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Critics Consensus: Led by strong performances from Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is a hauntingly original rumination on love and loss.
Critic Consensus: Led by strong performances from Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is a hauntingly original rumination on love and loss.
View All The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them News
All Critics (87) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (32)
It's a glum, wrenching experience to watch, but the emotional impact is just far too shallow to linger.
American movies are running perilously low on fresh, youngish talent. Who knows what [director] Benson will do next. I just left his first movie desperate to experience the second one.
Chastain delivers a brilliant performance that could earn her another Oscar nomination.
Worth it for the talent on display, disappointing for what the talent has been given, or not given, to work with.
Maturely written, richly characterized, and flawlessly acted.
A delicate and ephemeral romance.
It goes on and on and nothing much happens but this going on and on. And you can easily imagine the amazement that filled my face when I learned that it could actually have gone on and on for much longer than I saw it going.
"Them" seems to fill in pieces that may have been better left unfilled, leaving no mystery in the film except in what the filmmaker decides to withhold from us.
When The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is over, our only consolation is the realization that Ned Benson is merely 37 years old, so we can count on seeing more astonishing films from him.
The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: Them is a lovely enough film even though it may not stick with you much long after the ending credits.
As a concept, these retellings of the same story from two perspectives is a brilliant idea, and it's executed thoughtfully.
If you have three-plus hours to spare, you'll find good company. McAvoy and Chastain are great, plumbing the emotional depths of their characters' broken marriage.
My understanding is that this was originally broken up into "him" and "her" films. I unfortunately only saw the "them" version but this is nonetheless a heartbreaking and very real portrayal of depression and its impact on a relationship which has soured.
Super Reviewer
Bereft of their child, a man and woman separate after the woman's attempted suicide. I spent an entire day with The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, so I get the Purple Heart. There are three different versions of the film, Them, Him, and Her, and I watched all three. The conceit is to tell a story from two different perspectives, each comprising its own film, and that's an interesting idea. What is he doing while she's doing that? What's the backstory behind this little anecdote? And if these were interesting and compelling characters, the films may have something worthwhile. But they're not. Conor is all rending, all but gnashing his teeth, and Eleanor is dreamy wandering, but they're forgettable people by and large. William Hurt is wonderful as always. I suspect Hurt's mission in life and art is to make a genuine connection with another human being, and seeing him in action is always an interesting and heart-warming experience. If you decide to journey into this bland story, I encourage you to skip Them altogether because it's Her plus and minus a little bit. You can watch Her and Him in any order, but Them should never have been made. Overall, while there are a couple compelling moments in these films, the characters fail to inspire any real connection with this audience member.
A sensitive drama with strong performances but unfortunately a bit longer than it should be, with a lot of unnecessary dialogue (like the final tête-à-tête between father and daughter) and not really able to resist giving in to clichés and becoming a melodrama close to the end.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is a well acted exercise by a talented ensemble. There are some nice vignettes particularly involving Jessica Chastain that effectively amplify her grief. But the picture often descends into melodrama without scratching below the surface. It's extremely slow moving too, a melancholy portrait that wallows in depression. There's not much to hold our attention. Even after two hours, there's still a number of things left unanswered. Given the paper thin narrative on display, it's difficult to comprehend that Them is the distilled union of two other films. The Him tale is 89 minutes. The Her version is 100 minutes. Considering the time it took for us to learn what little we did, I cannot even muster up the desire to endure another 189 minutes of this tale. fastfilmreviews.com
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