Filmed over two years ago and then shelved while
distributors decided what to do with it, Susanne Bier’s adaptation of the novel
SERENA finally sees a quiet release. It has all the ingredients of a perfect
recipe; an Oscar-winning director, an acclaimed novel, and a pair of actors who
have worked together before with great success. But just like any other list of
ingredients, what really matters is how it’s all mixed together.
In Depression-era North Carolina, George, an irresponsible
timber-baron (Bradley Cooper) marries Serena (Jennifer Lawrence), a headstrong
woman with experience in logging. As Serena struggles for respect in the male-dominated
business, George’s money troubles mount along with issues with his illegitimate
son; drawing attention from the Sheriff (Toby Jones) and local thug (Rhys
Ifans).
SERENA sets itself up as a morality tale about the pitfalls
of greed. George and Serena are both cut from the same cloth as they will both
go through great lengths to gain everything and even greater lengths to protect
it. The film guides the couple through episode after episode of financial woes,
a love-child, blackmail, murder, and sexism in the workplace in the 1920’s. The
episodic structure becomes the first misstep for SERENA, as the film struggles
to find a real connecting thread. The narrative comes off as clunky as chapter
after chapter opens and closes just as quickly as it arrived, and SERENA winds
up with no real objective or its own definition. When a movie tries to be about
too many things, it winds up being about nothing.
Director Susanne Bier, who once won an Oscar for Best Foreign
Language Film, presents a beautiful looking movie with lush landscapes and
excellent lighting, but struggles with the limp-ass script which gives
characters very little to do or work with. No character has much to accomplish
and nobody makes a connection to the audience, and it doesn’t take long to not
give-a-crap about anybody or what happens to them. And for the apparent dangers
the characters keep finding themselves in, there is never a feeling of real
tension or dread.
Acting is a big ball of ho-hum. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer
Lawrence, who have proven they can generate fireworks with each other in the
past, don’t generate enough spark to light a candle. Neither actor seems to
know what they are supposed to be doing as their accents drop in-and-out and
their interactions with each other go nowhere. Rhys Ifans basically mumbles his
way around, and Toby Jones sleepwalks his way through.
With all the problems the film as, none of it compares to
the ending…which is one of the most ridiculous, eye-rolling, head-shaking,
vomit-inducing, gut-busting resolutions ever filmed. It is so stupid and
laughable it makes the rest of the choppy and bland movie look like
Shakespeare. And after all that, you eventually realize that the title of the
movie has nothing do with the character it is named after. Yes, SERENA has all
the promising ingredients; but ingredients only taste right when they aren’t mixed in
a toilet.
BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it
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