Although there is a unique, conceptually ambitious movie that exists in first-time writer/director Ned Benson‘s The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them, the audience, unfortunately, probably wouldn’t know it, after seeing this re-cut version of his film(s).

Initially conceived as a more “experimental” movie-watching experience, the original vision for Rigby was for audiences to watch two films, a sort-of double feature that followed the same story but told from the differing perspectives of its male and female lead characters, and affixed with the respective titles, Him and Her.

This original vision played at last year’s TIFF, and was bought and sold to The Weinstein Company. Now, eight months later, Benson and Harvey “Scissorhands” (infamous for re-editing acquired films so as to perform better theatrically) have combined both versions, Him and Her, to create this third version, : Them. However, the result in denying audiences the two-film experience, and doing away with the filmmakers’ exploratory attempt to create a third, more powerful synergistic effect, does not work for this film- the takeaway is one of non-satisfaction, as the film fails to successfully mine the focused riches that either singular film might have offered in their own right (Read Jasper’s review of The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her/Him, here).

At its best, the film reveals an authenticity about the human condition, and our search for reason and meaning in a world that may offer none; at its worst, it reveals that it might just be the film itself that suffers from its own existential crisis.

The story of a broken marriage at the hands of a family tragedy, the film stars Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, with her as the titular character. It should be said early that the title while lending itself to hints of mystery, or perhaps Beatles-referencing, is loyal to neither, and only serves as being an intriguing title for an art house film. The film, at just over two hours long, is a free-flowing collection of scenes intimate, fragile, and most impressively, honest, about how family and lovers take to dealing with such new heartbreaking territory. Benson crafts each scene to hold such emotional weight and authenticity that the whole thing feels massively charged with real life understanding and empathy in a way that only skilled filmmakers and actors could achieve. Similar in nature to the dark drama Rabbit Hole, also about a couple dealing with the tragic loss of an infant child, Rigby: Them follows each estranged spouse as they try to figure out how to go on and make sense of their lives.

Rigby: Them is certainly confident film-making. Even this third version feels like a well-made film, technically speaking. But there’s just no denying that, after combining two films that were intent on remaining separate so as to allow the audience to see the differences in perspective, memory, and understanding that would manifest itself on screen, the story here feels aimless. We have no distinct protagonist to follow here; certainly not Eleanor Rigby, who, despite Chastain’s incredibly lived-in performance and commitment, we feel we never truly connect with due to the film’s impartial coverage between its leads. Nor with McAvoy, who gives a fine turn here as well- but with such elastic back-and-forth scene-work, seeing each character in such removed emotional areas, and for a good part of the time Eleanor and Colin (McAvoy) are shown dealing with their own friends and family (making good, yet sparse use of James Hurt, Viola Davis, and Bill Hader), the pair’s most important scenes fail to give way to anything more transcendent. At its best, the film reveals an authenticity about the human condition, and of our search for reason and meaning in a world that may offer none; at its worst, it reveals that it might just be the film itself that suffers from its own existential crisis. The good news is that Him and Her will find their theatrical distribution come October, when the film can be more properly understood, and therefore, reviewed, in all three versions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ng4MD66WyU