Review
THE PALE BLUE EYE – Review
At West Point in 1830, a cadet is found hanged, in an apparent suicide, but then the body is mutilated – by removing the heart. A former New York constable with a tragic past is brought in to investigate, and the detective enlists the help of an eccentric, clever young cadet named Edgar Allan Poe, in the Gothic murder mystery tale THE PALE BLUE EYE.
Edgar Allan Poe really did go to West Point briefly but the story in THE PALE BLUE EYE is purely fictional, based on the novel by Louis Bayard. Christian Bale plays the detective Augustus Landor, with a wonderful Harry Melling playing the young Edgar Allan Poe. Having the author who is credited with creating the fictional detective as a character in a detective mystery thriller is a thrill in itself. Director Scott Cooper’s (CRAZY HEART, OUT OF THE FURNACE) atmospheric, twisty murder mystery also features an impressive cast that includes Toby Jones, Robert Duvall, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Timothy Spall and Charlotte Gainsbourg, among others.
In 1830, a young West Point cadet is found hanged, but sadness turns to shock when, as the body rests in the morgue, someone mutilates it by cutting out the heart. West Point head superintendent Colonel Thayer (Timothy Spall) and his assistant Captain Hitchcock (Simon McBurney) are eager to keep things quiet, and hire a reclusive former New York constable living nearby, Augustus Landor (Christian Bale), to secretly investigate. Stymied by the tight-lipped cadets, Landor enlists the help of one bright but unusual young cadet, Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling), in solving the case.
At this time, West Point is a young institution, and there are powerful forces who would like the academy to cease to exist. Worries about that drive Superintendent Thayer and Captain Hitchcock to avoid reporting to local authorities and instead seek an investigator who can find the perpetrator in secret. The constable has a reputation solving crimes but also one for hard-drinking, which means Thayer and Captain Hitchcock are wary of the detective. While Thayer and Hitchcock are aloof, the campus’ doctor, Dr. Daniel Marquis (pronounced the Anglicized way rather than the French, and played well by Toby Jones), is more accepting of Landor’s flaws and friendlier, cooperating with the investigation.
Landor is quietly mourning the death of his wife but is especially haunted by the more recent disappearance of his teen-aged daughter. In puzzling out the bizarre events, Landor calls on an old friend, a reclusive scholar who is knowledgeable about history and the occult, Jean-Pepe (Robert Duvall). He also gets insights on the cadets’ secrets from an affectionate barmaid, Patsy (Charlotte Gainsbourg), at the local inn. As more bizarre crimes occur, the alarmed brass nervously press Landor hard for results.
As expected for a Poe-inspired tale, there is also a beautiful, tragic young woman – the doctor’s smart, musically-gifted daughter Lea (Lucy Boynton). Lea suffers from a mysterious ailment, and is watched over by her tightly-wound mother Julia (Gillian Anderson) and haughty brother Artemus (Harry Lawtey).
There is a certain risk in making a film that features a well-known historical figure like Edgar Allan Poe, but this story is set during an early time in Poe’s life about which little is known, which gives the film considerable freedom. Melling’s young Poe is a charming eccentric but also an artistic soul and a brilliant outsider who knows at heart he is not a soldier but a poet, something he declares to Landor.
In fact, Poe did embark on his literary career directly after leaving West Point. Director Scott Cooper’s tale is twisty and sprinkled with Poe-like references like death, evil, hearts, the supernatural, illness, re-birth and lost love. The story incorporates an array of familiar elements and themes from Poe’s works, including the detective, as well as short snippets of his poetry recited by Melling. In fact, the film’s title comes from a line in Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.”
The film draws from pieces of Poe’s real life and literary works, as it creates a sense of the influences shaping the future writer, which makes this tale a bit of an origin story. In one scene, Melling’s Poe regales fellow cadets in a bar with a ribald rhyme, alluding to the real Poe’s reputation among students for his satiric poems, often aimed at officers. The real Poe’s reputation for these satires inspired some cadets to pitch in to help finance his second book of poetry, published after he left West Point, deliberately getting himself kicked out.
Melling and Bale are splendid together, as is the whole cast. The mystery takes place in deep winter, with the snowy landscape adding to the chill, along with scenes in a cemetery and starkly brooding Gothic locations. Photography by Masanobu Takayanagi is sternly beautiful and wonderfully atmospheric, and a marvelous score by the great Howard Shore adds just the right touch for the mood.
THE PALE BLUE EYE is an enjoyable Gothic tale, although the story is a bit too twisty and over-wrought, with a final resolution that may make you wonder about some of the investigation that went before. However, the film is satisfyingly packed with well-researched historic detail, including accents and costumes, and the characters are so well-drawn – intriguing, affecting and colorful – by the gifted cast, and all that is wrapped in a perfect Gothic horror setting, so it is easy for fans of the genre to let some flaws go.
Particularly, the film is a showcase for the talented Harry Melling, whose performance in the Coens’ THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS was a highlight of that anthology and caught Cooper’s attention for this role. Melling really dazzles as young Poe, playing the young cadet/poet with a youthful enthusiasm tempered by a dark wit and a sharp mind that can’t help figuring out the puzzle. Melling’s orphaned Poe forms a sort-of father-son bond with Bale’s brooding detective, and Melling’s layered, complex performance in scenes with the detective – a Poe literary invention – are among the film’s most enjoyable.
Although it is far from a flawless film, for lovers of period murder mysteries that feature fine acting, THE PALE BLUE EYE has much to offer, and for fans of Edgar Allan Poe, it is an irresistible temptation.
THE PALE BLUE EYE opens Friday, Jan. 6, streaming on Netflix and in theaters in select cities.
RATING: 3 out of 4 stars
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