Starring: Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Runtime: 123 mins. Reviewed in Apr 2014
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Much like the titular couple, Jarmusch’s film is effortlessly and unhurriedly cool, reflective and intelligent, albeit in need of a little more liveliness.
Less a driven story than a series of experiences, we spend time with Adam and Eve, two centuries old vampires who have been married since 1868. They live separately, Eve (Tilda Swinton) in Tangier, Adam (Tom Hiddleston) in Detroit, but Eve goes to visit Adam when they are both visited by a dream of her troublesome younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska). When Ava also appears on Adam’s doorstep, they find themselves stretched by her presence.
The main reason to hunt down this film is its pitch perfect performances. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton as the (rather obviously) named Adam and Eve are both wonderful. Adam is a ‘suicidally romantic scoundrel’, anonymously responsible for some of history’s greatest music and who is currently consumed by making grunge rock using vintage equipment. As Adam, Hiddleston is tortured by his immortality, and yet combines a laissez-faire approach to living with a razor sharp anger when his or Eve’s existences are threatened. It’s a seemingly contradictory lifestyle, but Hiddleston manages to ground it in the world Jarmusch has written. The music he creates is dark and brooding, and brilliant work from composer Josef van Wissem. Eve is more worldly and social, voraciously devouring literature whilst worrying for her husband and his dark tendencies. Swinton is a mesmerising dream, conveying much in her walking through dark Moroccan streets. Eloquent in a modern way yet showing the wisdom of her age, Eve is a fascinating character portrayed stunningly well. Though Mia Wasikowska as Ava and John Hurt as Christopher Marlowe (the 16th century poet and vamp who, Jarmusch has decided, was responsible for Shakespeare’s work) perform to their usual high standards, I was more drawn to Anton Yelchin’s natural work as Ian, Adam’s human friend who sources his rare instruments for him. Scruffy and desperate to please, Yelchin is a tragic, naïve presence in the world of the undead.
The costumes from Bina Daigeler and the extensive hair and make-up crew do a fantastic job. Swinton’s lush gowns flow off the screen, and Hiddleston’s dishevelled rocker vibe is matched well to his character. The entire cast is well made-up as the pallid night dwellers, and their hair is stunning across the board, somehow dirty and unkempt yet glamorous and voluminous. The set of Adam’s house alone gives strong cause to applaud the production design from Marco Bittner Rosser. Claustrophobic and cluttered with equipment, it represents so much of his character – encumbered by his sheer human experience and innately dark, but somehow comfortable in itself. When the question of suicide is raised in his darkened home, it is jarring but fits tonally into the world weary environment. The message of love above all, regardless of its incarnation, is key here as the title would suggest, and the lead pair play out an intoxicating, timeless romance.
Writer and director Jim Jarmusch is somewhat of an independent film stalwart, though I am unfamiliar with his past works. His direction is discreet and tender, and the vampires are never feared, which I found a fascinating approach to the genre. The script is slow-moving yet laced with mordant humour. If anything, I would say that too little in fact happens; though leisurely pacing isn’t inherently a bad thing, this feels insubstantial in that I was left wanting more of the characters and more of their lives. The vampires may technically be undead, but the story occasionally flatlines too.
Adam and Eve despair: ‘so much for the scientists’, and Jarmusch has created a film very much opposed to all that is scientific. It’s softly amusing and nonchalant, philosophical in an almost bored way. The cast are all in on the joke that is their characters’ lives, but if you don’t ‘get’ their rock ‘n’ roll ways, you won’t enjoy hanging out with these cool kids.
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