a very beautiful film with some incredible performances, gorgeous light throughout, and some really impressive and cool feminizations of the cinematic gaze. a bit of a strategic error on my part to watch this film on the same day that my relationship ended definitively, and i am sliding into abjection. what lingers, of course, is the ecstatic sex scene that occurs once margot is able to shed herself of the relationship holding her down. grateful that the film accelerates further to the point where the new has become old again. a bit of a vindication for me.
i was watching this hoping for catharsis, again. i got some, but the main figure i was forced to identify with, lou, played by seth rogen, is not able to rise to the demands of the narrative. i suspect that the choice to hold on him and use a series of jump cuts to follow his emotional processing during the pivotal breakup scene, was a practical decision used to salvage some footage. still a savvy move on the part of polley, but i wonder if the choice of casting rogen for that character—whom i don’t think anyone could have thought would be capable of portraying his character on a par with michelle williams—makes it a part of the anti-boyfriend (husband) canon.