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| Poster artwork for the romantic drama film Eat Pray Love. |
Exigent
Enlightenment by Linh
The latest book to receive the Hollywood make-over is
Elizabeth Gilbert’s autobiographical travelogue Eat Pray Love. The film adaptation retains the basic narrative
structure, with some omissions and several alterations to flesh out the
characters. The book became a best-seller about a woman’s self-indulgence and
self-centredness in seeking enlightenment, but the film struggles to sustain
interest in the main character and has instead, given more intrigue and
substance to the supporting characters.
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GLORIOUS
GELATO: Liz (Julia Roberts) indulges in ice cream on a stone
bench in Piazza Navona, Italy with nuns in the film Eat Pray Love. Image: Columbia Pictures.
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Eat
Pray Love begins with a prologue featuring a New York writer named
Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) who arrives in Bali to interview Ketut (Hadi
Subiyanto), a local Balinese elder. Ketut tells Liz of a prophecy that will
befall her and will bring her back to Bali to see him again. Fast forward
several months later, Liz’s marriage to Stephen (Billy Crudup) is on the rocks
and the legal fight for divorce ends in bitter anguish. Liz rebounds from her
failed marriage to turn cougar and begins a relationship with a young and
struggling actor named David (James Franco), whom she soon dumps to begin a
year-long journey of self-discovery. Liz
makes her way through a gastronomically delicious time in Italy, then seeks
inner peace with meditation in India, before finishing the trip in a romantic
tryst with a Brazilian (Javier Bardem) in Bali.
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TOXIC
TWOSOME: Liz (Julia Roberts) and Stephen (Billy Crudup) are a
mismatched couple in the film Eat Pray
Love. Image: Columbia Pictures.
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The book Eat Pray
Love has all the ingredients for a fabulous film but the resulting adaptation
barely hits the mark. With the exception of Richard Jenkins and Viola Davis,
some of the performances are average and some of the characters are
one-dimensional. Julia Roberts makes Liz Gilbert appear confused, stressed,
frustrated and the least likeable of all the characters. Roberts does reveal
the sense of a strong-willed and fiercely independent woman in the film, but
those moments are few and far between. Most of the time, Roberts is seen busily
preparing herself for eating in Italy, praying in India and loving in Bali, but
it all seems tediously slow and drags on for too long. There are no smooth
segues from one country to another. It only takes a quick voiceover or even a
superimposed title onscreen to alert viewers of Liz’s current location, but
there were none forthcoming. Hopefully these suggestions will be considered
when the film is released on DVD.
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CONVIVIAL
COLLEAGUES: Delia (Viola Davis) and Liz (Julia Roberts)
attend a play starring David (James Franco) in the film Eat Pray Love. Image: Columbia Pictures.
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Academy Award nominees Richard Jenkins and Viola Davis
give great but brief appearances as Richard from Texas and Liz’s best friend
and colleague Delia respectively; James Franco is affable as the young thespian
David, but barely gets to exhibit his acting skills; Javier Bardem displays his
usual charms as Felipe the Brazilian with an Australian son.
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COUGAR
CRUSH: David (James Franco) and Liz (Julia Roberts) end their
romance in the film Eat Pray Love.
Image: Columbia Pictures.
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The issues of marriage and men constantly plague Liz
during her journey, and the source of these “you need a man” and “are you
married?” observations are made by females in the film, and highlight Liz’s
resolve to seek love from within before she can learn to love another. The
film’s depiction of a woman being told she needs a man in her life to make it
complete or make her satisfied, simply disregards the possibility of her
choosing whether or not to be married, or choosing to be with a man or woman in
a relationship. The film clearly directs its ‘love yourself before you love
others’ message to a heterosexual audience rather than making it accessible to
everyone regardless of sexuality and gender.
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INDIAN
INSPIRATIONS: Liz (Julia Roberts) and Richard (Richard
Jenkins) discuss the benefits of meditation outside the Indian temple in the film
Eat Pray Love. Image: Columbia
Pictures.
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A positive approach to the issue of food and body image
is depicted in the film, with Liz willingly subjecting herself to four months
of eating anything and everything she desires in Italy. Liz learns to love her
body as it changes and swells to the point where she has to wear “big lady
pants”. There are numerous close-ups and
vanity shots of food being prepared, cooked and eaten while Liz is in Italy and
she gets a taste of the Italian culture with new friends and learning to read
and speak Italian. However, the stereotypes of Italians depicted in the film
may amuse some but could also offend others, as the mannerisms and
gesticulation of Italian expression is exaggerated and excessive.
An unusual choice of song is used in the scene where Liz
eats a huge plate of pasta. The famous aria ‘Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem
Herzen’ (The revenge of Hell boils in my heart) or commonly known as ‘Queen of
the Night Aria’ from Mozart’s opera The
Magic Flute, accompanies this scene and seems awkwardly inappropriate. The
aria is sung in German and has the Queen of the Night ordering her daughter to
kill her father with a dagger. It would have been better to have chosen any
aria from Italian composers Puccini or Verdi, which are sung in Italian, are
very romantic and enthralling. Non-opera fans may not mind such details, as the
aria is beautifully sung and hits the climax when the upper range of this aria
reaches a high F6.
The locations and the culture of Italy, India and Bali
become characters themselves, which not only create a beautiful backdrop but
also add excitement and wonder. Eat Pray
Love is thirty minutes too long and lacks the energy and spark evident in
the book. Director Ryan Murphy does a good job with the overall film, but Julia
Roberts’s star power and Brad Pitt’s expertise onboard as Executive Producer,
are not enough to lift the film out of its drawn-out dreariness. As the saying
goes, “don’t judge a book by its movie”, and Eat Pray Love is one example.
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BALI'S
BRAZILIAN: While in Bali, Felipe (Javier Bardem) charms his way
into Liz's (Julia Roberts) heart in the film Eat Pray Love. Image: Columbia Pictures.
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Director:
Ryan Murphy
Writers: Ryan
Murphy (screenplay), Jennifer Salt (screenplay), Elizabeth Gilbert (book)
Cast:
Julia Roberts, Billy Crudup, James Franco, Javier Bardem, Viola Davis, Richard
Jenkins, Hadi Subiyanto, Gita Reddy, Lisa Roberts Gillan, Tuva Novotny, Giuseppe
Gandini, Silvano Rossi, Arlene Tur, Anakia Lapae, Luca Argentero
Producers:
Brad Pitt, Stan Wlodkowski, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Neil Ravan, Tabrez
Noorani, Gary L. Hayes, Ute Leonhardt, Marco Valerio Pugini
Cinematographer:
Robert Richardson (Director of Photography)
Original
Music Composer: Dario Marianelli
Film
Editor: Brad Buecker
Production:
Bill Groom (Production Designer), Charley Beal (Art Director)
Costume
Designer: Michael Dennison
Languages:
English, Italian with English subtitles, Balinese with English subtitles
Running
Time: 2 hours and 15 minutes
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