By the Sea

Greetings again from the darkness. As a devotee and lover of the cinematic art form, I tend to focus on the positive elements of films, and maintain a near reverent respect for filmmakers who engage in personal projects. Because of this, I typically avoid labels such as "bad" or "good" and instead focus on the experience. Unfortunately, this latest from writer/director Angelina Jolie (billed for the first time as Angelina Jolie Pitt) has delivered a prolonged experience of monotony and misery that can only be described as bad. Or awful. Or even beyond awful.

It's based in the mid-1970's and filmed on the island of Gozo in Malta. The setting is stunningly beautiful, and cinematographer Christian Berger captures the essence of this unique spot with naturalistic lighting and plenty of wide shots of the rocky beaches that provide the foundation for a classy and quaint inn run by Michel (Niels Arestrup, A Prophet). Roland (Brad Pitt) and Vanessa (Angelina Jolie) are the epitome of an unhappily married couple … though they are stylishly dressed while driving their 1967 Citroen convertible.

He is a writer who doesn't write and she is a former dancer who doesn't dance. While he is not writing, Roland sucks down gin, beer and anything else Michel will serve him. Vanessa mostly hangs out in the room popping pills and watching a fisherman in a row boat. When they are together, they rarely speak except to ensure we viewers understand just how miserable they are … with a lousy reason that isn't explained until late in the film. Mostly she bats her porn star fake eye lashes while he sports a porn star mustache.

A glimmer of hope emerges when a honeymooning couple takes the room next door. Lea (Melanie Laurent) and Francois (Melvil Poupaud) seem quite happy and enjoy spending time together in bed. We know this because Vanessa discovers a peephole where she can take in the sights. In what is probably the only interesting twist, Lea and Roland are soon sharing peeps … a step that somehow begins the process of rebuilding their relationship. Of course, that doesn't happen without many more scenes of misery prior to the quite predictable finish.

Angelina is clearly paying tribute to the 1950's and 1960's French art-house films, but having two unlikable lead characters who can't stand to be in the same room never allows the viewers to connect … though she seizes many opportunities to show off her exquisitely rebuilt breasts. The film is entirely too long – and feels even longer – as it squanders a real chance to explore the second stage of marriage. The beautiful scenery and Gainsbourg songs don't come close to making this a movie worth enduring.

I won't say what everyone else has said about this film. What I will say is that it was a beautiful portrayal of some of the darker emotions in life.

Maybe others hate to see their own loneliness on screen, by two actors they've deemed unworthy before they've even watched it, or they have never experienced themselves the emotions portrayed in this film.

Melancholia is the last film I can remember portraying depression accurately. This film is the same, though it's not as simple as, she has depression or she is lonely. Her character was real to me and Angelina portrayed her well.

If you've ever met someone and loved them more than they love themselves and despite their own thoughts of themselves then maybe you will feel something when you watch this. If not, there are plenty more films out there for you that require a lot less emotional range.

"If you really love someone, you want more for them than you want for yourself. Do you understand?" Michel (Niels Arestrup)

By the Sea nobly tries to explicate the above quote by the wise bar keep, Michel. Vanessa (Angelina Jolie Pitt) and Roland (Brad Pitt) are visiting the central-casting beautiful Malta to work on their marriage, albeit through the media of drink and voyeurism. It's the '70's and they're celebrities, he an unproductive writer and she a retired dancer.

They're not Burton and Taylor, and the film lacks the passion for any imitation of that famous duo. What it does have are a stunning production design and incomparably romantic location. The first half of the film labors over the small parts of their life—he places her large frame glasses upright because she puts them glass-side down; she digs him about his lack of writing and constant drinking.

However, once the newly-married couple, Lea (Melanie Laurent) and Francois (Melvil Poupaud) arrives, the story gets energy and more eye candy as Brangelina look through a peep hole at the couple's sexual antics. Apparently, this is all that is needed to rekindle the marriage of the older couple.

Well, more action is to come with the big reveal, not much of a revelation I must say. The disconcerting part of that not-so-mysterious surprise is the straight-forward explanation, hardly elegant, a bit too prosaic for a film that regularly intercuts with symbols, e.g., a fisherman in his boat, forcing you to think of the figurative implications and then unnecessarily explicating it.

Although Vanessa is a beauty whom the camera loves and who seems to preen for every shot, I can't help but think Angelina as writer and director has framed a character much like herself. That narcissism gets boring quickly. The prominence of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg's Jane B. on the soundtrack reinforces Jolie Pitt's infatuation with herself.

Like me you'll be booking passage to Malta soon, but you're unlikely to take away from this film any hints about saving your marriage or finding places in the Oscar nominations for this mediocre work(except, of course, for cinematography!).

