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WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE
Director: Richard Linklater Cast: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Emma Nelson, Kristen Wiig, Zoe Chao, Judy Greer, Laurence Fishburne, James Urbaniak, Troian Bellisario MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:44 Release Date: 8/16/19 |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 15, 2019 The obvious joke to direct at Where'd You Go, Bernadette is that there isn't any mystery to the question (without the punctuation to indicate one) of the title. With the movie's first shots, co-writer/director Richard Linklater answers that well before we even see the eponymous character go missing. What that tells us, though, is that we shouldn't be wondering or be concerned with where Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) has physically gone. With that introductory information, the title now suggests a deeper question than that. Even with that in mind, the movie, based on the novel by Maria Semple, still leaves us scratching our heads. That's not because the main character remains a mystery at the end of the story. It's simply because the cause of her—let's call it—psychological and social disappearance is so simple, and the solution to that issue is even simpler still. The story feels as if it's building up toward some grand revelations about Bernadette's state of mind and her storied past, but the answers are right there and spoken of often. This, then, leaves us with probably one option about how to view the story of Bernadette, her problems with living a "normal" life, her antagonistic relationships with her neighbors, her strong bond with the daughter, her not quite cold but definitely unattended marriage to her husband, and, yes, her eventual disappearance. It's quite simple, really: We're just supposed to observe the character, as her life, already in disarray, seems ready to spiral even further out of control—with a little help from fate or some sabotage, of either the conscious or the subconscious variety, on Bernadette's part. Such a prospect holds a lot of promise. That's not only because the character, as externally eccentric as she may be, clearly possesses layers of internal strife, but it's also because the role is played by Blanchett, who is so adept at portraying both the eccentricities and pain of such characters—making even the most outlandish personalities seem believable and worthy of sympathy. Somehow, though, that's not enough for the screenwriters (In addition to Linklater, there's also include Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo Jr.). They convolute Bernadette's story with an almost farcical level of conflicts and complications by the time the mystery of her disappearance is resolved (and, since we already know the answer, re-solved) in the third act. After a five-week flash into the future, the movie finds Bernadette, a retired architect of some notoriety decades ago, in a clash with neighbors, parents of other students, and her own social anxiety. She lives in a quiet suburb of Seattle with her husband Elgie (Billy Crudup), a significant tech designer, and their daughter Bee (Emma Nelson), who's about to graduate from middle school and wants to attend a prestigious boarding school. For a graduation present, Bee wants to take a family trip to Antarctica. Neither parent wants to go—Elgie because of an obsession with work and Bernadette because of a fear of being around other people. Neither wants to turn down the idea, either, so it's settled. With the help of a virtual assistant to do her shopping and planning, Bernadette prepares for the trip, while also renovating a house and getting into passive-aggressive arguments with the neighboring Audrey (Kristen Wiig), one of the many local gossips. The rest of the story offers competing and complementary descriptions of Bernadette. They include her own testimonies of sorts, via the long and often rambling emails to that assistant on the other side of the world, in which she seems freer to rant about the "gnats" at Bee's school and to vent the consequences of her anxiety. It's not that she isn't open about these things in public. Her diatribes against Seattle have become legend to those who know her, as a former colleague (played by Laurence Fishburne, in one of a series of recognizable cameos) learns when the two catch up over lunch. There are crucial exceptions to her openness: Elgie, who's always at work, only knows that something is wrong with his wife, and Bernadette tries to shield the darker thoughts from her daughter. Bee provides the narration for this story, in which she works through what might have happened to her mother with wise-beyond-her-years precision. The problems mount, as a mudslide wrecks part of Audrey's house and Bernadette decides to plan an out for the trip if necessary, and although the character and Blanchett's sturdy performance are right there, those issues keep mounting. The movie is at its most affecting in its quieter moments, such as when a car-trip singalong with Bee turns into a confession that Bernadette is sensitive to the "finality" of these moments, and at its wisest when it simply studies how no one, not even the woman herself, has a clear view of what's really going on with Bernadette. As the plot becomes more ludicrous (involving some Russian mobsters and a tonally uncomfortable intervention, of which a psychiatrist, played by Judy Greer, and even an FBI agent, played by James Urbaniak, become a part), the mystery of the reason and the solution for Bernadette's absence from her own life becomes overly simplistic. Where'd You Go, Bernadette sees both the eccentricity and the depth of its central character, but the movie itself would rather focus on its own eccentricities. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for some strong language and drug material)
