Reflexos do Passado

This film adapted from a novel by one of England's best writers, Julian Barnes, was a story to anyone who has been married for a while. Set mainly during 1977, the drama focuses on Chris (Christian Bale) and Tony (Lee Ross), who grew up together in suburban England a decade earlier.

Chris is now happily married to Marion (Emily Watson) and has a baby daughter. Tony has never settled down. A surprise visit from his childhood friend causes Chris to reassess his present life and to remember his days working in Paris; there he lived with Annick (Elsa Zylberstein), a young, liberated French woman, before he fell in love with Marion.

Bale and Watson were superb in this film. He fantasizes about how his life would have been had he not gotten married. Tony is trying to convince him to give it all up, and Marion is trying to save her marriage.

There is a lot of nudity and sex, but none is gratuitous. It all adds to the story and , at times, is funny, especially when he was new at sex in Paris.

The most interesting part of the film consists of two related scenes. he tells Tony that he is "content." Maybe that is the best you can hope for from an Englishman. His wife asks later if he is "happy." he says, "If not now, never." That is certainly, to me at least, not a ringing endorsement. Maybe again, it is particularly English.

The film was very enjoyable, and the only criticism I would have is the graininess in the middle. I am beginning to like Bale more and more.

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.

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?

It's 1977 and Chris is a 30ish bloke who still has the eager, wistful face of an angelic adolescent, enjoys a placid existence in the London suburbs, taking comforting in his wife, his baby, and his garden. Yet he's a haunted man. Spurred by the arrival of Toni, his rakish counterculture chum, he is tormented by visions of what might have been - the enticing word of sexual possibility he left behind, embodied in memories of his blissed out love affair with a sultry secretary during his bohemian Paris days in the late '60s. As the film glides back and forth between eras, the churning of Chris' heart comes to the force with with disarming intimacy. We feel as if we're seeing the formation of an individual: his all too brief fling with hedonism, the sadness and hidden wisdom of a path that seems to have choosen him rather than the other way around. "Metroland" is a no-fuss movie that casts a rich, tranquil spell. It's a rare portrait of a happy marriage that is honest about the complex currents of desire, and the drama is beautifully played by Bale who gawks with soulful sweetness, and Emily Watson does her most piercing work since "Breaking the waves."

Metroland is true to the midlife crisis, except between two people who haven't quite reached that stage of their lives yet. Christian Bale plays an Englishman who begins to reminisce about his past in the mid and late '60s when an old friend (played by Lee Ross) comes back to stir up his life. While I felt that the story was strong and seemingly dramatic enough to keep me interested and entertained, the character played by Lee Ross just seemed unnecessary. This character is supposed to build the plot the first half of the movie and I felt this could've been reached in many other directions.

And if you love France, well, you'll love the beautiful depiction of French women with an excellent performance given by Elsa Zylberstein, Bale's character's 'old flame' that he thinks about constantly throughout the film.

Beautiful 'still' cinematography throughout is perfect for Bale's character's love for photography and makes the film very watchable just for art's sake.

By the time I reached the last 45 minutes or so, I was much more intrigued and worried for the well-being of Bale's marriage with his present day (1977) wife, played wonderfully by Emily Watson. The tension between the two of them throughout the film is far more than believable and I loved it.

While I wanted to give this movie a much higher rating, I think it is fair to say that the first half moves much too slow. I was also slightly disappointed by the ending of the film, but it was still a great surprise and hit me unexpectedly. I highly recommend for Bale/Watson fans.