THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ELEANOR RIGBY, which opens today, September 12, is not your average film- in fact, it's three. Writer/director Ned Benson has created a new kind of trilogy, one that will sure to be interesting for film buffs and romance junkies alike.
The triptych will follow a breakup between a young married couple living in New York City, and each film will tell the tale from a different perspective. The first, titled THEM, is now running nationwide, while the two others, HIM and HER, will be released sometime next month in select theaters. THEM is actually a combination of sorts HIM and HER, but provides fresh information.
The films star Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy as Eleanor Rigby and Connor Ludlow respectively, alongside Viola Davis, William Hurt, Isabelle Huppert, and Jess Weixler.
Let's see what the critics had to say!
A.O. Scott, The New York Times: That movie turns out to be interesting, affecting and impressively astute.
Claudia Puig, USA Today: In the film's portrayal of anguish, some fragments convey a compelling emotional depth, while other scenes fall flat.
Kyle Smith, The New York Post: Again and again, Benson freshens a familiar story with crystalline moments that make us feel for these smart, recognizable characters.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: However you choose to see this emotional powerhouse, Chastain and McAvoy could not be better.
Stephen Whitty, The Star-Ledger: It's canny to be concise, and even at times a little conventional. But what the compression has resulted in is something artistically rewarding, as well: A story told from two points of view, without favoritism, in which each character is allowed to be right, wrong, endearing, infuriating and utterly human.
Dana Stevens, Slate: For all its disappointments, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them has only increased my desire to see the two separate movies that were cut together to make it.
Brigid Ronan, The Source: Chastain's skill as an actress needs no introduction; as the melancholy Eleanor searching for an identity in an unsympathetic world, she seethes with quiet rage. Her romantic chemistry with McAvoy is so natural, it's impossible not to want them to stick together though they remain stubbornly at odds with one another.
Jason Bailey, Flavorwire: It's a very good film, but throughout it, its phantom limbs tingle, hinting that it was something much more special before its Frankenstein job.
David Sims, The Wire: ...most of the time, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is undone by its clunky, on-the-nose dialogue and its reliance on plotty clichés.
David Crow, Den of Geek: The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is such a rich tapestry of heartache and emotional longing from all walks of life that it does in fact live up to the hefty pedigree of its namesake.
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