Did you catch Danny Boyle's stage production of Frankenstein a few years ago, live from the National Theater in London? You might have heard of it. The schtick was that lead actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller would rotate roles each night, each playing both Dr. Frankenstein and the Creature. No? Well, you can catch a film now that attempted the same thing.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is actually a series of films, written and directed by Ned Benson, which focuses on a marriage in turmoil. Initially broken down into two films, each one focused primarily on one perspective. Her told the film throw the eyes of Eleanor (the always wonderful Jessica Chastain) as she struggles with the tragedy and aftermath that strained her marriage. Him focuses on Conor (James MacAvoy) as he does the same. Though the two ultimately share little screen time together in the same scenes, this perspective change sometimes caused the same line to be said in both versions, but with different deliveries to enhance the lead character's perception on the situation.
An ambitious idea, and certainly an interesting one. Them attempts to cut the two separate films together to create one digestible, cohesive story while trying to separate the two perspectives all the same. To an extent, this is inherently lost, but they actually do a solid job keeping the two views segregated - largely by keeping the two characters apart.
The cinematography also assists in notifying viewers when the perspective is changing. Eleanor is often shot in brighter, warmer colors. Though still struggling to deal with all that has recently happened, she is at least attempting to move forward. Failing, but attempting just the same. Despite her depressing beginning, there is still a strange heir of hope around her world. She has her loving family to support her and a professor to connect with. Conor, meanwhile, is often kept in poorly lit, grey and bleak colors. He isn't even attempting to deal with all that has happened, instead spiraling downward in an attempt to run away from it all. He doesn't have the same support system and often appears crazy - which in turn keeps his friends from really being able to help him.
Overall, the film is effective in showing two unique and distinct view points of a relationship faltering in the face of tragedy. Every once in a while, Benson chooses to throw in some flashbacks to when everything was romantically cliche and adorable. Not until near the end of the film do we finally get told just what exactly it was that caused this cheesy romance to fall apart (and that tragedy is perhaps pretty predictable).
The dialogue can teeter on the edge of trying too hard. Most noticeably, Eleanor and Conor both have fathers that speak in pseudo-poetry. "Tragedy is a foreign country," Eleanor's father (played by William Hurt) says. "We don't know how to speak to the natives." Conor's father doesn't fair much better in the corny dialogue, but then, neither does MacAvoy, who often spouts Lifetime caliber love lines in the flashback sequences.
Still, Them gives us enough of an insight into both characters (especially Eleanor) that perhaps it is worth watching Her and Him separately. This actually makes it slightly more successful than Boyle's Frankenstein, which suffered from little addition to watching the production again with an actor swap. Them does a solid job melding two films into one, but it inevitably still feels like something is missing. It's unlikely that if Them is playing in theaters near you, you'll get a release of both Him and Her, but if anything, Them is successful - as a less uncomfortable and more hopeful version of Blue Valentine - in selling the other two parts.
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