Seberg

SEBERG - Universal Studios

Director Benedict Andrews' Seberg is released in quite a pressing time. Not only in the current political climate but also that of the introverted and personified indulgent in the world of the post-2000s frantic celebrity market. The result is a profound and compelling feature with a tremendous, central performance from Kristen Stewart and a real-life narrative that will give the viewer sleepless nights for weeks.

It is no coincidence that an actress of Kristen Stewart's performing calibre and first-hand knowledge of this frenzied underbelly of celebrity stardom is undeniably the most exceptional element on offer in Seberg. While Benedict Andrews' film is perhaps not a central look at Seberg herself but rather the events taking place around the actress both personally and —  on a more substantial level —  of trauma found throughout 1960s America. Mainly being the ordeal of Hoover's dictating and all-seeing eye of governmental brutality, but also the harrowing societal prejudice of racial and gender oppression. The former takes quite the centre stage here, with the performances of Anthony Mackie and Zazie Beetz analysing such a world in not ineffective material by writers Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, who provide such as an underused element.

Mackie and Beetz add a decent weight and layers to the proceeding societal hotpot, whilst also adding depth to the titular character of Stewart's Seberg. To the writers and directors credit, every small detail is an effective nuance that always serves back to the central story, conscious or not. Vince Vaughn's daughter and family relationship are a powerful — albeit painful —  arc to witness, but one that dramatically adds to the pressure of the film’s core.

Jack O'Connell and Margaret Qualley are both underused and feel somewhat forced into the story. Forced to purely give an awkward, unneeded and skewed voice to the American nucleus of a harmless quintessential family who want to do the right thing. Not only does it come across out of place — in the grand terms of being two excessive characters in this narrative — but also adds to reiterate a voice of the trauma that is thrown at Seberg, verbally reiterating the terror in a manner in which the film treats its audience: as both stupid and numb to the quite clearly devastating actions they are seeing.

The crowning glory in Seberg, however, is Kristen Stewart, who dazzles with her exceptional talent of magnetism and enchantment. crafting an elegant manner of intimacy with the titular character at every stage in which stuns. Stewart's emotional range is spectacularly compelling and engrossing in every step. Even when the screenplay digs deep, touching upon aspects of Seberg's life that are not all gold and glory, Stewart channels such with a fabulous authenticity and purity for a resulting performance that grows with the audience into an engulfing but inevitably devastating arc — reaching almost intolerable lows that are captured in tragic but enlightening fashion from cinematographer Rachel Morrison and equally as effective production design from Jahmin Assa, who finds the majesty in Seberg's world while noting its limitations and darkness.

SEBERG is released January 10th 2020