‘HIM’ AND ‘HER’ IN TWO PARTS
collegiate feeling, like reading a long novel and getting to know the characters inside out. Them steps on the accelerator in a sort of Cliffs Notes version.
It’s not that there’s too much story to tell; the problem is that Conor (McAvoy) and Eleanor (Chastain) and their assorted families and friends don’t have time to grow on you, and the viewer makes less of an investment in their problems. The whys and wherefores have been edited out, and the changes that took place over time – screen time – now take place in a classic, familiar narrative arc.
As the curtain rises, Conor and Eleanor are charmed young lovers for whom life is a game, though ominously he asks her not to break his heart in the first scene. Cut to Eleanor jumping from a bridge. Inbetween events are gradually revealed. They got married and lived in lower Manhattan, where he has a restaurant and bar. But after tragedy strikes, they begin to pull apart.
While both are traumatized, they react in different, perhaps genderspecific ways that lead Eleanor to disappear from Conor’s life. Still in love, he becomes obsessed with finding her and getting back together.
Conor is struggling to make his way in life independent of his thrice-married father (Ciaran Hinds), the dean of fashionable New York restaurant owners. The economic downturn forces the separated 33-year-old Conor to move into Dad’s townhouse.
Similarly, Eleanor returns to her family’s sprawling house in the suburbs with her French mother (Isabelle Huppert) and father (William Hurt). She’s very close to her sister, Katy (Jess Weixler), a county librarian with a little boy, who has given up other ambitions. And there are long scenes with a straight-talking teacher (Viola Davis) who becomes a friend. All of these characters are worth knowing, and the acting and dialogue are excellent all around.
Chastain and McAvoy are highly expressive, but also quite different actors, and it’s sometimes a bit difficult to imagine her anthropology student and his foodie businessman being so passionately in love. Chastain brings an edgy nervousness to the role that can verge on the irritating, while McAvoy is out-going; as Eleanor remarks, “He went soft and I stayed hard.” It’s an interesting gender reversal and one Benson explores thoroughly in the longer version. The final scene is truly affecting.
Tech work is sensitive, but unobtrusive, taking maximum advantage of authentic New York locations.
Good and bad songs play a big role on the soundtrack, with New York alternative hip-hop composer Son Lux supplying the former. Not a single note of the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby is heard. It isn’t necessary: You sing it to yourself. – Reuters/ Hollywood Reporter