Serena *** (2014, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Toby Jones) – Movie Review

Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are ideally teamed and perfectly cast in this ambitious romantic Western, set in late-1920s Depression-era North Carolina, but filmed in the Czech Republic. And filmed very beautifully. It’s a costly-looking, incredibly handsome, old-style production, with a great sense of the place and period, meticulously crafted all round, and lovingly helmed by Danish director Susanne Bier.

The only trouble is that the story is quite a depressing downer, and that it’s so old fashioned it belongs to another era of film-making and movie-going entirely. There should be space and a welcome for this kind of out-of-its-time movie, but I’ll bet there isn’t. How do you sell it? And to whom?

It reminded me of Anthony Minghella‘s Cold Mountain (2003) with Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger, though this is a better movie. Without the pretentions of epic filming, it’s tauter, more intense, more effective and more impactful. [Indeed Lawrence reminds me a lot of a young Zellweger, so much that’s it’s a bit uncanny.] Cold Mountain got a fairly frosty reception, despite a lot of good work in it, and that fate looks like it will be repeated here.

And so, in Christopher Kyle‘s screenplay, freely based on the book by Ron Rash, everything is pretty good with George Pemberton’s timber empire, apart from a few money problems, and the odd death from rattlesnakes, and a few accidents ,until the arrival of the handsome but tough Serena Shaw on the scene. She’s a femme fatale. George becomes instantly smitten, and they marry suddenly, upsetting Geo’s right-hand man Buchanan (David Dencik), who is a ‘bachelor’ and may be jealous of Serena, at least she says so.

It emerges that has had a fling with Rachel (Ana Ularu), making her pregnant, but Serena isn’t worried. What’s past is past, she says, that is till she gets pregnant, loses the baby and it is learned that she cannot bear children. Then she’s jealous of Rachel and her child.

A bunch of Brits in the cast do well by their period American look and accents, with Toby Jones outstanding as the creepy town Sheriff and Rhys Ifans doing nice and nastily as the even creepier timber foreman Galloway, who will stop at nothing to repay his debt to Serena after her speedy action saves his life. Annoyingly, though, good Brits actors Sam Reid and Christian McKay get virtually nothing to do,

This is a story about trust and betrayal, which is always good. [Spoiler alert] But Geo and Serena of course also turn out to be the kind of folk who will stop at nothing to protect their property, lives and love. They start out reasonably likeable and sympathetic, but then about two thirds through the movie, they’re willing to kill, and you part company with them, wanting them to end up in jail or on the gallows.

The film’s tragic turn ends up making it a depressing experience. It’s never been a lot of fun, but you are engrossed in it for its first two acts, wondering where it’s going, and what the central duo and assorted villains are going to do next.

So eventually all the good, hard work starts to unravel. But it keeps you watching because it remains good looking and slightly unfathomable, rather like its two stars. It never gets boring, or even dull, and it’s certainly worth a look for those who like old-style outdoor adventure movies. It’s so near to being a really good movie you start to feel little bit sorry for everyone involved. It just lacks that elusive something that would make it fascinating.

By the way, the film may be called Serena, but George is the main character and Cooper the main, top-billed star. If only for that reason alone, it was easy to guess that a man had written the story. It’s a good role for Lawrence but not the best. It’s certainly a better role for Cooper though. No disrespect to the name George, but you get the idea why they wouldn’t want to call a film that. ,also by the way, Serena is poorly named as she’s surely one of the least serene characters this year.

When Lawrence read the script for Serena, she sent a copy to her Silver Linings Playbook co-star Cooper and asked if he would do it with her. While I was watching it, I thought how great they’d be together in a remake of Hitchcock’s Marnie.

It was first screened on 13 October 2014 at the London Film Festival ahead of its UK release on 24 October.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

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