The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her

For me, I think the two films are two of the most realistic films I have ever seen. Chastain & McAvoy are brilliant and I'm glad we got to see both sides of the story. But I did tend to like "him" a little bit better. I will say that I think "Her" is better acted. When you have greats like Viola Davis and William Hurt as supporting actors that are essential to moving the story forward, you know you have something good on your hands. This side of the story is darker and more depressing as it more closely deals with unimaginable situation of losing someone very close to you.

The most powerful thing that was said in either film was the idea that "You can change a person just by living". It's definitely true, there are people close to me that directly impact my life whether I see them or not. Just by living, they are changing my life. It's something I don't really think about, but I will now. Also the idea of memory is brought up a lot. Chastain's character, Eleanor, talks about the concept of only remembering things once or twice in your entire life, and then it's gone. It's pretty morbid if you ask me. After seeing this one second, I always thought about perception, and how the way events unfold and if I see things differently than people close to me. Even in the slightest bit, I think it's pretty evident we do.

Overall, the films are worth watching if you like darker and more realistic types of love stories. I just don't think I ever want to watch these films again. They are just too depressing. But without question they are brilliantly acted and superbly shot. I'm glad I checked them out.

+Chastain's range

+Tackling different and difficult concepts

+Beautiful to look at

-Very dark

7.4/10

This film tells the story of a married couple who separates because of tremendous grief after losing their child. This grieving process is told from her perspective.

"The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her" is great because Jessica Chastain is brilliant in portraying a woman tormented by loss. We see that her interaction with friends is affected, and family ties are disrupted. The scene of her and her sister struggling on the floor is very effective. It's almost heartbreaking to watch it.

My only complain is that it is just to similar to "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them". It's almost like watching the same film again. Of course, that's not the fault of ",The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her", but the fault of "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them" not using a balanced proportion of footage.

It's always great when festival films can hold onto that excitement even over a year from their premiere. Perhaps that magic comes from the intrigue in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby's conceit. The content of the film is nothing new, just approached in a special way. A couple drift apart due to an unspeakable tragedy and try to make sense of the world. Sprinkled with introspective insights and anchored by terrific performances, it's truly bolstered through its enigma. Now I decided to watch Her first, arguably the more acclaimed of the pair, at least for Jessica Chastain. Although the director states that the films can be watched in any order, the premiere started with Him and in hindsight perhaps it offers key context that I should've dived into first, but I quite prefer the way I watched it even though the latter suffered.

Knowing that it has a counterpart film gives Her an enigma and the film is enchanting, benefiting from a sparing use of James McAvoy. This is the Chastain show and she's the best I've seen her so far. Sometimes it teeters on being quirky for the sake of quirkiness the way indie movies do, but its subversive way it acknowledges and rejects clichés rings too true and dig deep. Perhaps as a result it is quite clichéd, but the nuanced and heavy hearted texture of the film with the soft autumnal cinematography and use of music makes it a human experience. It's such a melodic, delicate, intimate, introspective, melancholic and ultimately heartbreaking look at the pain of moving on, emotionally and in Eleanor Rigby's case, physically as she finds herself compelled to drift from place to place hoping that she can start fresh but never does. It's very satisfying that the film met high expectations, at least this half of the experiment.

8/10

I began watching this movie, expecting it to be another romantic flick, but boy was I wrong. There is nothing 'film-like' about the movie, it actually seems like a slice of life itself, and that is what makes it so beautiful. Both the co-stars, James and Jessica, have a terrific chemistry and their acting is absolutely breathtaking. Even the supporting actors (including the legendary Viola Davis) have a titular role throughout the film. The direction of the movie seems a bit haphazard and one might find their attention slightly wavering had it not been for the gripping performances by the actors. I do believe that 'Him' and 'Her' complement each other well, however, 'Them' seemed redundant in comparison to the other two.

The Disppearance Of Eleanor Rigby (nothing to do with the Beatles song except a brief reference by a character) is a thoughtful, exceptionally well made film about a couple dealing with an immense tragedy that has put a weight on their relationship, forcing them to take some time apart. James Macavoy, an actor who continues to impress, and Jessica Chastain, always amazing, play the two with diligent feeling and palpable hurt. Now, there's three different edits of the film. His, which is mostly his side of events following the breakup, where Macavoy takes center stage and we see his life. Hers, which shows us where Chastain ends up, and how she is coping. The third version, Theirs, is a truncated version of both stories, leaving out a lot of key scenes and important beats. His and Hers together come out to about four hours of movie watching, but if you're going to invest yourself in their story, you owe it to you self to watch them both, starting with His. Because there is four hours of their story, they are allowed to develop and interact in a fashion that feels far more genuine and lifelike than a rushed two and a half hour movie. Macavoy is an aspiring cook who runs a small café with his friend and sous chef (Bill Hader, fiercely funny) and yearns for Chastain, angry at life for throwing them the curveball it did. He moves in with his father (Ciaran Hinds gives phenomenal work), a successful restauranteer. Chastain moves in with her folks as well, played by Isabelle Huppert and William Hurt. Hurt, who hasn't been around that much lately, makes up for that by anchoring a key scene with Chastain. It's interesting that he gets to play her father in a film, because they both share a measured, baleful, hypnotic grace in their work, and seeing them interacting was a treat for me, being an immense fan of both their work. Now, the film is more than the sum of its parts, but I mean that in a good way, since the parts themselves are so brilliantly done as well. It's what we expect from the romantic drama Avenue, but because we see an extended fluidity to the work, a narrative free from the fractured conventions of usual editing styles, we feel right there with our two protagonists, every step of the way. More films should break the mold and try to be more than just segmented movies, and use immersion techniques like this to draw us in. Coupled with that unique method of delivery comes a sincere commitment from actors and director alike, to explore an aspect of life and relationships that many see as unpleasant or upsetting, yet can still make for beautiful work. Well worth a watch.