Christine
Director: Antonio Campos
By Alex Watson
Chances are if you look up a list of the most shocking moments in live TV history, the 1974 on-air suicide of Christine Chubbuck will most definitely feature. Antonio Campos's biopic Christine finally gives British actress Rebecca Hall the role that finally demonstrates her ability. Channelling her frustration and disillusion of working in the male-dominated world of journalism. A fundamental honest character study, the result is a harrowing and affecting tale.
Christine Chubbuck (Rebecca Hall) is a 29-year-old journalist working for the small TV station, WRZB Sarasota in Florida. Convinced she is on the way up, her journalistic style doesn't go down well with her chauvinistic boss Michael (Tracy Letts). Unable to connect with her colleagues and unhappy about the continually boring stories she is saddled with, Christine will soon take a drastic step to make viewers sit up and pay attention.
Opening with Chubbuck practicing filming herself doing an imaginary interview with Richard Nixon, Christine immediately cuts to her perfectionism and the strain this causes. Moments before her story is broadcast on air she demands they cut a few seconds to the anger of Michael. Campos also makes it abundantly clear just how much camera appeal Christine lacks. Coming across as bored and uncaring, she struggles to put any enthusiasm into any of the vanilla stories she is set to cover. While interviewing a fruit stall owner she fails to even look remotely interested. Set in the blood and guts era of 70's journalism, "If it bleeds, it leads" is very much the motto.
Her inability to connect and find meaningful relationships is another key element to Campos' picture. The only real confidante she has is her mother Peg (J.Smith-Cameron) whom she fiercely depends on. When her mother announces she has met a new man, Chubbuck's reaction is like that of a spoiled child. Things with her co-workers fare little better, she pines after handsome news anchor George Ryan (Michael C Hall) but when the attraction is return she goes cold. Jean Reed (Maria Dizzia) is the one team member who attempts to reach out to her, but as a woman on the verge, Christine simply bypasses this. Campos highlights that her introverted and somewhat unapproachable nature may have lead to her icy and uncaring appearance on camera.
Peg is concerned throughout about her daughter's worsening mental health. There are whispers about an incident while she lived in Boston. Michael's continually bad attitude towards her also begins to make her spiral, desperate for more air time she agrees to give her boss more bold and controversial stories, but like always with this man what she delivers just doesn't impress. Christine is essentially a build up to the moment that Chubbuck pulls the trigger live on air. Campos smartly doesn't just draw out the mileage and instead gives a marvellous and empathetic portrayal of a woman who just wants to be noticed but is unable to confront the feels that she has for people. When the moment hits, the result is still as shocking as it was back in 1974. Christine will achieve her on air notoriety and this breaks our hearts.
After years of languishing in supporting parts in big films such as Iron Man 3, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and The Prestige, Rebecca Hall is finally given the role she was born to play. Wonderfully portraying the inner struggles that Christine Chubbuck suffered, Hall's monotone like delivery gives us a big window into the inferiority that she feels. Audiences should be prepared for a real whirlwind performance and in Christine's more reflective moments, Hall is simply electric. One scene sees her finally given a glimmer of hope by snagging a date with George, what follows is a slow decay of happiness which is completed by being forced to play the game "Yes, But" Hall in the sequence shows her meltdown has about to reach full circle.
Christine is one of those movies that will fly under the radar at TIFF this year, but I think we all hope that Hall's name alone will feature on awards lists. Campos has given us a powerful story, I highly recommend audiences seek this out on general release.
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