Metroland

It's 1977 and Chris is a 30ish bloke who still has the eager, wistful face of an angelic adolescent, enjoys a placid existence in the London suburbs, taking comforting in his wife, his baby, and his garden. Yet he's a haunted man. Spurred by the arrival of Toni, his rakish counterculture chum, he is tormented by visions of what might have been - the enticing word of sexual possibility he left behind, embodied in memories of his blissed out love affair with a sultry secretary during his bohemian Paris days in the late '60s. As the film glides back and forth between eras, the churning of Chris' heart comes to the force with with disarming intimacy. We feel as if we're seeing the formation of an individual: his all too brief fling with hedonism, the sadness and hidden wisdom of a path that seems to have choosen him rather than the other way around. "Metroland" is a no-fuss movie that casts a rich, tranquil spell. It's a rare portrait of a happy marriage that is honest about the complex currents of desire, and the drama is beautifully played by Bale who gawks with soulful sweetness, and Emily Watson does her most piercing work since "Breaking the waves."

Metroland is true to the midlife crisis, except between two people who haven't quite reached that stage of their lives yet. Christian Bale plays an Englishman who begins to reminisce about his past in the mid and late '60s when an old friend (played by Lee Ross) comes back to stir up his life. While I felt that the story was strong and seemingly dramatic enough to keep me interested and entertained, the character played by Lee Ross just seemed unnecessary. This character is supposed to build the plot the first half of the movie and I felt this could've been reached in many other directions.

And if you love France, well, you'll love the beautiful depiction of French women with an excellent performance given by Elsa Zylberstein, Bale's character's 'old flame' that he thinks about constantly throughout the film.

Beautiful 'still' cinematography throughout is perfect for Bale's character's love for photography and makes the film very watchable just for art's sake.

By the time I reached the last 45 minutes or so, I was much more intrigued and worried for the well-being of Bale's marriage with his present day (1977) wife, played wonderfully by Emily Watson. The tension between the two of them throughout the film is far more than believable and I loved it.

While I wanted to give this movie a much higher rating, I think it is fair to say that the first half moves much too slow. I was also slightly disappointed by the ending of the film, but it was still a great surprise and hit me unexpectedly. I highly recommend for Bale/Watson fans.

The main character in Metroland embodies the crisis that every one of us has already or will probably go through. "Have we made the right choices in our lives to make ourselves happy?".

The movie portrays this character's search for the answers through flashbacks to his past as well as new events that are occurring in his present. The two paths that he could have taken were shown. He begins questioning if he had made the right choice with his current life. A life which he thought he would never want when he was younger and rebellious. The "9 to 5" job that we, or at least some of us, have all dreaded in fear of the death of our own creativity and individualism. The main male character basically is the imperfect hero with imperfect thoughts, much akin to the "hero" that we can hope to be at this day and age.

The last line in the movie, "If not now, then, never." is a line we always hear but take its meaning for granted. Truly, if happiness is not found in the moment..in the "now"..then, where else can it ever be?

"Metroland" should appeal to boomers, particularly ones who now find themselves in the suburbs and/or with families. (It did not appeal to the two senior citizen couples next to and in back of me who did not shut up throughout the whole movie as they didn't seem to grasp the concepts of flashbacks or fantasy images)

I'm sure there's other movies that have a friend and/or sibling interfering in a stable relationship and shaking the tree (my friend thought of "Hilary and Jackie"-- but maybe because both have Emily Watson, here bundled up in sweaters to try and make her less ravishing) but I couldn't think of one that deals with our time period of post-'60's measurements of personal happiness and fulfillment. We could relate to the English and Parisian experiences with parallel ones here from the same time periods of '68 vs. '78 (nicely accurate hair styles, make-up and clothes).

While there are no shortage of shots of gorgeous naked women, there's ironic visual comment regardless the lead character's lovemaking techniques don't improve over the decade of experience. One sees plenty of Christian Bale, such that I think it would, I imagine, appeal to gay men as well.

Nice use of punk music (freaking out the senior next to me!), otherwise the score was quite lovely by Mark Knopfler, with a closing song original to the movie, with apropos lyrics.

(originally written 4/17/1999)

If Francois Truffaut were still alive today I think Metroland would easily fit into his oeuvre. A film about a person taking stock of himself at the crossroads, Metroland introduces us to a suburban utopia where people go to work everyday, take their kids to school, and wash their cars on the weekend. Christian Bale seems to accept this life until an old friend rings him up wanting to revisit the old times. Throughout the film we see what Bale's character could've been and how much happier he thought he was. Metroland's assertion is to accept life for what it is and not what it is not. Not everyone's cup of tea as evidenced by Bale's boyhood chum but being the film's setting takes place during the late seventies in England right before the rise of Thatcherism may be a subtle stab at what the middle class of the film will come to accept. Conformity over confrontation may ultimately be Metroland's theme no matter how much it hurts us to admit it.