Film

Hereafter

Rebecca Sear | Monday 31 January, 2011 12:12

Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Matt Damon, Cécile de France

Hereafter opens with a disaster which renders high-powered television journalist Marie (Cecile De France) unable to ignore questions about her destiny, and forces her to rethink her seemingly perfect life. Meanwhile, London school-boy Marcus (George and Frankie McLaren) is confronted with the untimely death of someone close to him and must address mortality alongside the arguably worse burden of living with his junkie mother in South London. Stateside, George Lonegan (Matt Damon) is a blue-collar San Franciscan who is struggling to keep his psychic abilities at bay, but is unwittingly drawn into the lives of Marie and Marcus. Will the three find what they’re searching for? Is there anything beyond our own ephemeral existence? Could Matt Damon’s character be any more monotonous?

The story begins promisingly—George meets a beautiful lady who might help him to forget his burden, Marie edges closer to the otherworldly, and Marcus sets off on a life-affirming personal journey- but the plot fails to take any distinctive shape. Even the portrayals of George’s visions of the dead are uninspired; vague, fuzzy human-shaped outlines, shining cherubically and accompanied by whispered messages to the living. The script takes some uninspired turns before looming towards the ultra predictable denouement. I shan’t spoil it for those intending to see this unoriginal excursion into the afterlife, but let’s just say that each banal event in the closing scenes of the film represents un petit mort for the story – and it’s not the good kind of climax, either.

The film does have a few redeeming factors. It has a reasonable cast; Matt Damon and Cécile de France are brilliant actors doing the best they can with a weak script. George and Frankie McLaren are a pleasant surprise considering that this is their first big acting break. However, the full potential of the cast is never realised due to the fragmented plot, and the characters simply aren’t likeable. At one point, Damon’s character leaves the rather sickly looking Marcus standing in the cold for hours.

Not cool, George, not cool.

The foundation of this film shows potential: it appeals to the innately human neurosis of the afterlife, and would certainly attract people who enjoyed films like The Sixth Sense and Stay. With a more than capable cast, provocative theme, and under the learned direction of Hollywood royalty such as Clint Eastwood, I was tricked into believing that Hereafter might hold promise. It isn’t enough about psychic abilities to be a thriller and it isn’t enough about love, death and the human
condition to be a compelling drama. It’s a world away from the aforementioned films, in that there is no real understanding reached about life or death. Unfortunately, Hereafter fails to be relevant to any kind of audience.

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