Could it ever happen
Implausible plot lines make these films less than enjoyable
THE BREAK-UP ***
DIRECTED BY Peyton Reed
STARRING Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Joey Lauren Adams
US 2006 105 mins
THE HILLS HAVE EYES *
DIRECTED BY Alexandre Aja
STARRING Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Dan Byrd, Vinessa Shaw
US 2006 107 mins
It seems a little awkward to say so given that its stars, Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, are currently a hot item on the gossip sheets – latest reports have them planning a secret wedding, possibly in France – but The Break-Up suffers from a plausibility gap: not in the breaking-up, but the coming-together. How could these two people fall in love – and not in a one-night stand, with its recklessness and lower expectations, but a meaningful, long-term relationship? They even buy a house together!
We know, of course, that opposites attract – and I guess, with a little goodwill, we can find an emotional through-line. Jen (i.e. her character) works in a ritzy art-gallery, owned by a domineering diva with haughty raised eyebrows and a penchant for sketching male models au naturel; already there’s a masochistic streak in our heroine, letting herself be ruled by a stronger force. Vince (i.e. his character) is a working-class lunk who works as a tour-guide in a company he owns with his two brothers; even his job involves telling people what to think (Jen’s philosophy, on the other hand, is that customers shouldn’t buy paintings unless they feel it in their bones). They meet at a baseball game and Vince does all the running, all but forcing himself on her. She’s with someone else but he tears her away, talking nineteen to the dozen about commitment and Stone Age men inventing fire.
I think he’s supposed to be charming, but in fact he seems a little deranged. Things don’t improve once the two are a couple. They have little in common (“We don’t go anywhere together,” she points out); he likes baseball, she likes the ballet. To say he’s old-fashioned would be putting it kindly; in fact, his idea of domestic bliss is to watch the game on TV while she cooks and cleans. He doesn’t even like her working (outside the home). After a party, she does the dishes; he plays a videogame.
Actually, I guess I should backtrack. The relationship isn’t implausible per se; indeed, much of the film’s charm comes from how sadly familiar these roles are – the needy woman and the selfish lout, the doormat and the ‘man’s man’. What’s implausible is the film’s contention that this relationship is basically happy (as opposed to toxic), at least if Vince became a little more caring and Jen became a little more assertive.
Thus, when she wails “I don’t want to break up with him” it’s supposed to be heartfelt emotion, not a woman in denial. And when he comes home after their big fight, and we see Jen in bed waiting tensely, it’s shot so she’s right on the edge of frame, with an empty space beside her. All he has to do is fill that space and everything (presumably) will be all right. Alas, he elects to sleep on the sofa, and the bad vibes continue.
In the end, it’s a simple problem: The Break-Up tackles a painful subject, but doesn’t want to cause any pain. You can still make comedy out of messy divorces but it has to be black comedy, as in The War of the Roses (1989) where bickering escalated into all-out war, the not-so-happy couple finally demolishing their lovely home as well as each other. This is more like The Odd Couple, with prim Jen and slobbish Vince fighting over too much clutter in the living-room – yet, unlike the old Hollywood ‘remarriage comedies’ (films like The Philadelphia Story (1940)) where the couple seemed compatible if only they could come to their senses, here the couple are so broadly-drawn they become caricatures. A break-up might be just the thing for them, and Jen seems weirdly self-destructive when she turns down a date with a rich, eligible bachelor near the end of the film, holding on to her masochistic memories of the tattered relationship.
The Break-Up doesn’t know what it wants. Like our hero’s best friend, who gives unaccountably good advice in the final stretch after spending most of the film as a callous jerk, it alarms then reassures, dancing nervously on a narrow path between Honest Pain and Just Good Fun. One minute we’re doing a singalong, the next Jen is yelling “You’re a prick!” with righteous fury. Almost at the end, it discerns an important point about toxic relationships, that you can’t improve them without also destroying them; if Vince becomes more caring and Jen becomes more assertive, then they probably can’t be together. It’s a more profound truth than we’re used to at the multiplex – but even that gets washed away in a rather coy coda. Hopefully Jen and Vince are a little more plausible in real life.
Then there’s The Hills Have Eyes, which tries for plausibility when it really doesn’t have to. This is straight Texas Chainsaw Massacre territory, city folk getting involved with murderous rednecks. Kim Newman wrote a book about such films called Nightmare Movies, and in fact pointed out that Massacre (like The Hills Have Eyes, remaking a Wes Craven film from 1977) “is only defensible as a nightmare”. Its killers don’t have to be knowable – indeed, they’re better left unknowable. The film doesn’t have to be rational; indeed, it’s better left irrational.
