Seagull fails to take flight
The Seagull (M, 99 mins) Directed by Michael Mayer Reviewed by Sarah Watt ★★★
If you know your Chekhov, you’ll know his plays aren’t exactly a laugh a minute. His is never a happy family and while his themes are deep and dark and often beautifully articulated, his bourgeois characters tend to annoy rather than enchant. Whiny, adulterous, fickle – the playwright’s famously astute observations of human nature don’t make you want to spend time with them.
Surprisingly, The Seagull is billed as a comedy, best evidenced by the melodramatically miserable Masha whose response to being asked why she always wears black is ‘‘I’m in mourning – for my life’’. Delivered by the brilliant Elisabeth Moss (Top of the Lake, The Handmaid’s Tale), that dramatic pause is everything.
The strange thing about this film adaptation is that it is light of touch, both in a good way (thanks to Moss and an over-the-top, yet sympathetic, matriarch played by Annette Bening), but also to an extent that undermines Chekhov’s talented writing and leaves the viewer feeling a little unsatisfied. It is as if the film-maker (the hitherto unknown Michael Mayer) didn’t know what tone to pitch, hence the mishmash of emotional styles.
Perhaps inevitably, this cinematic Seagull initially feels stagey and overacted. The histrionics are a disadvantage with regard to Saoirse Ronan’s flighty Nina and Billy Howle’s insipid Constantin, whose romantic travails are simply irritating.
If we are in fact supposed to judge the characters for their petty foolishness, then the film succeeds but is less enjoyable for it. It is a credit to Bening that while she, too, plays the excessively vain Irina ‘‘big’’, her screen-time provides the best moments in an otherwise middling affair.
Despite its flaws, however, once we get used to the acting styles (and the absurd decision to let the actors speak in a range of their natural accents), The Seagull still manages to be somewhat entertaining.
Poor old Anton had to endure criticism of his play when it premiered, which almost stopped his playwrighting career in its tracks. While it’s reassuring to know one empathises with one’s critical forebears, it’s a shame 21stcentury film couldn’t come up with something better.
After advance previews this weekend, The Seagull will open in select cinemas from November 25.