When you see a man or a woman giving a single star out of ten to a movie, stay away from his or hers (or maybe its, you never know - some reviews could be written by bots) reviews: they are the "talibans" of IMDb. They hate or love a movie and never appreciate it with their minds for the real value it may have or not in itself. And mostly, do not trust people who use words like "turgid" in their reviews - they are pedants.

You need a soul to understand this movie and, more importantly, you have to understand how relations are (use to be): difficult, heart-consuming and, sometimes, even strange.

Brad and Angelina played well, the images from Malta were beautifully carved in stone, and yet the movie is not a memorable one. I gave it only 7 stars out of 10.

Brooding, aimlessly wandering through city streets, laying in bed, smoking, and sulking would be much more enjoyable activities if we could all look as beautiful as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt do some variation of the five for nearly two hours in their latest film By the Sea. Upon initially seeing the trailer, which featured little else other than the beautiful location of Mġarr ix-Xini, a bay on the island of Gozo, serving as the backdrop for Brad and Angelina as they slum around a beautiful place looking like they just came out of a makeup chair, I was about as skeptical as could be about the level of sustenance in this film. Because of this, it's surprising to note that this is a film that, in spite of itself, does a nice job at posing a commentary on relationships and marriage despite not using a great deal of dialog or events.

Set in 1970's France, the minimalist story revolves around Roland and Vanessa (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt), a married couple of fourteen years who are experiencing a rough patch in their relationship. One can immediately tell the rough patch stems from their inability to talk about anything, with his vice being the local tavern where he'll go to write, but instead, drink the day away, and her lethargy and unwillingness to get out of bed every day being her way of coping. The two make a cozy hotel their home, as Roland writes and gets to know the bartender Michel (Niels Arestrup), who has just lost his wife, while Vanessa enjoys peering into the hotelroom adjacent to theirs via a small hole in their wall, closed off by a wad of paper. Vanessa spends her days sipping wine, squirming on her balcony, or watching the young couple of Léa and François (Mélanie Laurent and Melvil Poupaud) have sex through the hall.

Roland and Vanessa have a relationship predicated upon arguing, ignoring, and moderate amounts of spousal abuse before Roland discovers the hole in the wall and his wife's hobby. When he does, the two use the time to drink, eat, and enjoy the view of their young neighbors together. Their attraction to Léa and François isn't something that's too out of the blue; the young couple are in their late twenties, which many consider to be the best years of a person's life because they can inconsequentially try new things and embark on new experiences without having to make a variety of exceptions. With that, Léa and François also still appear to be in love, willing to talk and do pretty much anything together, be it spontaneously go out to dinner or have sex without any kind of reservation. This leads to the subtle assertion on Roland and Vanessa's behalf that perhaps they have overcomplicated their own marriage, or they even have fallen out of love with one another.

Through the pervasive bouts of staring, drinking, smoking, and wandering in By the Sea are some seriously tender moments of realizations, and this comes in Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt's ability to convey emotion through their facial expressions and mannerisms instead of Jolie Pitt replicating such emotions in a way that would embellish their significance. Whether we see Roland act like a hopeless drunk and make a complete buffoon out of himself in front of Michel, his new friend, or we watch Vanessa fight and throw a tantrum when her husband innocently visits her in the shower, we get bold representations of mood through these scenes thanks to the understated power of the real-life couple's acting abilities.

The fundamental flaw with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt acting in a film together, let alone the two producing it and Jolie Pitt writing and directing it, is that the film will be examined in two ways: a testament to the couple's real life relationship, which ultimately gives it the impression of a vanity project, or it will be seen as two high-profile tabloid figures that audiences have a hard time convincing themselves their characters on screen aren't the same ones who still, to this day, glitz tabloid covers in grocery stores. The hard part is By the Sea is so minimalist in its style, so slight in its narrative and character development, that those who aren't known to appreciate aesthetic and craft in a film, especially in the way the film adheres to the visual conventions (not so much technical or aesthetic) of French New Wave, aren't likely to tolerate this film's two hour runtime and liberal narrative. This is a film that boasts a reward that comes with contemplation hours after you've seen it.

By the Sea, though it hinges ever-so delicately on the realm of self-parody thanks to its excessive brooding, mopey character behavior, and the characters constantly looking attractive despite operating in a disheveled state of defeat, is also a sad film that mixes ideas of marital disconnect, kinkiness, voyeurism, and marital stability in long-term relationships in a fascinating way. Its examination of relationships - by juxtaposing a young, idealistic couple with an aging and distant one - paints a striking portrait of an ugly marriage against a backdrop of beauty, adding layers to a film that would look wonderful on a post-card. To conclude on a bizarre comparison, Jolie Pitt's intention of how to paint marriage reminds me of how director and photographer Larry Clark chose to paint the suburbs of America in the 1950's - as beautiful, precise landscapes that housed dysfunction. The same can be said for Jolie Pitt's examination of marriage.

Starring: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Melvil Poupaud, and Niels Arestrup. Directed by: Angelina Jolie Pitt.