Instead, director Alexandre Aja (who made the excellent High Tension a couple of years ago) makes a big deal of the mutant killers’ past – they’re victims of nuclear testing, hence their assertion that “You made us what we’ve become!” – and tries to turn them into ‘normal’ characters. They strategise, notably in arranging a distraction to lure the city family away from their mobile home. They kidnap a baby, holding her hostage. Even the redneck who steers the family into the killers’ path doesn’t do it because he’s evil – he has a motive, namely they’ve found a bag of stolen loot and he’s worried they’ll talk.
It’s all so unnecessary. The film is indeed gross and shocking – the mutants bite the head off a budgie, and train a gun on the baby so they can rape its mother – but without the nightmarish irrational factor it’s just an action thriller with added sadism. One recalls inscrutable Leatherface in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and how that film spiralled into absurd black comedy – so much more suggestive, and interesting, than this simplistic B-movie, with our blood-caked hero venturing out to confront the monsters armed with a baseball-bat, his faithful dog by his side.
Even when The Hills Have Eyes does something halfway-original, it’s the wrong kind of originality. Much is made of tensions within the family, the gun-loving Republican patriarch ranged against his wimpy Democrat son-in-law; the son-in-law turns out to be our hero, and when he uses an American flag to impale the mutants you could say he’s ‘reclaiming America’, giving the film a (half-baked) political slant. Regular readers know I’m a sucker for that stuff – but not here, not when a film is crying out for more (rather than less) madness. If you’re taking us to Hell, don’t supply us with a road-map. Unless it’s the hell of a broken-down relationship, of course.
NEW DVD RELEASES
Here’s our regular look at the more interesting titles released on DVD in the US and UK over the past few weeks. Some may be available to rent from local video clubs, or you can always order over the internet: dozens of suppliers, but http://www.amazon.com (for US) and http://www.play.com (for UK) are among the most reliable, if not necessarily the cheapest. Note that US discs are ‘Region 1’, and require a multi-region player.
NEW FILMS
HIDD
EN: Cryptic, surprisingly successful drama about middle-class couple (Juliette Binoche, Daniel Auteuil) being spied on by anonymous antagonist. Includes documentary on director Michael Haneke [see Old Films below]. [US/UK]
THE MATADOR: Lonely hitman Pierce Brosnan bonds with hapless salesman Greg Kinnear in acclaimed dark comedy. Includes deleted scenes, director commentary and more. [US]
THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES: Nice visuals, shame about the plot; the latest dreamlike fantasy from The Quay Brothers, best-known for their Svankmajer-like puppet animations. Includes a 50-minute ‘Making of’ featurette. [UK]
ULTRANOVA: Belgian-made drama of “ordinary lives going nowhere”, albeit with comic touches (made by Bouli Lanners, known in Belgium as a TV comedian). No extras. [UK]
OLD FILMS
THE SEVENTH CONTINENT (1989), BENNY’S VIDEO (1991) and 71 FRAGMENTS OF A CHRONOLOGY OF CHANCE (1994): Intrigued by ‘Hidden’? Try these older films by director Michael Haneke, including video interviews with the director. Best of all is ‘Funny Games’ (1997), also released in the UK in a “Collector’s Edition”. [US]
LOULOU (1980): Gritty romance between Isabelle Huppert and Gerard Depardieu in a film by the late, controversial Maurice Pialat. Includes an interview with Ms. Huppert. [UK]
DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993): Deluxe 2-disc package of cult teen movie from the Criterion Collection, with many extras including deleted scenes, featurettes and commentary with director Richard Linklater. The film itself is affectionate, perceptive and hugely entertaining. [US]
THE VALERIO ZURLINI BOXED SET: Two from underrated Italian director Zurlini: ‘Violent Summer’ (1959) is an intense romance with a WW2 background, while ‘Girl With a Suitcase’ (1960) – probably his best-known film – is a heartbreaking coming-of-ager about an adolescent boy desperately in love with older woman (Claudia Cardinale). Great transfers, with copious extras. [US]
GRAND PRIX (1966): Not the best film ever made, but Formula One fans should be enthralled: director John Frankenheimer put 70mm cameras on real race-cars hurtling down the track, getting some incredible images. The bits in between are patchy, despite an all-star cast (James Garner, Yves Montand, Toshiro Mifune), but 2-disc set includes loads of extras. [US]
THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM (1944): Gregory Peck as Scottish missionary in China, based on A.J. Cronin. [US]
THE PERILS OF GWENDOLINE (1984): Vintage erotica in ‘Unrated Director’s Cut’, part of a new label aiming to produce deluxe DVD sets of old softcore movies. We approve. Includes director commentary and copious extras. [US]
FAMILY AFFAIR, SEASON 1 (1966): Remember this? Uncle Bill, two red-haired kids and Mr. French the butler. Instant nostalgia. [US]
I DREAM OF JEANNIE, SEASON 2 (1966): Remember this? Larry Hagman, Jeannie the genie. Instant nostalgia. [US]
PERRY MASON, SEASON 1, VOL. 1 (1957): Remember this? Well, you get the idea… [US]
