The Congress *** (2013, Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, Danny Huston) – Movie Review

Robin Wright bravely plays a version of herself, an aging, 44-year-old out-of-work actress who has made bad career, partner and life choices. But her agent Al (Harvey Keitel) talks her into reluctantly accepting one last job, becoming a for-ever-young visual image of herself for Miramount studio boss (Danny Huston). As condition of the contract, she can never work as an actress again, not even in Western Australia.

The first hour of this two-hour Hollywood satire are excellent, driven by fine, crackling dialogue and finer performances. Wright, Keitel and Huston really are very good indeed, giving it the power and personality it needs. Kodi Smit-McPhee and Paul Giamatti are welcome presences but less effective as Wright’s son Aaron and his doctor, Dr Barker.

Then it becomes an animation, and it’s far, far less interesting, with a lot of undigested hippy dippy ideas that induce indigestion. It all seems a bit bewildering and vaguely pretentious. Though, that said, the animation is very well done and attractive, and it has entertaining moments along the way. But it all goes on far too long. A little of this would be fine, but only a very little, and it’s a relief when actual humans re-appear on screen.

Nevertheless, plenty of imagination and effort has gone into this odd and intriguing movie, that’s well worth a look, even if you perhaps really only want to see the first half of it. Certainly, director Ari Folman has taken on an interesting project in adapting Stanislaw Lem’s novel, and done an engrossing, commendable job. Born in 1963 in Haifa, Israel, he is best known for his excellent last film, Waltz with Bashir in 2008.

Playing herself at 44, Wright is not actually that young, she’s 48, and of course she has actually been busy making films in the last 15 years.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

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Kodi Smit-McPhee.