CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 1/02/09

Back to the Future

By david michael wharton

Screenwriter Eric Roth pens the tale of a life lived in reverse, an epic but overlong fairy tale that plays like Forrest Gump with the rewind button taped down.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Screenplay by Eric Roth
Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord

Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) is a man, as his narration notes, "born under mysterious circumstances." Specifically, he's born as a tiny, wrinkly old man, complete with arthritic joints, failing health, and every indication that he is not long for the world. Abandoned by his father (Jason Flemyng) on the doorstep of a retirement home, Benjamin defies the odds and medical science by gradually growing and getting younger. Based loosely on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, what follows is an exploration of his life, as narrated through his journals. All is wrapped up in a frame story of a young woman reading said journals to her dying mother in a New Orleans hospital room as Hurricane Katrina descends on the city.

Depending on your viewpoints on life, death, truth, the afterlife, and all the other subjects philosophers argue about over tea, Benjamin Button can be either a bittersweet celebration of life, at times whimsical and longing, or a monstrously depressing reminder of impending mortality, and the suggestion that even the most radical change of viewpoint wouldn't make living it any easier. It is, in fact, both of those things. Certainly, the specter of death is never far from hand, from the presence of Hurricane Katrina—which, oddly, amounts to nothing—to the parade of friends lost, beginning with Benjamin's various friends in the retirement home. However, unlike most children, Benjamin's life is surrounded by death from his earliest memories. For him, death isn't so much a terrifying unknown, but simply an unpleasant, but natural, part of life. That viewpoint shapes everything that follows.

The bulk of the story plays out episodically, with no particular throughline other than that these are the encounters and the people who most affect Benjamin as he travels the world. Each of these characters is memorable and well realized, from the wife of a British spy with whom Benjamin carries on a chilly, Russian affair (Tilda Swinson); to the tattooed, whiskey-swilling tugboat captain he serves under during World War II (Jared Harris); to his estranged father, who works his way back into Benjamin's life without initially telling him who he is. Most important is Daisy (Cate Blanchett), who Benjamin meets at the retirement home when she's a young girl and he's a young-old boy. She is the one constant in Benjamin's life, sometimes absent but never forgotten, and their eventual love affair comprises much of the second half of the film, once their ages sync up and they "meet in the middle." Unfortunately, for a character singled out as so important to Benjamin, the segment of story once they finally get together is arguably the least interesting, told largely through montage and with very little setting it apart from a thousand generic screen romances that have come before. It sure looks like fun, but it's not nearly as interesting as, for instance, Benjamin's affair with spy wife Elizabeth. The story of Benjamin and Daisy is at its best when they're apart, whether when he's pursuing her in youth or regretfully leaving her so she won't have to care for him as he descends into physical adolescence.

While the individual slices of Benjamin's life are affecting and sharply realized, the uniting whole—Benjamin himself—is not nearly as interesting as these diverse parts. He is the very definition of passive protagonist, by and large simply observing and reacting to those around him, and while his ongoing voiceover narration reminds us of all the lessons he learns from this parade of eccentric characters, we don't see that much evidence of change on Benjamin's behalf—he remains an observer throughout. Coupled with a leisurely pace and a frame story that seems largely unnecessary, Benjamin Button is indeed a curiosity: fractured, inconsistent, but often funny, affecting, and deeply emotional. Rather like life itself, actually.

Frustrating but fascinating, Benjamin Button is a noble experiment that works half the time, but when it does, it serves as a beautiful reminder to cherish every second, and all those around you who fill those seconds.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Paramount Pictures
Rated PG-13; 167 min.

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David Michael Wharton is the managing editor of CS Weekly and a contributing editor of Creative Screenwriting Magazine. He ages diagonally.



The Curious Case of Benjamin Button courtesy Paramount Pictures

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