HEREAFTER: Starring Matt Damon, Cécile De France, Thierry Neuvic and Jay Mohr. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Rated M (Mature themes and infrequent coarse language). 129 minutes.
Reviewed by Fr Peter Malone MSC
THIS is an impressive film for audiences who like to reflect on the themes of their movies.
The credentials are impressive. The screenplay was written by Peter Morgan, best known for his political dramas like The Queen, The Special Relationship, The Last King of Scotland and Frost/Nixon. He has gone in a very different direction this time, a more meditative approach to his storytelling.
It’s very interesting that Clint Eastwood should choose to direct the film – and was in production when he turned 80 in May 2010. It is movie-making by an old man who is control of his skills but is thinking thoughts beyond this world.
He is exploring themes of near-death experience, the possibilities of an afterlife and of communicating with those who have died.
Clint Eastwood has been directing for more than 40 years as well as developing a screen personal for longer: an iconic western figure in the spaghetti westerns, the Dirty Harry policeman in that series as well as the symbolic gunfighters in his “religious” westerns.
He brought this acting career to a close with his coach and issues of assisted suicide in Million Dollar Baby and his gruff Walt, a Dirty Harry figure who finds self-sacrificing redemption. (After that, he made the tribute to Nelson Mandela, Invictus.)
The opening of Hereafter is quite overwhelming, action before the reflection. The re-creation of the tsunami in Thailand received an Oscar nomination. But, the film settles down to tell three very different stories.
The structure of the film is quite schematic. Sections of each story are told in regular turn until, in a pleasing way, the three central characters are brought together in London.
It should be said that Hereafter has quite a European feel to it rather than a glossy Hollywood style. That and the seriousness of the subject of the Hereafter might account for the film not doing very well at the US box-office.
The first story is set in Paris and concerns a TV journalist and host (Cecile de France) who tries to come to terms with what she experienced in almost drowning.
It affects her relationships and her work, and sends her to Switzerland to consult an expert on near-death (Marthe Keller).
The second story is set in San Francisco. George Lonegan (Matt Damon) works in a factory. We learn that he has powers, mysterious to him as well as to others, whereby he knows matters about a person by touching them.
He regrets these powers and the effect they have had on his life and resists the attempts of his brother (Jay Mohr) to make a business out of the phenomenon.
There is an episode where a young woman (Bryce Dallas Howard) who does a cooking course with George and she finds out more than she anticipated or wanted.
The third story is set in London. Twins live with their addict mother, trying to shield her from social workers. When one of the twins is killed in an accident and the other is sent to foster care, he wants to know more about his brother whom he senses is always with him. Frankie and George McLaren play the twins as recognisably ordinary boys.
It might seem impossible for the three central characters to meet but they do, not in an overtly contrived way, but satisfyingly. George’s love for Charles Dickens’ novels is an important factor. He listens to tapes of the novels (read by Derek Jacob whom he meets at the London Book Fair).
Clint Eastwood shows great sensitivity in dealing with the themes and in the performances he gets from the central figures.
This is a film to surrender to and it will be richly rewarding.
Fr Peter Malone MSC is an associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.
