X
- 2014
- R
- The Weinstein Company
- 1 h 29 m
- 2014
- R
- The Weinstein Company
- 1 h 29 m
Summary Once happily married, Conor (James McAvoy) and Eleanor (Jessica Chastain) suddenly find themselves to be strangers longing to understand each other in the wake of a tragedy. Their story is told from the perspective of Conor.
Directed By: Ned Benson
Written By: Ned Benson
- 2014
- R
- The Weinstein Company
- 1 h 29 m
- 2014
- R
- The Weinstein Company
- 1 h 29 m
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him
63
7.5
Summary Once happily married, Conor (James McAvoy) and Eleanor (Jessica Chastain) suddenly find themselves to be strangers longing to understand each other in the wake of a tragedy. Their story is told from the perspective of Conor.
Directed By: Ned Benson
Written By: Ned Benson
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
63
55% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
45% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 11 Critic Reviews
63
55% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
45% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Like an epic sonnet, with beautiful accompanying music and songs, “Eleanor Rigby” deals with memory, perception and the emotional toll a relationship can have on an individual as much as it deals with the more grandiose themes of love and loss.
For the most part, thanks in great part to Benson’s rich screenplay and Chastain’s nomination-worthy work, I was immersed in this story no matter who was telling the tale.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 26 User Ratings
7.5
77% Positive
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
15% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
8% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 26 User Ratings
7.5
77% Positive
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
15% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
8% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
McAvoy did choose to be something and everything in every scene, the only common thing would be his moving performance.
The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby
Ned Benson, the writer and director, sings a love song of two stanzas in this trilogy. A love story told from the perspective of both the partners, the film is properly balanced. Going through the script Benson's most of the time is spent upon just doing that. Balancing it. And as much effortful it would be, it is equally easy on the screen. And that is his biggest achievement and probably compliment too. The film looks easy. It flows smoothly. The supporting characters makes sense, the conversations necessary and the circumstances falls into place naturally. And maybe that's why the individual chapters speaks more to you. The complex nature of the other side is thrown right at your face which you aren't expecting, especially in a film like such, **** like such.
The film divided itself visually in two colours. These colors represent the nature of the characters that steers the film. For instance the blue shade that James McAvoy carries is the suppressed emotional background that never makes him decide anything. And if it does, it is not his favourite position to be at. He can't choose. Jessica Chastain is quite opposite on that note. Her sunny shaded colour signifies the active nature of hers on that relationship, where her good or bad deeds and self-appointed position of choosing things; deliberately or accidentally, lights the fire.
Him
James McAvoy as a definitive, boundary lined, wanna-be-something is a difficult character to portray. Most importantly because I know a person like him and the vulnerability that he has captured is something that I connect with instantly. And adding more to the troubles, he is then, in the film, told to select what kind of a person he wishes to be, that part of this three part story is my favourite.
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This film is a job well done but with its failures, the biggest is that by its concept and the way in which it is portrayed, it is impossible to feel that you are seeing an incomplete movie, regardless of whether you are or not aware of the film that complements this work.
But under all circumstances, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him is not a bad choice at all and the truth in my opinion is worth seeing even if it entails watching another movie to absorb its full story.
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While both pieces of the entire package generally work independently of each other, they have just enough ingredients to necessitate a viewing of the whole thing.
It’s a measure of Benson’s sure, skillful hand with actors that all the relationships in the movie — husband and wife, parent and child — feel lived-in and true, even when the dialogue strains too hard for the meaningful and poetic.
Derives almost all of its very modest power from its relationship with its better half. McAvoy, turning up the broody charm, isn’t to blame. The trouble is that Conor’s drama, set against the backdrop of a lonely Manhattan, looks even more generic than Eleanor’s.
No matter how he shuffles the pieces, Mr. Benson can’t shake free of the old storytelling ideas, from his steamroller plot to his programmatic characters and narrative beats that, by their very existence, signal that everything will slide into place as expected.
The main problem with Him is that it takes the form of a generic indie dramedy about a hard-luck dude, desperate for a turnaround in his personal and professional life... Him does have a few scattered moments of Her-like insight and vitality, though.
The sadness of being an incorrigible completist, I have to finish all these three films before writing my review, Ned Benson’s ambitious feature-length debut is a post-trauma story of a young couple Conor (McAvoy) and Eleanor (Chastain) in New York after losing their child in an unspecified accident, HIM centres on Conor and HER centres on Eleanor in the same time period, then interweaves these two versions together, there arrives THEM, one can get an overall view of their paralleled life. So basically, I have watched the same movie twice, and certain scenes three times where the path of Conor and Eleanor converges.
to keep reading my review, google my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks
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OK, call me insensitive. I simply could not make myself interested in this movie. I found Conor and Eleanor to be supremely uninteresting and uninvolving people. I simply did not care. I must admit that the only positive aspect I found in this film was Ciaran Hinds in the case. I also have to admit that there is a disconnect between myself and Jessica Chastain. I doubt that she is worried about this, but I simply do not find her to be believable in most of her characterizations.
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Il s'agit d'un triptyque et je me demande si j'ai commencé par le bon numéro, car on n'y comprend pas grand'chose, rien pour ainsi dire sauf vers la fin... si on a tenu jusque là... ce qui n'est pas gagné ! Mais on comprend éventuellement pourquoi sa copine se met à chier des pendules à toute heure tout-à-coup. C'est au moins l'occasion d'apprécier cette actrice pleine de charme et d'un talent certain, Jessica Chastain... parce que l'autre quiche McAvoy, c'est un peu la buse du 7ème Art : il serait mieux au sous-sol.
A part ça, on se fait hyper chier dans cette sentimentalerie à deux balles, on se fait tellement chier qu'on se croirait... dans un psychodrame français. Tiens, la preuve : y a même Isabelle Huppert dedans, si c'est pas un signe, ça ! Le chassé-croisé entre ces deux imbéciles est particulièrement usant : Jessica revient, Jessica s'en va... puis elle revient et puis... gnagnagna. Le coup de grâce vient, pour sa part, des dialogues, lequels sont à s'attacher les balloches au cul d'une Glof TDI au contrôle anti-pollution.
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Production Company
Unison Films,
Myriad Pictures,
Kim and Jim Productions,
Division Films,
Dreambridge Films,
Standard Deviations
Release Date Oct 10, 2014
Duration 1 h 29 m
Rating R
Awards
Critics Choice Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Image Awards (NAACP)
• 1 Nomination
Black Reel Awards
• 1 Nomination
