“The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby”—Ned Benson’s somber,
artfully made meditation on a modern marriage—encompasses many things. It’s
about regret, impulse decisions, second chances, fresh starts, reconnecting,
uncertainty and drifting in and out of love. It takes place during the fallout
of separation between the young married couple Eleanor (Jessica Chastain) and
Conor (James McAvoy). Though, it’s not an official separation; Eleanor refuses
to talk to Conor or see him. Benson handles the movie and its many ideas in a
mature and honest way and while I enjoyed it I wish I could have first seen it
the way Benson originally envisioned it. Let me explain:
When it premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film
Festival it was presented as two movies, each one told from the perspective of
Eleanor or Conor (called “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him/Her”). The
version I saw—and the version being released theatrically—is a combination of
the two, given the subtitle “Them.” Even though this version is a quality piece
of work I think watching two different movies—featuring different character
perspectives on the same story—would have been a much more interesting and
unique movie-watching experience.
The movie opens on a happier time in the marriage. Conor and
Eleanor, young and in love, are in a restaurant. Conor can’t pay the tab so
they dash out the door and collapse onto the lawn of park together, making out.
Then suddenly in the next scene Eleanor, speechless and looking emotionally
drained, tries to take her own life. The rest of the movie plays out as a sort
of mystery; what led to Eleanor’s attempted suicide? Why is she avoiding all
contact with Conor?
Benson’s picture shifts perspectives back and forth between
the two; we see Eleanor move back in with her parents, cut off all contact with
Conor, start taking college classes again and reconnect with her family. Immediately
we feel sympathy towards her. Something really bad must have happened to cause
her to try suicide and since she’s cut off all contact with Conor we assume
that she was abused.
Initially it seems that way. In Conor’s first scene he gets
into a fight with an obnoxious customer at his restaurant; he looks flustered
and appears to have a short fuse. If he’s willing to fight a random person in
public what’s to stop him from abusing his wife? Not only that, he’s a failure.
His restaurant is about to go out of business and he has too much pride to take
over one of his dad’s (played by Ciaran Hinds) places. Perhaps he feels weak in
the eyes of Eleanor, feels as though he can’t provide. However, as the movie
goes on and as we see more of his daily life he doesn’t come off as a bad guy
or an abuser but instead confused. He doesn’t know what he’s done to be
suddenly shut out and you believe him.
The few times they do interact with each other—when he
follows her to one of her classes, or when they take a mini road trip—Eleanor
clearly isn’t scared or repulsed by him and Conor is sensitive and non-hostile.
Benson doesn’t make us take sides in the relationship, each character is
equally developed, and both have their positive and negative virtues. Eleanor
is never made out to be a victim and Conor is never made out to be the villain.
In the end these are just two uncertain people, uncertain for different
reasons. Both Chastain and McAvoy give
unassuming performances. They’re quiet and not showy and don’t consist of
melodramatic yelling and sobbing. Conor and Eleanor are essentially an
“every-couple” so McAvoy and Chastain play them low key and down to earth. The
supporting actors are also good, particularly Viola Davis as Eleanor’s wise, no
nonsense—but also full of regrets herself—psychology professor who sort of
becomes her life advisor.
Despite these numerous positive traits I still wish I could
have seen the “Him/Her” movies first. I realize that when it comes to marketing
and theatrical releases it’s not ideal to release two movies telling the same
story from two different angles but it would have been a far more innovative
and refreshing way to explore Eleanor and Conor’s relationship. There’s a
moment when Conor first sees Eleanor since their separation. He spots her on
the other side of a street—he can’t believe his eyes—and follows her like a
stalker until she disappears again into the subway tunnel. It’s a somber,
haunting moment, one that puts us right into Conor’s mind at that point in
time. But since we’ve just seen Eleanor’s side of things before, the moment
loses some of its poignancy and mystery.
“The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them” is a well made
film; everything feels visually very intricate and planned out, yet still
authentic. Most of the shots last for two minutes or more, letting the emotions
in each scene play out gradually and organically. Benson doesn’t feel the need
to rush from one scene to the next. The pacing can be a little slow at times
though it builds to an ambiguously satisfying ending. Melancholy, but still
satisfying. And yet, while watching the movie I couldn’t help but be reminded
of how I should have seen Eleanor and Conor’s story first.
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