Frente al Mar

"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!).

Located in a remote resort in France (but shot on Gozo in Malta), this story is located in the 1970s, so no computers or smartphones and lots of smoking and drinking plus a veteran sport car.

The focus is almost exclusively on a married couple who clearly have a very strained relationship for a reason which is only explained - and then too briefly - at the very end. The pacing is languid, even soporific, and there is only one person to blame: Angelina Jolie who wrote, directed and stars as an unsympathetic character.

Her co-star as husband is her real-life partner at the time Brad Pitt. Sadly this film seems prophetic since Jolie and Pitt split up soon afterwards and both the movie and its afterward seem to echo "Eyes Wide Shut" with then husband and wife Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

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.

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.

"By The Sea" (2015 release; 122 min.) brings the story of married couple Roland (played by Brad Pitt) and Vanessa (played by Angeline Jolie). As the move opens, we see them driving in a gorgeous 1960s Citroen convertible somewhere in the south of France, while Jane Birkin's "Jane B" is blasting on the radio. Roland and Vanessa find an agreeable spot close by the sea and decide to stay there. Eventually another married couple (some years younger, though) ends up in the hotel room next to Vanessa and Roland, not aware that Vanessa found a peep hole, allowing them to look in the other room. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the third movie in the last 3 years directed by Angelina Jolie (she also wrote the script), but the first one where she directs herself (and Brad). It's been exactly 10 years since Angelina and Brad co-starred (ironically also in a struggling marriage, but of a very different kind!). If it sounds from my introductory lines that a lot is happening in the movie, think again. This is an ultra-slow moving film. You would think that this would allow us to get to know these characters, but alas, that is not the case either. We know virtually nothing as to why the marriage is in trouble, and can only speculate why Vanessa seems depressed, if not worse, and why Roland is experiencing writer's block. Despite all that, the movie does find some traction in the second half, just in the nick of time, frankly. The movie's photography is drop-dead gorgeous (filmed in Malta, that stood in as the south of France). The movie features a number of big French movie stars, including Melvil Poupaud and the beautiful Melanie Laurent (as the other married couple) and Niels Arestrup (as the café tender). There is a ton of great music featured in the movie, both in the musical score, as well as French songs from that era (think Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin, Jacques Dutronc, Sheila, etc.).

"By The Sea" opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and since I don't expect this to play in theaters very long, I went to see it right away. The Saturday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended dismally (4 people, including myself). I can't say it surprised me as the vibe around this movie has not been great. I nevertheless was curious about it (due to a clever trailer, frankly). If you are interested in catching a slow-moving relationship drama that is way off-center, I encourage you this give this a try, be it in the theater (better hurry!), on VAD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray.