Seberg

This movie was good but nothing out of the ordinary. Although Kristen Stewart's performance was good she had the room to really make the role her own. I don't think you have to see this in a big screen just wait for it on streaming platforms.

I managed to watch this on Amazon streaming movies, my wife skipped.

This movie is somewhat better than its IMDb rating might suggest, mainly because mysteriously there are about 12% "1" votes in May 2020. No way could this ever be considered that poor a movie.

Kristen Stewart is chosen to play Jean Seberg, the story is mainly from 1968 to about 1971 or 1972 when she was in her early 30s. Living in France at that time with her French family she traveled to Los Angeles and during the trip took an interest in the black civil rights movement and protests.

This got her on the FBI radar and what followed was much surveillance, recording of conversations, and eventually a concerted effort to discredit her. It is noteworthy that she died at age 40 in 1979 from "probable suicide."

The movie is well made but I have to wonder, "Why was this movie made?" Seberg was a minor star and I suspect few living today remember any of her roles. Still it is a worthwhile movie if not a stellar one.

Seberg: A film based on actual events in the life of Jean Seberg, star of Breathless and other French New Wave classics. Covering the period 1968 to 1971 it illustrates how the FBI destroyed her life through gaslighting tactics, false information and releasing tapes obtained through bugging. Seberg (Kristen Stewart) wasn't the only victim in this though, there was an element of revolutionary tourism involved in her support of the Black Panthers and the more reformist movement led by Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie). Jamal's marriage and educational trust were destroyed when details of his affair with Seberg were leaked by the FBI. What should have been a taut thriller turns out to be a disappointment due to the rather flat direction by Benedict Andrews, he doesn't deliver on the sharp script provided by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse. The acting generally isn't bad but given the subject matter I would have expected more passion, especially from Stewart. 6/10.

It is sometimes hard to pinpoint where exactly films fail, the cinematography wasn't bad and you can definitely see that Kristen Stewart tried, but everything else about this film was below mediocre. Characters were one dimensional and lacked any depth, plot development, from the very moment the two main characters meet and then meet again, was abrupt and unbelievable. The other main characters - the good FBI agent vs. the bad one, were just as shallow. Not to mention the wives, whose role never went anywhere and might have as well not been in this film at all.

In the end, it simply wasn't interesting to watch and that is something no amount of blank long gazes and gratuitous nudity can fix.

If you haven't yet, do yourself a favor and watch 'The Lives of Others', a 2006 German film that shares a similar theme but actually does it justice.

Jean Seberg's real life story is full of twists and turns and things that can be applied to things happening in 2020. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't separate itself from the pack and become anything fresh or original. And it feels like you can contribute some of the fault to the directing choices made by Benedict Andrews. The film never felt as engaging as the subject matter calls for. Seberg is deserving of a movie based on her life, but this certainly wasn't it.

4.8/10