Direction: Richard Linklater
Country: USA
Comfortably enjoying his status of prodigious filmmaker and storyteller, Richard Linklater (Boyhood; Before Trilogy), stumbles terribly in Where’d You Go, Bernadette, a farcical comedy-drama that unlike its central character struggles to establish an immediate, strong connection with the viewer.
Adapted from the 2012 comedy novel of the same name, this flawed film never does justice to Maria Semple’s book, despite a few sympathetic moments that arise from the mighty presence of Cate Blanchett as the apparently dysfunctional, socially anxious Bernadette Fox.
Once a brilliant architect, this frequently impolite woman has exchanged L.A. for Seattle when she lost confidence in herself and stopped working for 20 years. She avoids people to the point of hiring a remote assistant in India for practically every basic need, but her brittle nerves start to attack hard again after she has promised to take her 15-year-old daughter, Bee (Emma Nelson), on a trip to Antarctica.
Besides all the thoughts of fear related to the trip, the relationship with her workaholic husband, Elgin (Billy Crudup), a Microsoft guru, gets more and more complicated in the sequence of an unjustified brawl with her neighbor Audrey (Kristen Wiig), an usurpation attempt from the Russian Mafia, and a problem with a prescription for seasickness medication. However, this tension between husband and wife never went beyond surface frictions, feeling more hypocrite than credible.
Despite the preliminary punchy spice, the film ended up almost flavorless due to a fabricated final section, or should I say confection, so idiotically portrayed that one may question if this is actually a Linklater film.
Toggling between self-commiseration and looking forward attitude, this dramedy turned nonsensical adventure fills each frame with an unconvincing euphoric reassurance. Its descendent trajectory in terms of engagement prevents it to succeed. One reason to see it? Blanchett!
