By the Sea – Film Review by Frank L.

Written and Directed by Angelina Jolie Pitt

Stars: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Mélanie Laurent

Vanessa (Angelina Jolie) and her husband Roland (Brad Pitt) Bertrand of 14 years in the early ninety seventies are seen in an open-top grenouille Citroen driving along the French Mediterranean coast. It is all breathtakingly beautiful. They have booked into a magnificent palatial hotel situate high up on a rocky foreshore. Below lies a far more interesting little collection of buildings with the water almost lapping at their edge including a cafe/bar run by an over-weight patron who has been recently widowed. He has some wisdom about what a marriage is all about.

Mr and Mrs Roland, he an author, she without gainful employment, travel with Louis Vuitton bags and a large hat box. We must assume Roland is a successful writer given the never ending show of wealth. Vanessa likes to wear straw hats to shield her flawless facial skin from the harsh rays of the sun. She ambles almost like a model, in floating dresses, aimlessly along the cliff walks just above the oh so beautiful blue sea…but she does so slowly so as not to disturb her ennui but as she looks at the sea below, she may be having dark thoughts but they are not disclosed. Not surprisingly he finds the patron’s company in the café/bar more congenial than his wife continuous boredom. He drinks too much. Her ennui and his drinking make for a less than stimulating story line which is only saved by the magnificent cinematography. It is Malta in reality and simply idyllic.

A little bit of spice is added to the proceedings by the arrival needless to say of a good looking couple on their honeymoon in the suite next to the Rolands. They make no pretence about the fact they are trying to make a baby. Her mother is already making inquiries as to whether she is pregnant! There are pleasantries between the couples but Vanessa’s coolness would keep an ice cream frozen.

However Vanessa in one of her more engaged moments had discovered there was a peep hole in their sitting room which looked into the honeymooners’ bedroom. Subsequently Roland, a bit slower on the uptake, also discovered the peep hole. In order to add a bit of zest into their gone-flat marriage they cheek to cheek sit together on the floor in order to watch through the peep hole the honeymooners attempting to make a baby.

There is a certain interplay socially between the two couples and a bit of life comes into Vanessa and Roland’s dull marriage. The audience also gets some idea as to why they are so bored with life and with each other. It is difficult to drum up enthusiasm for either Roland or Vanessa and there was a sense of relief when the film ends. It would be difficult to care whether they lived or did not live Louis-Vuitton rich happily ever after.