Metroland

The main character in Metroland embodies the crisis that every one of us has already or will probably go through. "Have we made the right choices in our lives to make ourselves happy?".

The movie portrays this character's search for the answers through flashbacks to his past as well as new events that are occurring in his present. The two paths that he could have taken were shown. He begins questioning if he had made the right choice with his current life. A life which he thought he would never want when he was younger and rebellious. The "9 to 5" job that we, or at least some of us, have all dreaded in fear of the death of our own creativity and individualism. The main male character basically is the imperfect hero with imperfect thoughts, much akin to the "hero" that we can hope to be at this day and age.

The last line in the movie, "If not now, then, never." is a line we always hear but take its meaning for granted. Truly, if happiness is not found in the moment..in the "now"..then, where else can it ever be?

If Francois Truffaut were still alive today I think Metroland would easily fit into his oeuvre. A film about a person taking stock of himself at the crossroads, Metroland introduces us to a suburban utopia where people go to work everyday, take their kids to school, and wash their cars on the weekend. Christian Bale seems to accept this life until an old friend rings him up wanting to revisit the old times. Throughout the film we see what Bale's character could've been and how much happier he thought he was. Metroland's assertion is to accept life for what it is and not what it is not. Not everyone's cup of tea as evidenced by Bale's boyhood chum but being the film's setting takes place during the late seventies in England right before the rise of Thatcherism may be a subtle stab at what the middle class of the film will come to accept. Conformity over confrontation may ultimately be Metroland's theme no matter how much it hurts us to admit it.

I agree with all the posts about what this movie was about -- a man evaluating his present life. But what made this film so good to me was the fantastic acting by Christian Bale and Emily Watson who portrayed their characters so authentically. As a 30 yo single woman myself, the relationships portrayed in this movie came off in a genuine way. What it's like to be married for nearly 10 years and how to preserve the love in the relationship and yet deal w/ the tensions and problems from it. All of this was portrayed subtly, sensitively, and with humour at many times throughout this movie in a natural and unforced way. I credit this to Christian Bale and Emily Watson's acting abilities and the Director's talent. To me, underlying the mid-life crisis of one man in this movie is the theme of "relationship" and how he gets his life from them. Whether it's with his wife, girlfriend or best friend from childhood. I really thought everything about this moview was excellent: script, acting, directing, scenes. More than that, it captured the subtle nuances and emotions shared between people which wasn't stated in words but one "felt" as a viewer that one knew what that look meant or the silent treatment was for. It's now my favorite top 10 movies in my book.

Okay, you can tell me I'm crazy but I completely wonder why the hell this movie was made. I gave it an okay rating, but only because I hate butchering films. The cinematography was less than good, the story was weak and lacked and real twist or meat to it and the characters were so bland that there really wasn't much to invest in. I mean, I found this difficult to bother to sit through on television while sick with a cold and dying just to chill to the TV. To me, that's a pretty bad sign. I love Emily Watson, so I stuck it through to the end, but even my enthusiasm for her as an actress was not enough to make a difference in the taste this movie left in my mouth, which I can only describe as blander than any food I've ever tasted, even when I was a baby on Gerber.

My advice to others that wish to take any... Do not bother wasting your time. Life is too short and if you're going to watch a movie about other people's lives, it should at least be as interesting as your own.

"Metroland" should appeal to boomers, particularly ones who now find themselves in the suburbs and/or with families. (It did not appeal to the two senior citizen couples next to and in back of me who did not shut up throughout the whole movie as they didn't seem to grasp the concepts of flashbacks or fantasy images)

I'm sure there's other movies that have a friend and/or sibling interfering in a stable relationship and shaking the tree (my friend thought of "Hilary and Jackie"-- but maybe because both have Emily Watson, here bundled up in sweaters to try and make her less ravishing) but I couldn't think of one that deals with our time period of post-'60's measurements of personal happiness and fulfillment. We could relate to the English and Parisian experiences with parallel ones here from the same time periods of '68 vs. '78 (nicely accurate hair styles, make-up and clothes).

While there are no shortage of shots of gorgeous naked women, there's ironic visual comment regardless the lead character's lovemaking techniques don't improve over the decade of experience. One sees plenty of Christian Bale, such that I think it would, I imagine, appeal to gay men as well.

Nice use of punk music (freaking out the senior next to me!), otherwise the score was quite lovely by Mark Knopfler, with a closing song original to the movie, with apropos lyrics.

(originally written 4/17/1999)