> REVIEW
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We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)
Mummy’s beautiful little monster…
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By Helen Adkins | October 2011
Artificial Eye©
DIRECTOR: Lynne Ramsay
WRITER(s): Lynne Ramsay/Rory Kinnear
On a basic level, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin is a horror story. A child (Kevin) is born, and almost from birth appears intent on ruining his mother’s life. She cannot bond with him, nor him with her. As he grows, he finds ever new and inventive ways to mentally torture her, culminating in one final, violent act. There’s nothing she can do.
Or so it would seem. The skill of Ramsay’s handling of the narrative means that her film is horrific but so much more, partly because she’s chosen to stay close to the themes raised in Lionel Shriver’s original novel of the same name – the arbitrary and subjective nature of parenthood. Who is to blame when things go wrong? Is a problem child a product or was he born this way? Is there such a thing as pure evil? How much of human behaviour is down to basic parenting?
All these are questions that can’t be answered in a couple of hours but then Ramsay isn’t in the business of trying. Instead, she lays out a narrative that’s tragic and horrible yet ambiguous and deeply thoughtful. At every turn, the audience is forced to take on a new perspective rather than come to any conclusions. Are Kevin’s actions based on obsession, love or hatred? Is there any difference when the relationship is between child and mother? The only fact we know by the end is that parenthood can be wonderful, but also a living hell.
Tilda Swinton is perfectly cast as Eva, the reluctantly pregnant travel writer, taken away from her city dwelling life when husband Franklin (John C Reilly) persuades her that children can only flourish in the suburbs. With her young son Kevin (Jasper Newell) she struggles with her new role, trying to establish a space for herself while trying to build for her and her difficult son what she thinks is ‘normal’ family life. Instead, Kevin, appears to sense every ounce of resentment she has and punishes her brutally for it.
As Kevin grows, he only becomes more obnoxious and dangerous. And he is horrible, right down to the too tight clothes he wears – a way of showing his discomfort around her – the sheer destructive response to every attempt she makes towards him. While he ruins any attempt she makes to bond, he appears to bond well with his father, and thus slowly pulls apart her life.
Ramsay fractures the narrative throughout. One minute, Eva is padding around her Grand Designs suburban palace, trying to make life work. Then she’s in a run-down shack, vandalised with red paint, where she continues her punishment, now at the hands of herself. Her eyes only see what’s gone on before, as she pops pills and guzzles red wine. She manages to stay alive, only just, for reasons we will find out.
At times the film moves slowly, but Ramsay fills the screen with stunningly powerful imagery. Bodily fluids feature prominently, symbolising the unbreakable bond between parent and child. The film juxtaposes the sublime with the visceral – flowing muslin curtains across an open door hide the horror beyond, while the opening scene of a joyful Eva, pre-children, bathed in raw tomatoes whilst researching one of her travel pieces on Spanish Fiesta becomes a horrible portent of the future.
Ezra Miller is fantastically vile and demonic as the teenage Kevin, while John C Reilly plays another in a series of overly cheerful men in the face of disaster. But this undeniably Swinton’s film who leads with precision and breathtaking skill.
There’s a terrible moment when the audience is struck with the realisation there is no way out of this situation. There’s no climax that can believably separate these two people. In one lighter moment of the film, two Christians come to Eva’s paint splattered shack to ask her if she knows where she’s going in the Afterlife. For the first time, her face lights up. “Oh, I know where I’m going,” she says. “Straight to Hell.”
Script…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Carefully and respectfully adapted from the Lionel Shriver’s novel of the same
name, Ramsay and Rory Kinnear create a restrained but powerful script. 5
Direction………………………………………………………………………………………..
Searing raw emotion is conveyed brilliantly with beautiful imagery making
Ramsay’s film a pleasure to watch, despite the difficult subject matter. 5
Verdict…………………………………………………………………………………………..
An astonishingly eloquent and elegant film that deals brilliantly in raw hopeless emotions on a deep level. Without doubt one of the finest films of the year. 5
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