By the Sea

It’s no secret that I was less than impressed with Angelina Jolie Pitt’s last foray into the directing world with Unbroken. Now she’s back with what appears to be a much more personal story in By the Sea. 

Winding down the mountains toward the sea-side in an elegant convertible, American writer Roland (Brad Pitt) and his wife (Angelina Jolie Pitt) sit silently as he lights-up a cigarette, the first of many he’ll have throughout the film. Vanessa is an ex-dancer and is clouded in a mysterious depression. Her attitude and his failed career/spiralling alcoholism has caused the two to grow disparate, however as much as the trip is about Roland gaining inspiration for a new book, it’s also a chance for the two to rekindle their relationship. A chance that Vanessa seems fine to squander. 

Staying in a luxurious villa-style hotel, Vanessa frequently stays home, often not even venturing out onto the balcony, while Roland gets to know the town-folk, hoping to find an interesting character amongst them. In the next room, a young couple Lea (Mélanie Laurent) and François (Melvil Poupaud), just married, prove fascinating to Vanessa and she starts to interact with the couple and introduce them to Roland. 

A thriller this is not. Stretches of this film are so agonisingly bland that I gained a whole new appreciation for cinema design. How did they choose what felt to use on the walls? Who designed these cup holders? Much more interesting than watching the film during these sequences. The first 20 minutes or so are so depressingly dull and repetitive (day after day) that I was sure this would all amount to possibly the worst film I’ve ever had to review. However soon afterwards, the story takes a turn that I can only describe as ‘voyeuristic’ - that’s about as spoiler-free as I can make it - and this at least brought some interest back. 

Ultimately this film’s downfall is its characters, a pretty-big sin for an utterly character-driven drama. Jolie’s Vanessa starts off a depressed social introvert/agoraphobic, brought on by a traumatic event slowly pieced together through flash-editing - a technique that certainly doesn’t suit this type of film and proved more of a distraction - and the character really doesn’t evolve enough out of that state. The aim is obviously to draw pity towards Vanessa, but she comes off as more annoying than anything else, despite whatever troubles she may have. Roland seems a little more fleshed-out, despite being a struggling alcoholic writer - how original - and his interactions with the barman Michel (Niels Arestrup) are probably the most interesting scenes in the film. 

Sure, the view of Malta and scenic shots of the ocean looks beautiful, but the story flows about as willingly as a stagnant pond. It feels like an unhealthy mix between a romantic Arthouse film from the French New Wave and poorly integrated stylistic elements from a Fincher or even Aronofsky film. It just doesn’t work. 

By the Sea is another disappointing project from director Jolie, however where Unbroken was unoriginal and tedious, this film squanders its opportunity to embrace originality. It's bland opening act is only replaced by a weird subplot, carried through by characters that are near-impossible to care about. Jolie has said the message of this film is about grief and how it consumes you. Ultimately the only grief I felt was for my wallet.