie that could have benefited from a big iceberg crashing into its midst, ``The Winter Guest'' is the one.

THE FACTS

The film: ``The Winter Guest'' (R; language, nudity, children in jeopardy).

The stars: Emma Thompson, Phyllida Law, Gary Hollywood, Arlene Cockburn, Douglas Murphy, Sean Biggerstaff.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Alan Rickman. Written by Rickman and Sharman Macdonald. Produced by Ken Lipper, Edward R. Pressman and Steve Clark-Hall. Released by Fine Line Features.

Running time: One hour, 50 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle Music Hall, Beverly Hills.

Our rating: Two Stars.

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Photo

Photo: Phyllida Law plays a spunky, deeply concerned old woman, with Sean Biggerstaff as a hooky-playing schoolboy, in ``The Winter Guest.''