Make It A Double! (formerly Box Office Alternatives) — A column that looks at what’s new in theaters and considers interesting pairings with existing films, based on thematic commonalities.
Because the inevitable must always come to pass, this week gives us the new Fifty Shades sequel Fifty Shades Darker, delighting scores of fans who have happily devoured the book series and subsequent first film. From what I can gather based on the trailer, the story’s main couple find themselves once again drawn to each other as well as their various “peculiarities,” despite the presence of various figures from the past.
One of those figures comes in the form of Kim Basinger as an older seductress. Basinger’s appearance (which exists only because reported first choice Michelle Pfeiffer turned the part) in a film with this high of a profile is yet another in a number of recent turns which sees the Oscar-winner once again hopelessly miscast (a la Grudge Match, The Nice Guys). The actress has been so mistreated by Hollywood lately, that it’s easy to forget that when properly utilized, Basinger is a quietly powerful actress. One of the most irrefutable recent examples of this can be found in her deeply moving supporting turn in Paul Haggis’ harshly treated ensemble drama Third Person.
Third Person takes place in three different cities and following three different sets of characters. In Paris, celebrated author Michael (Liam Neeson) is holed up in his hotel room working on his novel while dealing with a tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend Anna (Olivia Wilde) and his far-away estranged wife Elaine (Basinger). Meanwhile, in New York, former soap star Julia (Mila Kunis) is now working as a hotel maid as she fights to regain custody of her young son now living with his famous artist father Rick (James Franco) following a devastating accident. Finally, in Rome, American businessman Scott (Adrien Brody), intrigued by the beautiful and mysterious Monika (Moran Atias), finds himself drawn into a dark adventure involving money, gangsters and a kidnapped child.
What keeps Third Person fresh, compelling and always-involving is the fact that Haggis has presented three totally unique stories, each with its own genre.
The Paris story involving Michael, Anna and Elaine is the kind of love triangle which has comprised countless numbers of romantic dramas. Watching the relationship between the lost and infatuated Michael and the strong-willed, yet complicated Anna is enough to make an audience genuinely torn. On the one hand, the two share such an exciting chemistry and magnetic attraction that allows them to disappear into each other as if they’re free from the outside world. At the same time, there’s so much within both of them that makes the relationship doomed. There’s Anna’s fear of fully revealing herself emotionally to anyone, let alone Michael. For his part, Michael’s love for Elaine still lingers, but remains fractured thanks to the death of their young son. For him, Anna is a universe where the hurt from his previous life can’t touch him, while Elaine represents a world that pains him, yet he can’t quite leave behind.
The events in New York meanwhile, comprise the makings of a worthy familial drama in the tragic character of Julia. While details of the event that cost Julia her career and her child remain more or less unsaid (it doesn’t take much guessing to figure it out), it’s watching the character’s struggle to attain not necessarily the life she had before, but simply a life in general that’s worth living, that makes the story so compulsively watchable. Moments such as watching Julia clean the very kind of hotel suites she herself might have once stayed in, struggling to overcome every obstacle possible on the way to a meeting at family court, and pleading in vain with Rick to accept her guilt and remorse of what happened as proof of her redemption, all breathe the kind of dramatic life that keeps Third Person ticking.
The Rome story in Third Person has the makings of an exciting romantic noir. The setup is classic: an American businessman in an enchanting setting falls for a bewildering, exotic creature whom he follows down a complicated and dangerous path. While it’s initially lust that draws Scott to Monika, his motives soon change. Monika becomes a desperate woman after Scott learns that the large sum of money which has just been stolen from her was meant to go to a group of underworld criminals who are holding her daughter for ransom. Scott, who on occasion will turn to his cell phone and replay an old message from his own daughter whom he no longer sees, is taken by Monika’s plight and does anything to help her, including risking his own life. It’s the combination of physical attraction and a shared paternal love for their children which keep the pair glued together, despite the fact that certain signals eventually begin to spur doubt in Scott’s mind as to whether or not Monika actually has a kidnapped daughter.
The entire cast digs their teeth into their respective stories and as a result, turn in some of the best performances of their careers. Special praise goes to Neeson, who reminds people that he can still do drama, Kunis, who gives her most heartbreaking turn to date and Wilde, who is given a character which allows her to explore some truly dark territory. Yet its Basinger who, in just three scenes, gives the film’s most telling and poetic performance. The way the actress magically adds layers to her role (at one point doing so simply by playing with the pages of a book) and conveys so much about her character that it doesn’t matter that hers is actually the film’s most underwritten role.
Perhaps it’s because of the ever-present fallout resulting from Haggis’ legendary controversial Best Picture Oscar win for the highly-divisive Crash, but critics were not kind to Third Person, taking most every aspect of the film (from the performances to the script) to task. Audiences meanwhile were not in the mood for an emotional multi-strand drama in the middle of the blockbuster-filled summertime, resulting in the film becoming a critical and commercial failure.
It’s a shame that those who dismissed Third Person on the basis of director’s previous work couldn’t see how human and intimate this effort was in comparison to Crash. Many of the twists, clues and red herrings (admittedly a bit too many to mention) can wear on a an audience if such devices aren’t what they generally prefer. Yet, each and every one used here beautifully comes together for what eventually ends up being an excellent comment on unshakeable grief and profound loss. When the film circles back around to its central character, it becomes clear that Third Person is a film about disappearing and dealing with the darkest of grief in the only way someone from this kind of world would know how.
Get it at Amazon:
Third Person — [Blu-ray] | [DVD] | [Amazon Video]
