RABBIT HOLE as an adaptation of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Lindsay Abaire of the same name. The film stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart who play a couple who eight months on after the accidental death of their young son are finding it hard to cope. Both deal with the trauma of lose differently, Nicole Kidman (Becca) tries to wipe away any trace of his presence in the family home by giving away his old clothes, removing his pictures from the fridge etc. She hides her mourning in the practical aspects of her life and only seems to find solace in the company of the teenager that ran over her son. Eckhart (Howie) is the opposite of his wife, wishing to keep the objects and possessions that remind his of his son’s existence around and aggressively seeks help from the local support groups which Kidman has forsaken.
Throughout this Kidman regularly finds herself in conflicts with her Mother (Dianne Wiest) who has also lost a son (Kidman’s Brother) but at the age of 30 and from a drug overdose which is a bone of contention between the two when Wiest compares the two deaths. Kidman also routinely argues and collides with her newly pregnant sister who she fusses over and believes is too immature to be a Mother. While Kidman is pushing away everyone that is trying to help her, Eckhart becomes closer and closer to another survivor from the support group in Sandra Ho (SIDEWAYS).
When watching the trailer for the film I was not looking forward to turning up to the screening and sitting through two hours of people crying, claiming that ‘they can’t feel anything’ wishing they weren’t so numb any more because of the child’s death. Maybe its the cynic in me and because I’ve seen that type of drama a million times and not wishing to make it a million and one. But I found myself more than pleasantly surprised.
The film is a joy to sit through, not that it’s cheery or anything, with some of the best acting any of the cast as shown in years. I am a big fan of Eckhart but it seems that in the last number of years he has been in bad romcoms (LOVE HAPPENS) or big action films (THE DARK KNIGHT, BATTLE LOS ANGELES), so it’s good to see him flex some of those acting muscles, in a lead role, we’ve seen in THANK YOU FOR SMOKING and IN THE COMPANY OF MEN. In regards to Kidman, I have never been a fan of her with none of her previous roles really enticing me to the cinema but she is great in this film. Her character comes across as self obsessed with her own grief, believing no one else can feel the same as her. This poses her as a sort of antagonist in the picture which is refreshing in this type of film as most of these type of films purely centres on the pain of the female character and sometimes demonises the husband/father figures. The supporting cast of Dianne Wiest, Sandra Ho, Giancarlo Esposito, Tammy Blanchard and Miles Teller are an excellent compliment to the main cast.
It’s especially a surprising film if you know any of the director’s, John Cameron Mitchell, previous work which includes the sex heavy SHORTBUS and the gender bending HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH. So RABBIT HOLE is an extreme change of pace narratively and visual for the director which he seems to pull off on the most part. In a small number of scenes there are slight moments of bewilderment in regards to some of the quick 24 style editing during tender moments that rips you out of the storybut those are few and far between.
Overall the film is interesting, alluring, visually comforting and fresh in it’s apporach to the standard mourning characters as well as having a terrific score. Well worth the trip to the cinema.
RABBIT HOLE is out Friday 4th Feb 2011
