I'm still trying to figure out what the heck the title has to do with anything that went on with this film; but that being said, the co-mingled stories are intriguing, well filmed and very well acted.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart are featured as two professorial types (uh huh) who, upon the 100th anniversary of a
famous poets' demise, stumble upon a secret liaison between the married poet and another famous poet, believed to be a lesbian.
The pacing works well, building solidly until about the 3/4 mark when things get a bit tangled and too much time is spent on Paltrow and Eckhart's budding relationship (in truth, the 150 year old tale is more interesting). Director Neil LaBute does a masterful job of intertwining the two tales, often using the same scene or location to flip back into the past, or zoom into the present. A fine example is having a car on a rural road pass underneath an old stone bridge, and when the car moves out of the scene a steam engine enters the picture to cross the same bridge.
The 150-year-old love story really comes as no surprise, but it is well played, especially by Jennifer Ehle as Cristobel, the female poet. As you would expect from two poets who correspond primarily via letters, the dialog between the two is wonderful, full of poetic terms of endearment and that lovely Victorian sense of language. The modern day language used by Paltrow and Eckhart is clumsy by comparison and jarring in its lack of elegance, as I believe was intended.
The device of telling the poet's story through the discovery of letters works well here, and again LaBute is able to juggle shots of the story along with capturing the excitement of Paltrow and Eckhart as they read the letters to each other.
The film uses a haunting music score as background to the 150-year-old story to good effect, and the cinematography is tactfully artful, not showy. The only real pratfall is the resolution of Paltrow and Eckhart's story line, and the plot vehicle involving the late night unearthing of the final piece of the puzzle, where fisticuffs are used, but unnecessary, out of place, and almost laughable.
Said final piece allows for a touching flashback ending that includes a final letter being abandoned to the wind; a nice touch that lets you wonder what may have happened if said letter had been delivered.
A romantic film that has a compelling mystery within it, I found it mostly charming and was interested in the poet's tale, even though you could see the melodramatic aftermath coming from miles away.
February 7, 2011
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