The World to Come movie review 2021

MOVIE TITLE: The World to Come

Available March 2, 2021 in theaters and Video on Demand (AppleTV, FandangoNow, Vudu, and Google Play)

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 38 minutes

Movie Review Mom GRADE: B

IN A NUTSHELL:

This is another moving film by Mona Fastvold and features a lesbian love story on the American frontier of upstate New York in the 1850s. You need to know that before you watch this in case you’re not interested in that kind of content.

I first saw her work as a director of the movie The Mustang, which was based on a true story. While this story isn’t necessarily true, it certainly could have been. She presents a film that perfectly illustrates the seasons of the year on the harsh East coast, as well as the seasons of life and emotions of the soul. It’s based on the book The World to Come: A Novel by Jim Shepard who also wrote the screenplay with Ron Hansen. It’s extremely melancholy and you’ll feel exhausted, sad, and touched by the tale.

THINGS I LIKED:

The entire movie was shot in a national park in Romania! Every set piece was designed by Jean-Vincent Puzos and built from scratch by the production team. He was also the production designer and art director of The Lost City of Z, which I really liked. The cinematography by Andre Chemetoff, therefore, is beautiful.
Katherine Waterston is fantastic and even mesmerizing. I’ve never seen her with long hair and dresses like this before. She carries the film with her pensive thoughts and subtle facial expressions that speak volumes.
Vanessa Kirby is so beautiful and versatile. Katherine Waterston’s character describes her skin as glowing, which is absolutely true. For another great performance, check out my movie review of her recent film Pieces of a Woman. Apparently, Vanessa had a sprained ankle during the entire filming of this new movie.
The two leading women had great chemistry together.
Casey Affleck produced and starred in the movie. He seems to always play tortured men like in Manchester by the Sea.
Christopher Abbott is a good actor, but his role was kind of a one-note character.
I liked the journal-style of storytelling. The narration comes to us in the written thoughts of Katherine Waterston’s journal. It seemed to fit the time period and added an element of poetry. The use and power of words and ideas is an important theme of the story.
Beautiful, layered musical score by Daniel Blumberg, which includes the sounds of nature.
The big reveal that shows the extent of the women’s relationship isn’t really shown until the end of the movie, a fact that many critics have complained about. I actually thought that it was an odd choice, yet interesting placement in the film and I liked the shocking surprise.
The title was completely appropriate. If these two women had lived 150 years late, they would have been completely free to live their lives together for the most part. Women of the 1850s had very few rights and no voice, a fact that the movie illustrates very well.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The dialogue feels like it came out of a Jane Austin novel or book of poetry. It didn’t seem realistic that women would talk like that, but it was certainly beautiful to hear. One thing for certain is the English language has devolved since then. I recently watched the movie The Professor and the Madman again and was reminded of how rich it used to be. That movie is about the making of the Oxford dictionary and stars Sean Penn and Mel Gibson, who both give excellent performances.
Historical lesbian movies have been overdone in recent years, so this one doesn’t really add anything new to the genre.
With only a few hidden moments of unexpected happiness for the women, the entire movie is quite bleak and depressing.