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BY THE SEA Send This Review to a Friend
Watching Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Pitt in action is an attention grabber no matter what’s happening on screen. That is the main attraction of “By the Sea,” which Jolie Pitt as written and directed as their star vehicle. What we see is the troubled marriage of a volatile couple and the break taken in a resort area that may provide an atmosphere for life to improve. But there are loads of angst before that can happen.
Pitt plays Roland, a writer with a block, and Jolie Pitt plays his wife Vanessa, who is in a deep depression. We finally learn why near the end. But meanwhile, she fights off Roland’s‘s advances, says she despises him as a drunk (he does imbibe a lot) and wanders about on her own, sometimes looking suicidal, in the picturesque seaside village in the South of France. (The film was shot on Malta as stand-in).
Neils Arestrup, with an unforgettable face, plays Michel, the owner of a little bar and restaurant, and in addition to talking about the death of his wife, for whom he continues grieving, he dispenses homey advice with respect to the troubles that Roland confides to him.
The situation is heightened when young newlyweds, Mélanie Laurent as Lea and Melvil Poupaud as François, occupy a hotel room next door to Roland and Vanessa. Roland couldn’t care less about the woman, as he concentrates on striving for more intimacy with his wife, but Vanessa eyes the husband and is bent on causing trouble.
Let’s hear it for voyeurism. When Vanessa discovers a hole in the wall, she begins watching the newlyweds having sex. Soon Roland also discovers his wife looking through the hole, and then they both watch. The sex begins to turn them on, with steps toward closeness, but problems between them are still explosive.
The film is good looking, not only because of the attractive stars, but because of the scenery, including the beach, the water, the boats and the roads over which Roland drives his sleek car. As a screenwriter, Jolie Pitt piles on the marriage hell and the groundswell of problems plaguing the couple. She also has a sense of melodrama as the tension builds with the intertwining of Vanessa and Roland and the newly married lovers.
As a director, Jolie Pitt stresses intimacy, whether friendly or hostile, and she certainly knows how to show off herself, as well as Pitt. For example, she gives herself a semi-nude scene in a bathtub. No doubt about it—this is a star vehicle, and as such has its own fascination, even though the drama tends to get maudlin and not always plausible. A Universal Pictures release. Reviewed November 12, 2015.
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