There are times at these sorts of festivals when something comes along so great that it can fill even the most jaded of critics with vitality to go on. Then there are the times when that certain lift comes from quite the opposite, and so it is that at Cannes 2014, Ned Benson's The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby wears that crown. A pretentious, cliche heavy romance wearing the ill-fitting jacket of the high brow.
It stars Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy with supporting roles for Ciaran Hinds, Viola Davis, Bill Hader and Isabelle Huppert. The cinematographer, Christopher Blauvelt, has worked with Sophia Coppola, Kelly Reichardt, Spike Jonze and David Fincher. Not only is Benson's film not the sum of all these wonderful parts, it seems to take them out, have its way with them and leave a scrunched up tener on the bedside table.
The film is the third installment of Benson's high concept trilogy. The first two (Him and Her) focus on the same period of time but respectively, from each lover's perspective. For this third installment Benson has amalgamated the two into a 2 hour train wreck. We meet Chastain as the titular lead (a Beatles reference which is remarked on only once in the film's entirety) just as she jumps off the Manhatten bridge. She survives the fall and returns to her family as her old squeeze Conor (McAvoy) delicately attempts to re-enter her life. She joins Viola Davis' university course on finding identity (seriously) as Conor and his Chef (Hader) struggle to keep his restaurant afloat. The reasons for Eleanor's suicide filter out and the plot slowly thickens...
It's quite incredible the level which Benson attempts to mask his clunky script. The cliches alone are just bizarre. They do the dancing to 80's music in a parked car's headlights thing. They do the running from the restaurant without paying the bill thing. All of this would be somewhat ok in a usual movie romance but the film fails in the sordid belief that it is something more.
On top of all this there's just so little to like about everyone (bar Hader) involved. The tragedy of course is terrible but, all else considered, their lives are a breeze. Oh, your restaraunt went bankrupt and closed down? No sweat, just take over your Dad's booming business. And what's that? You dropped out of your course after a class and a half? Forget it, my friend lectures in Paris, just move there, it's not like you have a job or anything to worry about. The stomach duly turns.
We could go on- oh we really could- but if there is one culprit for this horrific wreck then it must be Benson's script. Like Cormac McCarthy's overwrought screenplay for The Councillor, you truly get the feeling that the actors don't believe a word they are saying, so as a viewer, all you are left to do is follow suit. So with that in mind, we'll leave you with a few choice quotes, so we can all just move on with our lives.
"You're from the generation with too many choices"
- Viola Davis as she orders a ridiculously niche espresso blend.
"Tragedy is like a foreign country, and I don't know the natives"
- Eleanor's father's excuse for referring her to his psychiatrist friend
McAvoy: "It feels like we're living some sort of disaster cliche..."
Chastain: "We are."
Unequivocally, there is simply nothing left to say.
