TIFF ’09: Opening Night

Creation. d:Jon Amiel
s:Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Jeremy Northam and Toby Jones.

I can’t say my hopes were high for this one. In fact, it’s exactly the kind of movie I was planning on skipping coverage of. It seemed to sort of appear out of nowhere smelling vaguely of Oscar bait only lacking a US distributor (it recently picked one up for Canada and it’s set to debut in the UK on September 25). On top of that, I’m automatically skeptical about biographies these days – even ones about people as interesting and controversial as Charles Darwin. On the other hand, it is the opening night film and I like Bettany and Connelly. If Creation grabbed a hold of Darwin’s revolutionary evolutionary ideas, it could transcend the genre.

So much for wishful thinking. The prevailing theme of the early reviews is that the film shies away from controversy and focuses instead on Darwin’s family life.

Roger Ebert doesn’t review the movie, but he laments it isn’t more assertive about Darwin’s ideas.

The movie devotes most of its attention to the marriage, as Emma (Jennifer Connelly) rebukes Charles (Paul Bettany) for his heretical convictions and thinks they mean the two of them cannot spend eternity together. They’re both intelligent and deeply in love, and it’s a shame the movie doesn’t allow them to fully debate their differences. It sees their opinions instead somewhat vaguely as personality characteristics. Did it occur to Darwin or his wife that nothing in his ideas precluded the existence of God? Today, no major religion finds conflict between God and the theory of evolution. The majority of Christians can live with both ideas; religious opposition to Darwin is limited to a fundamentalist minority of American Christians.

I ask myself, do we really need to watch the Darwins edging around the substance of their disagreement? The film maker, Jon Amiel, obviously has great respect and affection for the scientist–for them both, really. Did he restrain himself in fear of provoking controversy? Has it gotten to that point? “Creation” dares not state relevant ideas that were acceptable nearly 50 years ago, when “Inherit the Wind” was nominated for four Academy Awards. There’s no such shyness in the anti-Darwin faction.

Variety’s Dennis Harvey continues the thought:

“…this handsome historical piece…isn’t about science vs. faith so much as that well-worn dramatic hook, the loss of a child.

Bettany is appealing but this Charles is at times nearly a sickly bore, while Connelly, not an actor with much lightness, is OK but emphasizes Emma’s grave concern and disapproval to the exclusion of nearly every other quality. (The real Mrs. Darwin was a highly accomplished person in her own right.) In the weird tradition of so many real-life acting couples, onscreen these two stars don’t have much chemistry.

Even harsher, indieWIRE’s Eric Kohn complains “the scientific discoveries responsible for Darwin’s lasting fame remain in the shadows to leave room for these abstract conundrums, resulting in a dry period piece missing crucial information.”

Director Jon Amiel…fails to navigate the intrinsic flaws of John Collee’s screenplay. Cursory dialogue and incidents hinting at Darwin’s studies sound like Cliffs Notes to the (offscreen) controversy it sparked… the movie lacks a sense of awe. Emphasizing the character’s bleak nightmares and relentlessly downbeat sentiments, Amiel creates an eerie atmosphere to mimic Darwin’s ongoing discontent, but avoids the massive ramifications of his discoveries. If “Creation” were absolute fiction, it would be a meaningless bore; instead, it’s a directionless bore with the intrinsic meaning drained out of the picture.

Screen Daily’s Fionnuala Halligan:

For a film devoted to the publication of one of the most exciting, controversial books ever written, Creation seems intent on following a pretty mundane story arc involving Charles and Emma’s marital rift – at times it feels as if the publication of On The Origin of Species is being reduced to whether or not they can kiss and make up in time. Although, in reality, they had always been opposed over religion, the film does eventually unveil the essence of their discord in extremely moving sequences which Bettany and Connelly evidently relish.

Finally, The Hollywood Reporter’s Ray Bennett offers a dissenting view:

[Creation] is an intelligent, touching depiction of a brilliant man sure of his scientific skills but tormented not only by remorse over the loss of a beloved child but also by the realization that he has lost his faith.

It is shot beautifully and boasts performances by Paul Bettany as Darwin and his real-life wife, Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, as Darwin’s wife, Emma, that should attract awards attention. Thoughtful and memorable, it will do well with grown-up audiences across the board.

Filed under: Film Festivals
Tags: Creation, Jennifer Connelly, Jeremy Northam, Jon Amiel, Paul Bettany, TIFF 2009, Toby Jones, Toronto International Film Festival