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DVD Adore
 Run time: 112 min Rating: 6.2 Genres: Drama Director: Anne Fontaine Writers: Anne Fontaine, Christopher Hampton Stars: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel |
| Storyline Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright) are two lifelong friends, having grown up together as neighbors in an idyllic beach town. As adults, their sons have developed a friendship as strong as that which binds their mothers. One summer, all four are confronted by simmering emotions that have been mounting between them, and each find unexpected happiness in relationships that cross the bounds of convention. Written by Anonymous |
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| Plot Keywords: friend, friendship, male rear nudity, swimming, ocean | |
| Details: Country: Australia, France Release Date: 3 April 2013 (France) |
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| Box Office Budget: $16,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend: $19,646 (USA) (20 September 2013) Gross: $317,125 (USA) (27 September 2013) |
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DVD Adore
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4 comments
This lovely movie was based on Doris Lessing's short story "The Grandmothers". I just saw the premiere at Sundance and absolutely loved it. Supposedly inspired by a true story, it's about two mothers who really like their son's best friend (their best friend's son) And that tag line is what you'll hear all about. Oh, the horror. I imagine middle age male reviewers will not particularly like this movie, though gay men will most likely love it. But it's a film about women–their friendships, husbands, relationships, sons and lovers. It's directed by Anne Fontaine, a French woman (which explains the exorbitant number of scenes with smoking cigarettes, and an insanely un-American story concept that young men might be attracted to older women.)
It's beautifully crafted (gorgeous cinematography) and has intelligent editing (watch for the skillful matched cuts that "age" the characters). The performances are all around great. Robin Wright is amazing–it's an Oscar caliber performance, however, the film probably won't get a large enough release to be on the radar for awards (sort of like poor John Hawkes not getting nominated for "The Sessions", what was the Academy thinking?) Of course, setting the movie in Australia means the other main character is the location. Tanned surfing teenage boys with model-beautiful mothers in bikinis, cowabunga mate (and significantly less handsome husbands and admirers, thankfully not shown in Speedos.)
There was laughter in the screening in places unexpected by the director, but this was probably just anxious laughter by viewers unaccustomed to thinking about middle aged women having sexual and emotional interest in younger men. Actually, I felt the laughter lightened up the viewing experience, and made the characters more human (okay, so I laughed and cried in this movie, but I never laughed at it.) At almost every story point where an expected turn would happen (if following Hollywood development script notes) the writer took what I call the "elegant decision" and pleasantly surprised me.
This is all around superb filmic story telling. Brilliant performances, intelligent and gentle direction, spectacular scenery, highly professional technical craftsmanship, and (for most of us, I expect) new emotional territory. It's a great film. I truly hope you get to see it.
A fascinating, intellectual and profound exploration of the psyches of four uniquely damaged characters: two boys who never quite left the womb, growing up in a small and affluent community far removed from reality, with one father figure MIA, the other passive and disconnected, and only their mothers for comfort and company; and two women, who never conquered their fears of aging or their struggles with self-esteem and sexual confidence, and whose intimate love for each other and need to feel young and desired manifest themselves in dangerous liaisons with each other's sons.
The premise is disturbing and unrealistic but a major strength of the film is that the characters' actions feel believable and understandable: but never condoned or really condemned. We are given such insight into their island-like community, their lifestyles, their dynamics and their psyches that it's perfectly clear why they fall into these simultaneously symbiotic and parasitic relationships. There is a nuance and an apathy to the directing that encourage the audience to focus more on the "how" and "why" rather than the "what." The film is never sexy or erotic because there is so much loneliness, pain and desperation in the sex scenes. The ocean metaphors strengthen the storytelling but never overwhelm it, and there is one particularly profound scene when Watts and Wright's granddaughters are lifted out of the very water that pulled them under and destroyed them.
The film lags around the mid-point, once the quartet has fallen into a rhythm and so there is no more conflict or tension, but picks up again once their group dynamic and Watts' character's happiness are threatened. The ending is disconcerted and unexpected, but on reflection, given the film's themes and the characters' self- destructiveness, it couldn't have convincingly ended any other way.
Wright and Watts do career-best work here (people who think Watts is often overwrought will like her here, I think) – both give understated but incredibly complex performances and create living, breathing, three- dimensional people out of these initially unbelievable women. Their guilt, neediness and agony are ever-present in their eyes even as the characters try to remain composed and rational. The boys aren't given as much to do but Xavier Samuel perfectly captures the confidence and faux-invulnerability of adolescence. It's also the first time Watts has laughed on screen in what must be years now, which is nice to see!
Overall, in spite of some silly dialogue, it's riveting, labyrinthine, and unique – it's been a very long time since an English-language film explored female sexuality and psychology as intimately and impartially as this one does. It feels more at home with 90's French dramas like La belle noiseuse and La cérémonie than it does in 2013. I'm not entirely surprised it's received such a hateful and crude reaction online, but it has a lot more to offer than a controversial setting, and I hope audiences will be able to look past the premise and see it not as an "issue film" but as the perceptive and devastating character study that it really is.
I saw the film yesterday here in Paris and was truly in for a pleasant surprise. The film surprised me at every turn, and defied all the expectations i had due to mainstream storytelling pollution which i utterly dread sitting through for two hours. I waited for the story to become ridiculous, but it mocked my underestimation and grew in depth to reveal the true theme that is deeply washing over every shot of the screen, the "deep blue sea", "le moi oceanique", the deadly ecstasy of an overwhelming sexual desire that comes into a possessing ghost strangling all reason that these human beings hypothetically have. The beach and water theme, the opening and and end shot, and the low-angle shots of the water pulling at the characters' feet, this desire hovering within the screen waiting to pull them in are the most successful aspects of the film. The beautiful filming that is so well themed and constructed, this relaxed and ecstatic feel that transcends from the screen making the audience feel the exact erotic atmosphere in which the characters dwell and that pull of desire that comes across in the silence and in the sound of the ocean; and Robin Wright's extremely deep character building and original portrayal of female strength, pull the film together to a true work of art. It is real story telling. At its best. Ieft knowing these characters, i know where they live, how they feel, i know that they are still alive and haven't stopped breathing after i left the screening room. When characters are this real that you somehow know they exist across the world from you somewhere and are still feeling and seeing and laughing and crying, it's called excellent story telling.
Well, I have to recommend this movie to anyone who wants to be stunned by a cozy and atmospheric setting, a convenient cast, surprisingly calm and well thought dialogs and a plot which sometimes triggers a variety of mixed feelings like disgust & attraction, shame & dignity. Overall i felt very calm and relaxed, sometimes i smiled, sometimes i wondered.
The film is so beautifully shot from beginning to end that every picture has its right to exist. Although the subject could be seen as a controversy to people who don't like to think outside the box it never felt like one. This made me think about what i would have thought if the gender of the characters would be the opposite. Despite that this would be a real challenge creating a movie which feels exact the same way i came to the conclusion that there is no equality in love and life and therefore this movie works for me like a charm.
The title of another (accurate) user review here can be misleading though and almost led me to skip this movie. This is definitely not a chick flick for grannies 😉