Persecuted Brilliance gets a Biopic
November 23, 2014
The Imitation Game (2014).
D: Morten Tyldum. DP: Oscar Faura. W: Graham Moore. Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch/Keira Knightley/Matthew Goode/Charles Dance/Mark Strong/Allen Leech/Rory Kinnear/James Northcote/Matthew Beard. (Based on the 1992 book “Alan Turing: The Enigma” by Andrew Hodges).
As the Oscar predictions begin to roll in, there is nothing like a decent star-turning biopic to get people really talking. Among the Weinstein Company’s gets during it’s festival runs (Studio Canal is distributing here in the UK), The Imitation Game pulled a screenplay off the Blacklist and a twenty year old book off the shelf. Couple this with BBC’s Sherlock star, Benedict Cumberbatch, and yo
Based on the life of Cambridge mathematician, Alan Turing, The Imitation Game is structured like a typical biopic and uses three different timelines. The film follows Turing (Cumberbatch) as a young teen at boarding school, his hiring and involvement with the British war effort in cracking the Nazi enigma code, and his final time where he is persecuted for being homosexual. The structure is non-linear, moving through these three periods, which is one of its weakness. Cumberbatch’s Turing is so subtly complex and quietly devastating that this Hollywood glossy structure doesn’t ring true. That being said a linear narrative would have been equally as boring and lacked any suspense, but thankfully the film is not ruined.
The driving force of The Imitation Game is certainly Cumberbatch. Lithe like his Sherlock, he creates a Turing built on language and genius that has licked his bullied wounds and moved on. He has moments where he teeters on the brink of Sheldon Cooper land, but his instincts seem to bring him back. Cumberbatch is supported well by Keira Knightley’s Joan whose connection with Turing has lovely tenderness to it. Although surrounded by other deft English actors the camera hardly strays from Cumberbatch. There are consistent shots of the back of head throughout the film, giving Turing a faceless quality that reminded me of the secrecy of not only the breaking of the code, but of his life in general.
Similar to 2009’s The Blind Side, 2010’s The Fighter, 2011’s The Iron Lady, and even Cumberbatch’s in last year’s The Fifth Estate, the crux of this film is the performance. Much has already been written about how much any biopic can be accurate, and specifically if The Imitation Game address Turing’s personal life enough. I do not think the film marginalizes his persecution as a homosexual, but it certainly isn’t the focus of the narrative. His brilliance at cracking the code and his development of the computer have been overshadowed, even made invisible by his personal life. This is the tragedy and I believe the film’s goal is to reveal that. The sadness is compounded when his pardon was only given in 2013, nearly fifty years after his death. I do not think the film needed to give us more for us to feel that weight, that loss, that disgust at our own history.
The Listening Game
December 14, 2011
A Dangerous Method (2011).
D: David Cronenberg. DP: Peter Suschitzky. W: Christopher Hampton (Based on his play “The Talking Cure,” which was inspired by John Kerr’s book “A Most Dangerous Method.”) Starring: Kiera Knightley/Michael Fassbender/Viggo Mortensen/Vincent Cassel/Sarah Gadon.
As the race to the Oscars commences film buffs everywhere are grinning ear to ear for their favorite season that is ripe with quality films. It is the season of drama everywhere and first on my list was A Dangerous Method.
Following the relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortenson) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) during the development of psychoanalysis, A Dangerous Method is ultimately about Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley). Spielrein was a patient of Jung’s, the first patient for him to use psychoanalysis with and to garner a good result. It is safe to say that right from the opening Knightley steals the film. Her part is not only the most challenging physically and has her sport a very convincing Russian accent, but the major story arc and character development lies with her. This is her best performance yet and is one of the major reasons to try and see this film.
It is hard to conceive of the film without Mortensen. The original Freud was to be played by Christoph Waltz who is an amazing actor, but quite different in his physicality. Having dropped out to film Water for Elephants, Waltz’s departure allowed Mortensen to step in. Mortensen’s Freud, with his consistent puffs on his cigars and deep voice provide an excellent foil to the excitability and fever of Fassbender’s Jung. Their professional clashes and tensions are chronicled very well, though much of it remains very subtle. Fassbender does well here, but who would expect him not to.
Christopher Hampton, also responsible for writing the 2007 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s Atonement and won an Oscar for 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons, has impressive credits that without having written the original play material would have made a fine screenwriter choice for this project. What Hampton achieves here is a depth of understanding in his material and a devotion to character that thankfully survives in the cinematic form of his work. One of the few problems is the lack of climax of conflict in the film. Since the screenplay is so dense with speech, and it has to be as it is a film about psychoanalysis, sometimes the cinema form is not used to the fullest extent. So although it is beautifully shot by Peter Suschitzky, as an audience member one feels like you are constantly waiting for a larger clash that never comes. What is so dangerous about the psychoanalytical method? For modern audiences that should have been put in a larger social and political context in my opinion.
That being said, director David Cronenberg’s seems to be tackling the diligence in psychiatry and the silence that psychoanalysis attempted to break. The smaller scope of the film allows it to feel more realistic and hopefully with encourage its audience to focus and listen to the film. However, the performances will probably end up being more memorable than the film as a whole. Ultimately my advice for A Dangerous Method is to listen. And listen closely because you just might be reminded how we all could use a little psychoanalysis in our lives.