‘There’s no such thing as happiness, just moments of not feeling depressed…’
I like feeling sad. I love Radiohead. I love Bright Eyes. I love lying in a dark room while Moonlight Sonata gently plays on repeat. I hate it when people say that something is ‘too depressing’, as if we have to walk around with an idiotic grin on our delighted faces every damn second of every damn day. To feel sadness is to feel alive. Not all the time, but definitely sometimes. The point I’m making is if you’re not up for a bit of sadness, don’t bother with Eternal Beauty…
Jane (Sally Hawkins) is a paranoid schizophrenic (‘meaning I think you want to kill me as opposed to schizophrenic which means I’d want to kill you’). Jane’s incredibly dysfunctional family only adds to her woe. Her sister Nicola (Billie Piper) is a blonde bombshell who only knows how to feel anything through vindictive sexual encounters. Her mother Vivian (Penelope Wilton) is overbearing and quick to anger. Only Alice (Alice Lowe), Jane’s other sister, shows her any consistent kindness. Jane’s already turbulent life is rendered even more chaotic by the arrival of Mike (David Thewlis), a similarly troubled but outgoing soul.
It took me a while to get into Eternal Beauty, writer/director Craig Roberts’ second directorial feature, but when it did finally hit, it hit hard. This is a film of cruelty, despair and injustice. A film that rails against the way that mental health is treated in modern society. But it is also a film of beauty, warmth, and even the occasional green shoots of hope. Hawkins should perhaps have been Oscar nommed for her stormy portrayal of Jane, but the whole cast do a great job, with Piper and Lowe really selling the sisterly bond that can be so charming and yet so toxic.
Eternal Beauty is a film that lots of people will shy away from, but if you find the dark side of life alluring, if you find comfort in the words of Sylvia Plath or Charles Bukowski, then this is the film for you. Quietly beautiful.