Monday 10 October 2016

Christine (2016)



Antonio Campos’s film Christine bears no resemblance to the Stephen King film adaptation, but it is, in its very own way, very much a horrific story. Christine is based on the infamous true story in which 1970s TV news reporter Christine Chubbuck (Rebecca Hall) took her own life, live on air with a handgun she smuggled into the news room.

Antonio Campos’ film doesn’t try to work out why Christine Chubbuck shot herself live on air, but instead show her life up until that tragic event. Brilliantly played by Rebecca Hall, Campos’s character study (working on a script by Craig Shilowich) fleshes out the character Christine as a rather standoffish, unapproachable type, these behavioural traits deeply affected the quality of the relationships Christine had with others, arguably leading to her eventual suicide. The film shows the importance of close and intimate relationships, and Christine’s inability to grasp a hand of friendship becomes a major cause in her feelings of extreme loneliness which was compounded by her lack of romantic relationships, for example nothing ever materialised out of her long standing crush on co-worker George Ryan (Michael C. Hall).

Rebecca Hall is superb in the role, she shows Christine’s ambition and elicits strong levels of sympathy for a woman who struggles to grow relationships with others, this not only affects her mental wellbeing but also her chances of promotion at work, another source of stress for Christine as she feels she isn’t being recognised for her talents, perhaps pulled back by the sexist attitudes of a male dominated environment. Christine’s constant criticism of herself and inability to accept compliments also adds further pressures on her working life as she’s too quick to blame herself.

It’s a sensitive performance by Rebecca Hall for a character who really deserves our sympathy and whilst the film does present her as a person who is not always easy to approach, it remains a sensitive examination of depression and loneliness caused by one’s inability to form close social bonds with others. Craig Shilowich’s script also does a fine job respectfully fleshing out Christine’s character and whilst it doesn’t lend enough importance to Christine’s romantic loneliness, it remains a deep discussion of bi-polarism and depression.

4/5

10 comments:

  1. This sounds like a very interesting film. I'll definitely give it a try. Great review!

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    1. Thanks. Not fully when it released to a general audience but I think it's sometime this year

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  2. I automatically assumed this was the King adaptation when I clicked on the link since I never heard of Christine Chubbuck, let alone her doing something so horrific on live TV. This sounds like something I need to see.

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    1. Haha. A lot of people I spoke to assumed the same, had to clarify each time.

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  3. I'm jealous you got to see this already! I really hope Hall gets some Oscar buzz for this role. It's being so poorly marketed.

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    1. I've been waiting to see this since The Guardian released a 5 star review of the film back in January, luckily I saw that is was screening at the London Film Festival so I took the chances to see it.

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  4. It saddens me to say that I know nothing about the real Christine, but I'm going to see this asap. Rebecca Hall looked fantastic in the trailer I saw, and I hope the Oscars notice her!
    - Allie

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    1. I have a feeling she won't be nominated...nothing on Hall just not an 'Oscar' film.

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  5. Excellent review! I've been looking forward to seeing this for a long time, hopefully I get to soon

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    1. Thanks. Yeah, I'd been looking forward to film since the start of the year, saw they were selling tickets at the London Film Festival and snapped them up

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