The curious career of David Fincher...

Rating: 10/10 (8 February 2009)

"He must be selling out" lots of people thought upon hearing David Fincher, one of cinema's great masters of darkness (he directed Se7en and all that), had accepted to direct a Forrest Gump-like epic love story, based on the writing of F. Scott Fitzgerald, that had been considered by Ron Howard and - wait for it - Steven Spielberg. Surely he must be out of his mind? Of course not. After all, he was accused of repeating himself when word hit the streets he was making Zodiac, and that turned out to be a completely different opus.
Using Hurricane Katrina as a framing device (typical Fincher boldness), the film opens in a New Orleans hospital where an old woman named Daisy is spending her final moments with her daughter (Julia Ormond). At her mother's request, the latter agrees to read a journal written by Daisy's great love, while the hospital staff around them is busy organizing evacuations. The journal begins like this: "My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances...".
The story shifts to 1918: the first World War is over, and a blind clockmaker (Elias Koteas) celebrates by building a clock that goes backwards, saying it embodies his wish of things going differently. The man disappears and is never heard from again, and in another part of town Mr. Button (Jason Flemyng) is shocked when he loses his wife in childbirth and the baby is revealed to be horribly deformed. He abandons the child outside a retirement home, a most fitting choice since medical examination reveals the little boy was born with all the characteristics of an 80-year old man. Years pass, and Benjamin (Brad Pitt), as he's called by his adoptive mother (Taraji P. Henson) discovers he isn't very normal: while everyone else around him has a tendency to die of old age, he gets younger. As time goes by, he travels around the world and keeps running into Daisy (Cate Blanchett), who was his "childhood" sweetheart. Their relationship is inevitably complicated because of Benjamin's reversed aging, and as his life reaches its paradoxical epilogue he comes to realize that nothing ever lasts.
Yes, the line about things never lasting does remind of Forrest Gump's speech about chocolate, and given Eric Roth wrote both movies and Pitt's Southern accent is reminiscent of Tom Hanks' Gump tunes (especially during the narration), it's far too easy to label The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as just another shameless Oscar bait (that Zemeckis triumphed over The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction is still a sour memory). But there's a lot more to the film's credit than meets the eye: firstly, the story is a much more epic deal, with additional kudos coming from the literary source, and a smart, thoughtful reflection on mortality and doomed love (so there is some darkness, after all); secondly, Benjamin is a more complex and intriguing character than Forrest, and Brad Pitt's understated performance enriches him even more (and Blanchett is, as always, extraordinary).
Furthermore, the film allows Fincher to explore one of his favorite themes, featured prominently in Fight Club: film as a medium, an artificial product. Not only does he enjoy recreating pieces of cinema at its earliest stages (the flashbacks from circa 1900 are shot as if those scenes had been filmed in that very period) and toying with the on-screen notion of time (the backwards war sequence, which plays out as a reversal of the most technically impressive part of Zodiac); there's even a hint of deliberate irony in the casting of Elle Fanning (Pitt and Blanchett's daughter in Babel) as Daisy aged seven (and that's without mentioning Pitt's opportunity to relive his Thelma and Louise years, thanks to a remarkable mix of make-up and CGI).
So yes, it's the kind of film the Academy tends to notice, but that might just be their way of apologizing for overlooking Fight Club (and Zodiac). And yes, there's a love story, but one that goes hand in hand with a not-so-cheerful theme like death. And yes, it may be the director's most mainstream project to date (complete with PG-13 rating), but rumor has it he argued with Warner Bros. over the running time (166 minutes) and fought to keep his vision intact. Now, who said he is selling out?
9,5/10