Conversations with Other Women
I was browsing the internet to see what other films she did besides “Brick”, and when I saw that this is going to be some sort of dialogue-based love story between 40-somethings played by Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter, I could not resist. I knew that the story wouldn’t be anything special, and I wasn’t really sure if I would like the split-screen, but ultimately the film showed to be exactly what I expected.
Only I didn’t like the dialogue all that much. Perhaps I just have wanted more than the two characters talking about their own love lifes, screwing each other and subsequently childishly trying to ruin the other person’s life during a short moment of rage. All in all, I wasn’t too impressed by the writing itself, it was more like exactly what you would expect from a movie like this, and to me, it only speaks for how immensely boring people must be in their fourties. As a depiction of such, it was fairly brilliant though; I love the contempt in their voice when they say “23 August the 12th” (his new girlfriend) and “Jeff the cardiologist” (her new husband) XD
Apart from that, I liked how the story unfolded, and I actually must admit that I even liked the split screen approach. Sure, it’s a little bit annoying, but the smart way the film was cut contributed to the depiction of the character: Either both of them were shown, or their past was shown. That was rather nice, in my opinion.
Despite the wonderfully acted yet absolutely dislikable characters, I have ended up finding both of them fairly interesting. He’s clearly still wooing her and she has already adopted a very sad, nonchalant view of the world, in which she has to hide the fact that she smokes from her current husband. For these kinds of somewhat sophisticated details, I liked the movie, and it was thoroughly enjoyable to watch, but ultimately the film doesn’t leave all that deep of an impression.