As the film opens it shows Eva living a squalid life on her own as a total social outcast where strangers assault her in the street. Life has not always been like that and through a whole series of flashbacks interchanged with the present, we learn how she ended up like this.
Once happily married and with a very promising career, an unwanted pregnancy threw her off-balance. Eva struggles to bond with Kevin her son from the moment he is born and the discernible tension between the two of them escalates at an alarming rate as he grows up into menacing and highly disturbed teenager. The fact that with his schizophrenic behavior he acts like the most perfectly behaved boy in front of his father drives a deep wedge between his parents that becomes the main cause for their divorce.
When Kevin eventually snaps (saying more would be a pot spoiler), Eva is still there for him, even though she still fails completely to establish any bond with him at.
It’s a frightening harrowing story made so very real by Tilda Swinton’s powerful performance as the quietly desperate and tormented Eva: she is on screen the entire time and so stunningly portrays her utter wretched loneliness through long silences which really get under your skin. Ezra Miller as the menacingly Kevin is so perfect and totally convincing, and a wonderful new acting talent to look out for.
In the end Eva comes to question if she ever loved her son, but I’m not that convinced by then that even if she had, this icy horror of a family tragedy would have been avoided.
This stunning psychological drama is a gem of a movie: be warned you will need to concentrate real hard at the beginning as the first strands of the story start to be revealed, but once you are hooked you will stay fixed on the edge of your seat till the very end. Even if I wasn’t a big fan of Ms. Swinton’s, I would still think that she must deservedly be a shoo-in for a Best Actor Oscar for this performance here: she is that good, and more.
P.S. It’s theatrical release in the US is slated for Jan ’12
★★★★★★★★★★
