'The Squid and The Whale' is compelling, comical
By Lisa Wakeland, Staff Writer
February 8, 2007 | 6:34 p.m.
"The Squid and The Whale," loosely based on writer-director Noah Baumbach’s life, creatively explores how divorce can leave a family filled with tension and uncertainty.
Set in Park Slope, Brooklyn, in 1986, "The Squid and The Whale" looks at the effect that Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and Joan Berkman's (Laura Linney) divorce has on the family from the perspective of their children.
"While it's true that I did grow up in Brooklyn and my parents did divorce, so much of it has been reinvented," said Baumbach, who also co-wrote "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou."
Reacting to shock of the news, the intelligent and quick-witted Walt (Jesse Eisenberg), 16, and the eccentrically curious Frank (Owen Kline), 12, deal with the split in very different ways.
Even though Joan, an aspiring writer, and Bernard, a former author and current English professor, have joint custody of Walt and Frank, the boys eventually gravitate to different parents. Walt and his father and Frank and his mother are paired together on teams in the opening tennis match.
"Once I cut the tennis scene that opens the film I realized how immediately the audience is thrown into the action of the film and I wanted to keep this feeling going," said Baumbach.
The stress of divorce on the Berkman family is made worse when both parents begin dating again. Joan hooks up with Frank's tennis instructor, Ivan (William Baldwin. This upsets Bernard, who begins having a relationship with a "racy" student in his English class named Lili (Anna Paquin) after he offering her a spare room in his new Brooklyn home.
Walt begins to blame his mother for the divorce after he learns of a four-year affair Joan had with a psychiatrist. He appears to be able to relate more with Bernard, and takes his father’s advice to "play the field" instead of having a serious relationship with his girlfriend Sophie (Halley Feiffer).
Adjusting to the change brought on by divorce is not easy for either of the boys, but Frank deals with his feelings of confusion in differently than his older brother. He becomes fond of drinking beer and spouting a plethora of curse words at any given moment. While Walt is angry about his mother's sexual relationships, Frank becomes curious about his own sexuality.
Frank's unusual sexual habits concern school officials and leads to a parent-teacher conference. This and other school problems force Bernard and Joan to see each other more frequently.
When a paper Walt wrote about the The Great Gatsby, which the teacher suspects that he didn't read, is called into question, he asked if the teacher knew "both my parents have a PhD in literature."
His remarks lead to a meeting with the school psychologist, where he explains his fear of the squid and whale diorama at the Museum of Natural History. He became less afraid when his mother explained the exhibit to him.
It is at this moment it becomes clear that title of the movie it is a metaphor for divorce.
OU junior Laura Piazza, whose parents divorced when she was nine, felt the movie was an accurate portrayal of how children feel during a divorce.
"I don’t think a normal divorce is that extreme, but the emotions were portrayed well," she said. "It's easy to pick sides because your parents poison you to hate the other one even though it’s not intentional."
Piazza said the most accurate part of the movie was right after Bernard and Joan divorced and had joint custody of the boys.
"All of a sudden they get a divorce and it's 'your mother's house' and 'your father's house' not 'our house,'" she said. "It's not necessary."
"The Squid and The Whale" was nominated for three Golden Globe awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Jeff Daniels) and Best Actress (Laura Linney).
According to the film's Web site, Linney, who played Joan, loved the script from the beginning.
"I found it both intensely moving and extremely funny at the same time," she said. "It's an unflinching but affectionate portrait of flawed characters."
"The Squid and The Whale" is currently playing at The Athena on Court Street.
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For show times, call The Athena at (740) 592-5106 or visit the theater's Web site at: http://www.theathenagrand.com.
Visit the Official Movie Web site at: http://www.squidandthewhalemovie.com