reel_emotion
Based on the novel by Julian Barnes and directed by Philip Saville (Masterpiece Theatre's The Buccaneers, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil miniseries), Metroland is a charming little British movie. It's a character study of Chris, played by Christian Bale (American Psycho, Batman Begins, Rescue Dawn), in an early role that is a nice change of pace for him. Bale captures this sweet, geeky, funny every-man character brilliantly. In 1977, now a married man with a baby girl, Chris lives in the suburb of Metroland, his hometown, where he vowed as a teenager that he would leave and never return. Every working day he takes the mass transit rail out of the suburb to London to his job at an advertising agency. He wanted to be a globe-trotting photographer, but settled for this. Chris seems content with his life, but when his ne'er-do-well chum Toni, played by Lee Ross (Secrets and Lies), shows up, Chris has a midlife crisis, albeit a young midlife crisis. Toni's appearance brings back the memories of his carefree life before marriage and responsibility: during the 1960s, when he lives in Paris, takes photographs, and has his first serious girlfriend, Annick (Elsa Zylberstein). Bale plays a naive, love sick man to Annick's worldly, sexy French woman. They start an intense sexual affair, and Chris is quite smitten with Annick until he meets Marion—all decked out in go-go boots, liquid eyeliner, and a That-Girl hair flip. Chris is attracted to Marion mainly because she can see through some of his foolishness. In one conversation between the two—reminiscent of It's a Wonderful Life, in which James Stewart informs Donna Reed that he doesn't want to marry or have kids, but then gleefully gives in, kissing Reed—, Chris tells Marion that he wants to stay on in Paris and doesn't want to get married and have children. Marion cruelly replies, "You're not original enough to." Chris reconsiders his relationship with Annick, who he has nothing in common with—only lust. And he chooses Marion. In one of many funny scenes, Chris is in bed with his wife, Marion, played by Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves, Hilary and Jackie, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep). He starts kissing her sweetly, but she is too tired for that. He says to her, "I can't remember the last time." "Yesterday morning," she replies. Then he says, "Yeah, we used to do it three times a day." She says, "It only happened once, and you complained about being sore a week afterwards." He smiles and replies, "Sore, but very smug." This changes Marion's mind, but they are soon interrupted by their daughter's cry--such is the life of a family man. During Toni's visit, Marion makes her dislike for him clear to Chris who defends his lifelong friend. Toni is bound and determined to lead Chris astray, so that Toni can prove to himself that he made the right decision not to settle down. Toni plays his part well as the devil on Chris' shoulder. At his party, Tony convinces one of his free minded girlfriends to give Chris a shag. Just as Chris is considering consummation, he imagines Marion being carried away in an ambulance. When Toni happens to pass by the room, Chris realizes that Toni put her up to it—and is insulted and leaves. It shows how even the closest, longest friendships can die in adulthood when people choose to go down different paths. Later Chris suspects something happened between Marion and Toni, and he gets into fisticuffs with Toni. Marion tells Chris that he made a pass at her; she was somewhat tempted, but refused. As Toni gets ready to leave town, Chris and he make up somewhat half-heartedly. While taking a bath together, Chris tells Marion about the girl at Toni's party who he nearly slept with, and, of course, Marion has an ongoing joke of telling Chris to go ahead and have an affair. Marion then reveals to Chris she had a one night stand long ago and tells him that it won't happen again. We don't know if this is true, or if Marion is only trying to spice things up—because as a result of her confession, they have passionate sex. And afterwards she kids him about having sex with the girl at the party.Christian Bale's mutton chops and flared collars and pants legs give the movie a real retro feel. Bale has some great comedic moments here. In one of two very good scenes, Toni takes Chris to a punk rock concert, but Chris hates punk and only tolerates it by getting drunk and stoned. Chris comes home quite randy and keeps trying to pull Marion down on the bed in his inebriated state. The other scene is Chris' first date with Annick in which he conspicuously kisses her—and pulls her into bed awkwardly. The female characters teeter on being stereotypical. Annick and Marion are the archetype of the all-knowing, all-beautiful, all-witty woman to the archetype of Chris as the bumbling, sex obsessed male. Emily Watson's performance elevates Marion's character, so she doesn't turn into a shrew—we can sympathize with her as Chris shuts her out as he daydreams about his glory days of youth. We also feel sympathy towards Annick as she goes from being the experienced one in the relationship to being the needy and jealous one as Chris matures. I describe Metroland as a British cozy romantic dramedy—if such a thing exists. Some memorable scenes and some funny moments make the film worthwhile. As does the good acting between Bale and Watson, who make it more than a forgettable flick. Bale and Watson have good chemistry and repeat that again in the 2002 Sci-Fi cult classic, Equilibrium. Metroland is a movie you rarely see now: a movie that deals intelligently and realistically with themes of adulthood.
minkmocha
I agree with all the posts about what this movie was about -- a man evaluating his present life. But what made this film so good to me was the fantastic acting by Christian Bale and Emily Watson who portrayed their characters so authentically. As a 30 yo single woman myself, the relationships portrayed in this movie came off in a genuine way. What it's like to be married for nearly 10 years and how to preserve the love in the relationship and yet deal w/ the tensions and problems from it. All of this was portrayed subtly, sensitively, and with humour at many times throughout this movie in a natural and unforced way. I credit this to Christian Bale and Emily Watson's acting abilities and the Director's talent. To me, underlying the mid-life crisis of one man in this movie is the theme of "relationship" and how he gets his life from them. Whether it's with his wife, girlfriend or best friend from childhood. I really thought everything about this moview was excellent: script, acting, directing, scenes. More than that, it captured the subtle nuances and emotions shared between people which wasn't stated in words but one "felt" as a viewer that one knew what that look meant or the silent treatment was for. It's now my favorite top 10 movies in my book.
J Biz
Metroland is true to the midlife crisis, except between two people who haven't quite reached that stage of their lives yet. Christian Bale plays an Englishman who begins to reminisce about his past in the mid and late '60s when an old friend (played by Lee Ross) comes back to stir up his life. While I felt that the story was strong and seemingly dramatic enough to keep me interested and entertained, the character played by Lee Ross just seemed unnecessary. This character is supposed to build the plot the first half of the movie and I felt this could've been reached in many other directions.And if you love France, well, you'll love the beautiful depiction of French women with an excellent performance given by Elsa Zylberstein, Bale's character's 'old flame' that he thinks about constantly throughout the film.Beautiful 'still' cinematography throughout is perfect for Bale's character's love for photography and makes the film very watchable just for art's sake.By the time I reached the last 45 minutes or so, I was much more intrigued and worried for the well-being of Bale's marriage with his present day (1977) wife, played wonderfully by Emily Watson. The tension between the two of them throughout the film is far more than believable and I loved it.While I wanted to give this movie a much higher rating, I think it is fair to say that the first half moves much too slow. I was also slightly disappointed by the ending of the film, but it was still a great surprise and hit me unexpectedly. I highly recommend for Bale/Watson fans.
