Donna Tarter's original novel won the Pulitzer Prize, and one of the screenwriters of this film has also worked on "Breaking Bad", so expectations are high.
The low rating is because of disappointment.
But I really enjoyed the long and slow first 2/3 of the movie, where I saw a child whose life got derailed because of the loss of his mother.
I saw loneliness. and thoughts of mother.
The last half hour of the movie suddenly turned into a shootout, suspense, and even a bit of a gangster movie. Somewhat uncomfortable.
I'm starting to look forward to reading the original.
Theo's monologue on motherhood and loss:
In Amsterdam, I dreamt I saw my mother again. She was just as glad to see me as I was to see her. Same beautiful pale blue eyes. Everything would've turned out better if she had lived. As it was, she died when I was a kid. And when I lost her... I lost sight of any landmark that might've led me some place happier. You see, her death was my fault.
Everybody used to tell me that it wasn't. That it was a terrible accident. Which is all perfectly true. And I don't believe a word of it. It was my fault. Just like everything that's happened since. The painting. The painting.
All my fault. I lost something that should have been immortal. I didn't mean to do it. Because what I've done cannot be undone. It doesn't matter that I'm going to die. But for all time, for as long as history is written, that painting will be remembered and mourned.
Hypocrisy as an adult:
I wear bespoke suits. I swim twice a week. I socialize with people I can't stand. I'm relaxed... personable. I don't indulge in self-pity. It's true what I read. We're so accustomed to disguise ourselves, to others, that in the end, we become disguised to ourselves.
Hobie's imitation antiques, Changelings.
Mr. Barbour's description and yearning for water.
Everyone's going to swim. The cure for anything is salt water. Greatest gift my father ever gave me was the sea. The love for it. The feel.
Artists Mr. Barbour talks about:
Maxfield Parrish, that's the one. Great towering clouds.
When I was a boy on the water, skies just like that. Magical. Red and orange sunsets.
Mr. Barbour ended up dying of water, an irony of fate.
Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Barbour reunites with Theo:
When you were a child, I used to catch you studying my paintings. You'd always go straight to the very best ones. The Peale, the Lane, the Copley. I used to think, "Oh! A kindred spirit."
The teacher in the desert talked about Thoreau, and the student's point of view was also very reasonable.
-"However mean your life is, meet it and live it. It is not so bad as you are. Love your life, poor as it is." And what do we think about Thoreau's anti-commerce stance?
-I think it's stupid. I mean, if everybody just dropped out and moped around in the woods, what kind of society would we have? It's irresponsible. Right. If it was just people like him, we wouldn't have stores, or television, or roads.
Finally, Theo's monologue mentions the painting "The Goldfinch" again:
Carel Pietersz, known as Fabritius, born in Holland in 1622. He's only 32 years old, but he's already considered one of the greatest painters in an age of great painters. He's painting in his studio in Delft when a nearby gunpowder store accidentally explodes. Neighbors pull a wooden panel from the rubble and on the panel is painted a goldfinch. For hundreds of years, it is passed hand to hand. It survives. Until me. To have kept it shut up in the dark all these years. A thing made of light. That only lived in light. I would've given it back. I swear. But it was too late. Things done that can never be undone. Things that come together. And things that fall apart.
In fact, his mother seemed to prefer Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson.
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