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A Subtle Look at Deteriorating RelationshipPeople say that love conquers all. When you love someone and he/she loves you back, all of your problems can seem to go away. Apparently, that’s not what happens to Connor Ludlow (James McAvoy) and Eleanor Rigby (Jessica Chastain), the two main characters in ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby : Them’. As a married couple, they have this flaming desire towards each other. But then a tragedy strikes their marriage and their once-intimate relationship is challenged. That leads to each of them struggling to cope with the situation in their own way. The film is a debut feature from Ned Benson. He did double duty for the film, directing and writing the script. It was originally released in two formats, ‘Him’ and ‘Her’, with each focuses on the events surrounding the couple through one’s perspective (the ‘Him’ version uses Connor’s perspective while the ‘Her’ version uses Eleanor’s perspective). Both version were intended to be screened back-to-back, so that the viewers could experience the couple’s whole perspective in mending their relationship. They actually did screen both versions back-to-back, but only in last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and selected art house cinemas. The version I saw was the ‘Them’ version a.k.a the combined version of ‘Him’ and ‘Her’, which was initiated by the film’s producer, Harvey Weinstein. For a first time feature-length film director and writer, Ned Benson undoubtedly did a good job. It mustn’t have been easy to direct big names for the film. I’m not only talking about Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy here, but also Viola Davis as Eleanor’s tutor-yet-friend Professor Friedman, Isabelle Hupert and William Hurt as Eleanor’s parents, and Ciaran Hinds as Connor’s father. Not to mention the way he unified two different feature into a pretty-balanced film, which must have been hard to do too. He also succeeded in penning the potentially-sappy story into a mature one.
The performances are also not to be missed. Jessica Chastain gives a nicely restrained performance while James McAvoy gives a more straightforward portrayal. Their chemistry together is nothing less than electrifying. There’s one scene in a car that serves as a prove to their chemistry which will make you want to hold your lover’s hand even more tighter. But my favorite here is Viola Davis, she plays an intellectual woman who has cynical view in life so effortlessly good!
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AuthorA self-acclaimed movie guy who likes to socialize |