[Review] By the Sea (2015) – You and I, we were born to die

cast: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Mélanie Laurent, Niels Arestrup, Melvil Poupaud

directed by: Angelina Jolie 

“If you really love someone, you want more for them than you want for yourself. Do you understand?”

We had to wait ten years to see Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie reunite on screen and finally, we had them in a little piece one might ironically see as, what happened to the merry duo of spies after they patched up their relationship. 

Jolie plays a former dancer, Vanessa, while Brad Pitt is a washed up writer, Roland, the pair taking a journey somewhere on the sunny, reclusive French Riviera – shot in Malta, but who cares at this point when the landscape takes your breath away – him, to finish a book, her, to pull herself together.

We become witnesses to an uncanny mess of emotions, irony and voyeurism, where you root for Pitt – one of the very few occasions I sympathize with one of his characters – and hope to every God that Vanessa gets a grip with whatever is ailing her. Yes, Jolie gave it a go at a minimalist, ’70s style movie, with very few lines – up to the point, the script might have had twenty pages of dialogue and about a hundred on the decors and surrounding descriptions It’s a brave effort from Jolie to test her limits with something that’s neither sought by the public nor easy to produce, let alone direct yet, it’s a nice try with all the blockbusters and year-by-year franchises welcomed into the cinemas.

“By the Sea” is said to be an experiment in which Jolie had exorcised her own demons yet the bland role of a New York wife unable to find her happiness would have been suited for an actress who worked in the past years and hasn’t taken a long break from acting. We know Jolie had her health problems, that she raises a family, has embarked into a serious humanitarian effort for the past decade and tries to move onto directing, but this type of character requires an actress who masters the subtle art of less is more, and Jolie shines playing stronger females not emotionally unstable ones – although Lisa Rowe could be counted as an exception, the bitchy sociopath had the traits which made Angelina chew her lines and deliver a splendid performance. It becomes more natural when she’s not trying so much to show Vanessa’s turmoil and misery, through the funny moments – they feel more ”Angelina” and the bulk of the repertoire is left in the steady hands of Brad Pitt.

Delegated to the role of the failed writer and failure of a husband, Brad Pitt tags along through his wife sorrow like the lost puppy trying to figure out a way to help her. Lets stay away from the way the characters embark in the Euro-chic momentum of speaking French, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and sometimes it makes you laugh but the hero of this movie is Brad Pitt together with the veteran, Niels Arestrup sorting through the part of  an unnamed marriage counselor and voice of reason for the pair.

We could go on and on about the cinematography. Jolie has done her homework but it feels like it’s a repetitive test she was afraid to flunk. It takes your breath away, you go through the symbolism but is void of genuine concern and emotion for why and what’s about to happen. Script wise, “By the Sea” is an attempt to avoid falling into the trap of action flicks and focus on minimalist pieces, Angelina was been rumoured to be in cards for a superhero movie as a director and is still attached to the history flick, Sony is afraid to speak about, “Cleopatra”. While polishing on her directing and writing skills, Jolie has forgot the thrill of acting and the challenge of tackling on a character far and away her previous experience. If it’s life imitating life than it’s a hilarious take at a dysfunctional couple, if it’s art, it’s too by the book and less personal.

“By The Sea” is a directorial exercise. It’s not perfect and if Jolie wants to continue on this road, it’s time to make that choice because acting wise, it’s clear she needs to work some more and directing wise, there’s a lot of learning and perfecting.