Where’d You Go, Bernadette (2019)
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Where’d You Go, Bernadette Movie Review
Where’d You Go, Bernadette is a 2019 comedy drama film directed by Richard Linklater and starring Cate Blanchett. It’s a messy, but sweet flick.
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“People like you must create.
That’s what you were brought into this world to do, Bernadette.
If you don’t, you become a menace to society“
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Former architect Bernadette Fox seems to have it all – a beautiful home in Seattle, a successful and loving husband, and a brilliant teenage daughter who’s about to attend boarding school. When Bernadette suddenly disappears without a trace, her concerned family sets off on an exciting adventure to solve the mystery of where she might have gone.
Unfortunately, that premise was a bit squandered on a movie that is so messy in structure and pacing that it really annoyed me. Its biggest problem is that the third act, which should have been massive and epic is just, well, a third act. It should have been at least half of the movie. That makes this movie one of the oddest in terms of structure that I have seen recently.
But I still liked the movie because it is so incredibly sweet. That ending was wonderful and quite moving while the setting of Antarctica was so well realized. The importance of family is greatly explored here, especially as it relates to mental illness of a family member.
The characterization is also quite good as is the acting. I really liked Kristen Wiig here. She’s very subtle and her character is quite complex and ultimately endearing. The relationship between the two women is one of the film’s highlights. Billy Crudup’s performance is the weakest of the movie, but the character overall is fine. The daughter is great and the mother-daughter relationship here is very emotional.
As for the titular character, Bernadette is superbly developed and quite complicated. The movie follows her so closely that you come to know her really well. She wouldn’t have worked twice as good had it not been for Cate’s excellent performance. She shines so brightly that she entirely steals the show from everybody else.
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Where’d You Go, Bernadette unfortunately is terribly structured and paced, but the dialogue is good and the film is emotionally resonant. Linklater’s direction here is among his weakest, but the overall movie is far from his worst.
