I’m pretty used to seeing parent-child relationships be the typical turmoil of the teenage years, they’re usually at odds with one another. The artistic temperament has a lovely mythology; in its fury, capriciousness, and whimsy, it can seem, as the author Madeleine L’Engle put it, like “a battleground, a dark angel of destruction and a bright angel of creativity wrestling.” One imagines, say, van Gogh as a madman plagued with demons, painting tumultuous night skies and sunflowers pulsing with light. © 2020 Condé Nast. No one is safe from my random babbling either, though. This is the place where I write about the things that I like – a lot. But the artist as iconoclast is a tired trope. Bernadette is safe and acceptable only when she is making something. So many ridiculous things happen, unbelievable things, that the reader is reminded of it continuously. Trailers, 31 Days of Halloween Feel free to chime in! It is through these various mediums that the story is told. Where’s You Go Bernadette? Thus, very great artists are able to be ordinary men—men like Shakespeare or Browning.” Though Chesterton is a bit unforgiving, and too prescriptive about the relationship of artistic temperament to ability, he is right about the charade of it, the false equivalency that says the temperament is the artist is the art, when, beneath it all, there’s nuance: personality, character, shortcomings, ambition, intention, experience, the entire sum of a life. When Elgin realizes that he has misunderstood Bernadette’s behaviors, he sees that he has judged her through the lens of regular society, disregarding her unique status as an artist. The offbeat poet or painter with her quirks and bohemian life style—the artiste, as one would say—for whom art is a means of emotional and mental survival in a colorless world. They share such a natural seeming mother-daughter relationship, one that’s a bit unusual because of how positive and fun it is. But in artists of less force, the thing becomes a pressure, and produces a definite pain, which is called the artistic temperament. The whole theme of Bernadette as a character and really this entire film is “unconventional” and that’s where this unusual relationship fits in wonderfully. Billy Crudup and Kristen Wiig are both really good here, Crudup fits his role of concerned husband very well and Wiig has some really effective moments as the neighbor who’s at odds with Bernadette. All around her is the stifling presence of life in the upper strata of America, ruled by shallowness and profit. Movie Reviews I’m a Literature, Media, and Communications major at Georgia Tech. Change ). just as a film, I have to say that I had a really good time. This is where Elgin discovers her. But these attempts to get Bernadette help are silly, the movie seems to say. Such situations made the crazy events more realistic. 'Where'd You Go Bernadette?' “Artists of a large and wholesome vitality get rid of their art easily, as they breathe easily, or perspire easily. Where'd You Go Bernadette? As the title suggests, Bernadette, mother of Bee, goes missing. Movie Reviews We’re meant to assume that Bernadette’s next project—a research center in Antarctica that looks like the offspring of a submarine and Baba Yaga’s hut—has redeemed her, and that now her family can move forward, knowing that this outlet is what Bernadette requires to prevent her from becoming a “menace to society,” as she calls herself. But there it is, the revelation that the film will use as its emotional crowbar to explain the how and the why of Bernadette’s character and her disappearance: she is an artist. The movie skips over her obvious debilitating problems: her anxiety and likely depression. All rights reserved. She can’t help it. Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy. The novel, however, is more than simply a tale of how she goes missing and the madness that ensues; Bee, the narrator, goes deeper to tell why. Truth be told I’m simply not a big reader. I found the story to be really engaging and the cast pours their hearts into every scene. The scene in the car where they sing the Beatles was special. Exclusive previews, reviews, and the latest news every week, delivered to your inbox. “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” and the False Dream That Art Will Fulfill You. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” Is at Cate Blanchett’s Command, “The Black Clown” Beautifully Reconfigures a Langston Hughes Poem. (GO JACKETS!) The characters in this story were extremely unique and complex. But, in the film’s unfortunate logic, art serves as the artist’s answer to all of life’s ills. Oh, the fickle Muse!, the movie seems to declare, granting Bernadette her much-needed inspiration before it ends abruptly. Truthfully, such scenes were far too brief, too rare. But the point is that they are surprised, suspended, and amused. They rang true, and was often hilarious. But what undercuts the film’s romantic notion of Bernadette as a misunderstood artist is how she is similarly defined, like Elgin in his corporate tech world, by her output. She mixes all her prescriptions together in a jar, and, when she goes to collect some new, industrial-strength meds and is declined, she passes out on a couch in a pharmacy. It is difficult to fully understand Bernadette. just as a film, I have to say that I had a really good time. Skepticism. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Inspired by the 2012 novel by Maria Semple, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, the film by Richard Linklater follows the story of Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett), a middle-aged woman who lives in Seattle with her husband, Elgin Branch (Billy Crudup), and their teen daughter, Balakrishna, also known as Bee (Emma Nelson). We have these wonderful characters and a story that’s uplifting but doesn’t feel like Hallmark Channel uplifting (no offense to any Hallmark Channel fans….). A new production of Langston Hughes’s poem creates enough tension between frivolity and terror to hold viewers accountable as witnesses to tragedy. I really loved seeing a mother’s relationship with her teenage daughter that’s so full of joy and fun, more like best friends to be honest. It is helpful to see what she goes through as both a woman, but it seems as though sometimes her personality wavers. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. By Maya Phillip s. August 22, 2019 Save this story for later. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect since the trailers are kind of vague. Approaching Where’d You Go Bernadette? I’m sure as an actor it’s a great gift to be playing a role such as this, and when you’re an actor as good as Blanchett, one that really takes her work seriously, I can’t imagine the thrill. Some might take them for a passing fad, but crystals have a deep history in religion and spirituality, as well as drawing our fascination. Movie Reviews I wasn’t quite sure what to expect since the trailers are kind of vague. For some reason, the only two options available to Bernadette (Cate Blanchett) in Richard Linklater’s adaptation of “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” are artist or menace. Misunderstood, but, throughout the novel, revealed—and redeemed. “The artistic temperament is a disease that afflicts amateurs. Overview. Creativity is all well and good in the abstract, but it’s wild and impractical, even disabling, until it produces something of use.

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