BEFORE: James McAvoy carries over from last night's film, and so do most of the other actors, but not all of them. This is because I'm now going to see the other side of the story of this relationship in crisis, and the wife and husband were spending time apart, so they obviously interacted with different people, I would assume.
I'm fascinated by a different telling of the same events, but I'm also frustrated by the possibility that I'll gain no special insight by watching both films, or perhaps I'll get some insight from this second film, but none from the third film. You know what I mean.
THE PLOT: Told from the female perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.
AFTER: OK, I have to admit this film was helpful in filling in the gaps left from the "Him" film, but of course that's exactly what it was intended to do. After she "disappeared", where did she go? Now we know - so by watching the "Her" film second, I at least kept the mystery alive for a little longer. Even though this feels "correct", that I watched the husband's side of the same story first, it's also possible that it might have also felt "correct" if I had done the reverse. Then HER story would have had a lot of gaps in it, and I'd be wondering what the deal with the husband was, where did he work, where did he live, who did he sleep with, etc.
Her story starts in a different place, which is a little later than the "Him" film starts, but in the first few scenes we learn how she ended up in the hospital, where he visited her in the last film. And then there are only three scenes - no, sorry, I think it's four - after that which are common to both films, so that represents the number of times that they encounter each other after that. But if you pay close attention, there are times when they ALMOST encounter her, like one of them could be on a train station platform and not see the other walk by in the background. I'm sure stuff like that happens all over NYC all the time. I've bumped into my ex-wife once or twice on subway platforms, so this rings true to me.
But I'm not sure if Eleanor's personality ever really comes through here - perhaps it was an acting choice to depict someone who closed off her emotions after suffering a great personal loss? She goes back to stay at her parents' house in Connecticut for a while, but she's often at odds with them, though she does seem to enjoy spending time with her younger sister and her nephew. There are many forms of therapy, and going out clubbing might be one for some people, almost having sex with random strangers, maybe not so much. But at least she's trying to figure out who she is and how she wants to move forward. She enrolls in a couple of classes (Wikipedia says she goes to NYU, but the dialogue in this 2nd film contradicts that, plus the building's location suggests Cooper Union.) and bonds with the teacher, who's a friend of her father.
But the "Her" volume is more flashbacky, which explains some things, like a past joyride to nowhere that motivates the present-tense "Hey, let's rent a car..." scene but also serves to make things a bit more confusing overall, because there's no subtitle or other indication that we're watching a flashback. It also cleared up the fact that Eleanor was really there in the apartment when Conor came to pack things up, from just watching the "Him" film I thought he might have imagined her being there.
I must be crazy if I'm considering watching the "Them" version, especially if it contains no new footage, and is merely an exercise in editing. But "Them" shares an actor with the next film, and "Her" doesn't, so it looks like I'm going to invest another 2 hours in this story. By the end of tomorrow I think I'll remember more about Eleanor and Conor's marriage than I do my own....
Also starring Jessica Chastain, Nina Arlanda, Viola Davis, Bill Hader, Isabelle Huppert, Nikki M. James (all carrying over from "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him"), William Hurt (last seen in "Into the Wild"), Jess Weixler (last seen in "The Face of Love"), Katherine Waterston (last seen in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"), Ryan Eggold, Will Beinbrink, Wyatt Ralff.
RATING: 5 out of 10 Splenda packets
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