A film that centers around a couple experiencing a mysterious tragedy, By the Sea (2015) manages to pique curiosity as to what the calamitous secret could be, but fails to hold it. Written and directed by Angelina Jolie [Pitt], the film stars herself as the grievously destructive Vanessa, alongside Brad Pitt as defeated husband and writer, Roland.
Upon the couple’s arrival to a coastal french town for a well-needed getaway, we immediately become aware of Roland’s lack of inspiration, as well as Vanessa’s fragility. Although Pitt’s character is the writer-in-distress, both Vanessa and Roland share an inability to verbally express themselves: Vanessa’s difficulty vocalizing her pain and needs to anyone besides her husband, and Roland’s writers’ block. –And viewers aren’t the only ones aware of this depression. The characters are clearly self-aware, acknowledging their own defects and each other’s –a characteristic atypical of most ‘broken romance’ films, and one of the few refreshing things about the movie. Where most tragic film couples struggle to understand one another and then fall apart, Vanessa and Roland struggle because they understand one another.
But, the two remain physically distant where they seemingly should find comfort. It isn’t until they discover a hole in their hotel room wall that they find a way to reconnect by spying on their neighbors. Watching through the wall becomes a way for Vanessa and Roland to be intimate with one another without physical contact. However, when the connection becomes more of an obsession for the two, they begin experiencing more than just their sex life vicariously through their neighbors. As Vanessa sits on the left and Roland on the right, the hole in the wall between them becomes a symbol for the hole in their marriage.
Pitt and Jolie Pitt manage the “married couple” aspect of the film well enough –one would hope so considering their last names and all. Their loving looks at each other are certainly more than mere performance. These are people who know each other well… and it is obvious. Still, that plays to the strengths of the film, and since there aren’t many, we can afford to give them that. The other couple in the film, however, is not only difficult to believe, but downright boring. Francois (Melville Poupaud) seems like more of the playboy, and Lea (Melanie Laurent): his ditzy, young sidepiece, rather than the newlywed couple so insanely in love with each other they’re already trying to make babies. And Poupaud and Laurent do, what seems to be, as little as possible, so as to not even accidentally get in the way of Brangelina. It is unmistakable that two big stars are in this film… and no one else.
Although it dreams of being a heart-wrenching drama, By the Sea is little more than a single, depressing incident in desperate need of a real story line. And at every point where development and depth and multifariousness should exist, (as they do in real humans and real life), By the Sea falls back on the anchor it thinks it has: that tragedy they just won’t tell us about. So, why can’t Vanessa respond to Roland’s ‘I love you’s’ in the first place? She clearly does love him. Why is she afraid to be touched by her own husband? She clearly doesn’t fear him. Why does she threaten their marriage by picking fights or flirting around? She clearly doesn’t want to fight and admittedly has no true interest in the man she flirts with. Yet, Vanessa is repeatedly described as not destructive by nature. She may be a handful at times, but not vindictive. And yet she is just that: malicious. Malevolent for only one predominant reason: she’s sad. And in the end, it’s just not a good enough excuse.
The timeline in By the Sea reads like the usual unfolding drama: a recent shock, an escape from reality, further breakdown, attempt at relationship repair, more destruction, climax, beginnings of a resolution; but in this film, the events still feel off… and it’s because they are, (as well as there being little acceptable reason for the actions within this timeline to occur the way they do). Said ‘shock’ isn’t actually recent. We discover –in the last 15 minutes of the film!– it all started years and years ago. The escape from reality thus feels a little past ‘worthwhile’ then. After years of grieving, one would think this vacation would result in happiness, but instead? More tears for no apparent reason. The relationship begins to repair itself by living through another couple, which poses the question: is it really being repaired at all? And as soon as Vanessa and Roland seem to reaffirm their love, Vanessa decides to mess it up. On purpose. And not to mess them up, but to destroy another couple. Again. For no actual reason. Because although jealousy seems like the devil at play here, the film uses it as more of an excuse than a real demon. Finally, a climax that feels far more like a comedian patting you on the head than a pro-wrestler slinging a teary-eyed ton of bricks at your gut. And then, poof! She just had to say the problem out loud and now things will be all better. At the beginning of the film, Vanessa says, “I need more time.” But not a drop more time should be wasted on figuring these two mood-swingers out. Time won’t make a difference when what Vanessa really needs is a good shrink who can remind her that she can’t just be a pernicious bitch with a smile… because other people matter, too!
Christian Berger’s cinematography is one of the few captivating and redeeming elements of By the Sea. From sweeping shots of coastal french highways to beautifully lit chateaus and romantic pans of a couple in distress, Berger nails nearly every shot. Gabriel Yared’s score elegantly reinforces the melodrama, although sometimes becoming overly gloomy and monotonous as a result of the characters it accompanies. Berger and Yared may cohere an unimpressive script with their practically perfect images and appropriate composition, respectively; but even they can’t patch the holes in the plot and keep By the Sea from sinking.
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