Audience left asking where did plot go
THE idea behind “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” is tantalizing — a woman goes missing and her 15-year-old daughter tries to piece together where she went.
In the process, the daughter discovers a whole wonderful life that she knew nothing about — that her shut-in, agoraphobic mother who delegates all tasks to a virtual assistant in India was once an exceptional MacArthur Grant-winning architect who quit designing after a professional embarrassment.
But something was lost in the adaptation of Maria Semple’s novel to the big screen.
That is despite having everything going for it — solid source material, a prestigious cast led by Cate Blanchett and Billy Crudup; a humane and empathic director in Richard Linklater, and a studio (Annapurna) known for giving filmmakers all the freedom they need.
In the book, Bernadette’s daughter Bee learns about her enigmatic mother after her disappearance.
But the film takes that premise away and instead plops us down with Bernadette Fox (Blanchett), her tech whiz husband Elgin (Crudup) and Bee (charming newcomer Emma Nelson) to follow her descent in what feels like real time.
It’s obviously necessary to streamline some things when adapting an entire novel into a movie but this takes all the mystery out of it. As it stands, the disappearance under investigation is less literal and more of an exploration into what happened to make Bernadette the way she is.
Bedecked in unassumingly expensive wares and big oval sunglasses, Bernadette is just a few shades away from going full “Grey Gardens” when we meet her.
She and Elgin and Bee live in a disheveled mansion on top of a messy hillside in a wealthy Seattle neighborhood.
The disorder drives her nosy neighbor Audrey (Kristen Wiig) crazy, but Bernadette hardly cares. So it comes as a true shock to Bee and Elgin when she agrees to plan a trip to Antarctica as a reward for Bee’s academic successes.
But she starts to agonize about the trip as soon as she says yes to it. The Amazon boxes stacking up around her with all the “necessities” for the voyage aren’t even hopeful — they come to symbolize the things that will only weigh her down further.
It’s pleasant enough joining Blanchett — quarrelling with neighbors and trying to convince pharmacists to give her far-too-strong drugs all while attempting to maintain a connection with Bee.
Yet the extreme quirkiness of this wealthy family starts to wear thin and you feel like you’re just treading water, surviving only on the charm of the actors, the truly stunning production design and the occasionally great line.
And perhaps that’s enough for a pleasant watch, but I found myself unmoved by Bernadette’s stasis.
The most emotionally resonant part for me came compliments of Wiig’s character Audrey, who seems like a caricature of a perfect mom for most of the film until she hits you with an unexpected bit of humanity. But it’s hardly enough to make the film the life-affirming journey it thinks it is.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
- RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证:沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证:31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证:0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证:沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证:沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.