With his unique vision, writer / director Ned Benson ambitiously captures a complete picture of a relationship in the beautifully relatable portrait of love, empathy and truth that is The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. Once happily married, Conor (James McAvoy) and Eleanor (Jessica Chastain) suddenly find themselves as strangers longing to understand each other in the wake of tragedy.
The film explores the couple’s story as they try to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone. Screened for the first time at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Benson’s latest version of their story combines his previous two films – titled HIM and HER – uniting their perspectives and taking a further look into the subjectivity of relationships.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is the collective title of three films written and directed by Ned Benson. The films star Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, and is Benson’s first feature film project. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is broken into three films, Him, Her and Them. Him and Her were screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival as a “work in progress”. Them premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.[5] Them premiered in the United States on September 12, 2014, while Him and Her will be released together as a double feature on October 10, 2014 in select art house cinemas.
About the Film
All three films follow the same time period, but are told from the differing perspectives of Connor Ludlow (James McAvoy) and Eleanor Rigby (Jessica Chastain), a young married couple living in New York. Him looks at their relationship from Connor’s angle, while Her follows Eleanor’s. Connor works in his restaurant while his wife Eleanor returns to college for further education. During the course of their daily lives, the couple encounters a life changing event that threatens the stability of their marriage.
Connor Ludlow meet Elanor Rigby for the first time, and quickly falls for her. Connor ask her on a date, resulting the couple running from the restaurant, due to the higher bills. Years later, The couple got married, and have a son. But their son later died, due to an illness, which prompt Rigby to commit suicide, by drowning herself on the water, however she was saved by a Lifeguard, resulting her in a hospital.
After hearing the news, Connor runs to the hospital to picked Rigby, but he found Rigby have left after being picked by her parents. During the course of their daily lives, the couple encounters a life changing event that threatens the stability of their marriage. Resulting Rigby to leave Connor. Connor search for her through the entire city of New York, but unnable to found her. Connor the successfully found Rigby in her campus.
Rigby left the campus, which prompr Connor to chase her, but this however fails, since their son’s death. Connor angrily leaves Rigby alone, but Rigby chases him, after Connor got hit by cab-driver.
Sometimes after continuing on their daily lives, Rigby visit Connor in his own bar. The couple begin to circling around the city, to found “Someplace good” that Rigby mentions. The two begin to have sex, but Connor interuputed Rigby, that he was having an affair, Rigby however ignore this. Connor was disappointed that Rigby does not wanted to repair their relationship.
Connor then visit his fathers bar, asking him for a loan, but his father refuse, instead wanted Connor to take-over his restaurant. Connor was hesitate by the offer, but his father tell him to “take your time”.
When clearing their own apartment, Rigby found Connor falls asleep, unexpectedly wake him. She apologize to Connor for “Disappearing”. She also ask what her son look like when he died. Connor replies that he was “very much like you”. She then ask Connor if they will found “someplace good”. The two begin to have sex. In the next morning, Rigby left Connor, without saying goodbye.
Some moments later, Rigby decided to take a vacation in Paris. Before departing, her father tells her that she was nearly drowned, when she was young, and glad that she was “okay”, when she landed in his feet. Rigby departed to Paris until next summer.
Years later, Connor successfully taking over his father restaurant. While walking on the park Rigby was also walking in the park, unnotice to found Connor was also there. In Him, Connor looks behind to find Rigby was behind her. While in Her, Rigby found Connor, and call his name, wondering if it’s really him. In Them, The two walks off without noticing each other.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
Directed by: Ned Benson
Starring: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bill Hader, Isabelle Huppert, Nina Arianda, William Hurt
Screenplay by: Ned Benson
Cinematography by: Christopher Blauvelt
Music by: Son Lux
MPAA Rating: R for language.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: September 12, 2014
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