 How would the world look if you lived your life backwards? How could lovers maintain relationships if the age gap grew wider each year? “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, based on a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald, tries to make sense of these questions.
Brad Pitt, reunited with director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club), plays Benjamin, born into an old man’s body which grows younger as he grows older. Cate Blanchett is Daisy, Benjamin’s childhood friend and the love of his life.
The film pitches itself as a love story. The couple first meet as children in the retirement home where Benjamin, the 80-year-old baby, is brought up. Gradually growing younger, he leaves for life on the high seas and sees action in World War II. Love blooms on his return home as their ages temporarily converge, but eventually they have to confront their now growing age gap. Despite the tear-jerking potential, the romance does not engage the viewer, perhaps because the impressive technical effects distract from the emotions. For much of the film, their makeup leaves Pitt and Blanchett with little more than their eyes to act with, but Pitt expresses the wide-eyed innocence of a child pensioner well. The exploration of the ageing process and the life cycle are more affective than the romantic plot line. The idea that people return to the helplessness of infancy in old age becomes literally true, with Benjamin appearing to suffer from dementia as he reaches infancy. And the cinematic cliché linking the elderly with falling autumn leaves is given a new twist as the 80 year old Daisy strolls hand-in-hand with the eight year old Benjamin. But when a film like this arrives at cinemas with a near-record 13 Oscar nominations, it carries a certain burden of expectations. We demand originality, stunning performances or a weighty message. Unfortunately for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, high production values alone cannot make up for that missing, elusive cinematic magic. Fact File on Brad Pitt
Twice named ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ by People, Brad Pitt can ugly himself up when he wants to prove he can act. Here’s how he has done it: Thelma and Louise (1991) – romantic robber Twelve Monkeys (1995) – twitching, paranoid madman Snatch (2000) – incomprehensible gypsy fighter Babel (2006) – a forty something showing his age The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) – 80-year-old baby But maybe he has his limits. When Benjamin Button became a spotty teenager, it was child actor Spencer Daniels’s face that got the acne.
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