A legendary filmmaking duo said goodbye with this telling and moving literary drama.
Yup, another Transformers movie has arrived. Just like the previous installments in the unstoppable franchise, this one, titled Transformers: The Last Knight, promises to outdo all other installments in the series by offering up even more action, effects and Mark Wahlberg than the previous sequels have. Unlike, the other times however, Michael Bay and company have enlisted the services of Anthony Hopkins in an effort to bring some much-needed credibility to their bloated series, of which the actor has loads.
The beauty of Hopkins has always been the fact that he’s never been averse to lending his name to a wide array of films and genres while finding room for his considerable talents to breathe in every type of project, be it Marvel or Woody Allen. Yet there’s no question that the actor is at his best in straight drama, which many wish he would always do more of. One such recent endeavor featured a pitch perfect Hopkins reuniting once again with the filmmaking team of Merchant/Ivory for The City of Your Final Destination.
Based on the celebrated novel by Peter Cameron, The City of Your Final Destination centers on PhD candidate Omar (Omar Metwally), whose future in academia hinges on an authorized biography he plans to write about a deceased author who became a famous literary figure after writing a single novel. After being denied permission by the author’s estate to write the biography, Omar is persuaded by his overbearing girlfriend Deirdre (Alexandra Maria Lara) to travel to South America in an effort to change the minds of the late writer’s executors, which includes his twin brother Adam (Hopkins), his widow Caroline (Laura Linney) and his mistress Arden (Charlotte Gainsbourg), all of whom live together in a somewhat dilapidated manor.
An author of Cameron’s sensibilities is a perfect fit for Merchant/Ivory with his knack for ponderous writing which thoughtfully explores the complicated nature of the human condition. The team behind A Room with a View and The Remains of the Day do right by Cameron and his work by constructing a film which is simultaneously literary and cinematic in the best possible ways. The City of Your Final Destination is bolstered by gentle lighting and pacing, both of which make sure to never crowd the characters or their respective internal struggles. Meanwhile, the South American setting and cinematography contain a true richness which transforms the surroundings into a land which exists in its own world free from outside influences. However it’s the film’s characterization which adds that extra compelling factor. Each person in The City of Your Final Destination is struggling with life as they know it in one way or another. What’s more, they’re all hiding. While Adam, Caroline and Arden are hiding from the outside world, clinging to the unorthodox family until they’ve created for themselves, Omar and Deirdre are hiding from the truth that the lives they’re trying so desperately to carve out for themselves are not meant to be.
In terms of plot, The City of Your Final Destination contains many of the kinds of qualities which make a true cinematic drama. This is a film about many universal themes such as choice, fate and regret. The real beauty of the film comes from frequent Merchant/Ivory screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s perfect screenplay, which presents the film’s themes with such beauty and wit. When Adam is shut down by the somewhat caustic Caroline when he suggests granting Omar permission after being told Arden is on her side, he casually states: “I refuse to be guided by anything as stupid as democracy.” The film’s script captures much of the sort of wisdom which made Cameron’s novel so compulsively relatable and incredibly wise. “Sometimes it’s good to fail,” Caroline tells Omar at one point. “To try, but to fail; there’s nothing ignoble in that.” It’s the dialogue itself rather than the actions which also anchor some of the film’s most pivotal moments, such as when Arden confronts a departing Caroline (fleeing after being unable to take Omar’s presence and what it represents any longer): “You’re afraid if you stay you’ll change your mind,” proclaims Arden. “I’m afraid if I stay, I’ll lose my mind,” Caroline states in response. Even the moment when Omar is granted permission to write the biography by Caroline, the lone hold out in the group (“Explain us to ourselves if you can,” she tells him), has a small anti-climactic sense due to the quiet explosive scenes which fuel the film’s character dynamics.
A film as rich in character and motif as The City of Your Final Destination could make any actor look good. With a cast as skilled as this one however, it makes everyone look positively stellar. Hopkins hones in on the film’s poetry as he makes Adam someone trying to reconcile the past and before finally breaking free from it. Gainsbourg meanwhile is at her loveliest as a woman who believed the life she led to be full of peace and contentment without realizing it was actually incomplete. It would be easy for Lara to turn Deirdre into the villain of the piece if the actress didn’t convey the character’s love for Omar and how much she truly wants the both of them to be the best versions of themselves for each other. Metwally meanwhile, may have the film’s least showy role, but it’s nonetheless a worthy one as he wonderfully conveys Omar’s belated coming-of-age, navigating him through one of the biggest crossroads of his life.
Hiroyuki Sanada as Pete, Adam’s lover and companion has little to do but react to Hopkins, yet he does so in such a way as to make his character come across as his own person, never getting lost in the shadow of his more famous co-star. It’s Linney however who shines the brightest amongst the ensemble. As Caroline, the actress rarely found a more electric and complex role to play. The way she plays Caroline as a woman so incredibly guarded and closed-off emotionally from the world, even from those she surrounds herself with, masking her fear and pain with an assortment of acidic quips and harsh frankness, truly gives the film much of its power.
Though The City of Your Final Destination didn’t require a large budget, the film still had trouble collecting all the necessary funds, with the production being in danger of getting shut down altogether at one point. Things didn’t get better when it came to finding distribution after the small studio behind it ran into more financial trouble. As a result, the film spent a couple of years traveling the festival circuit while reports that members of cast and crew had taken legal action against the filmmakers due to unpaid salaries. When The City of Your Final Destination was at last granted a limited release in the spring of 2010 by Screen Media, the film was greeted with mixed reviews and a lack of interest from arthouse audiences.
With his death in 2005, The City of Your Final Destination represents the last project producer Ismail Merchant worked on, leaving director James Ivory to carry the film to fruition on his own, which he did beautifully. For a filmography that included so many titles seeped in the nature of the world and the memorable characters within it, it’s hard to imagine a better way to end one of the greatest partnerships in cinema history. In a way, this fact slightly comments on the heart of the film itself. For me, one of the best parts of The City of Your Final Destination is its title. Though it’s wordy and runs the risk of being labeled pretentious by some, it also says so much about the complicated nature of life and the journey which must be taken by all in order to discover the place everyone is meant to belong.
