Serena

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper
Directed By: Susanne Bier
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi

[Rating: 1/5]

When a studio holds back a film for a number of years it usually isn’t a good sign. It usually means they aren’t happy with the final product and something has seriously gone wrong from script to conception. General audiences may not realise that Susanne Bier’s Serena which reunites Silver Linings Playbook co-stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley cooper was actually shot before that film. That was, what, at least three years ago now? Not a good sign is it? Still, will Serena surprise everyone and turn out to be the adequate Oscar-bait it so desperately wants to be or will it prove itself to be the unmitigated disaster everyone expects?

George Pemberton (Bradley Cooper) is a successful man running his very own rail-road building operation. It’s the time of the great depression and workers are flocking to his company to offer cheap labour. Unfortunately, a local politician is trying to get the very same land turned into a National Park Reserve. After going into town on business one day, Pemberton returns back to the work site with a stylish and enigmatic young lady with a jaded past, Serena (Jennifer Lawrence). Serena refuses to be your typical house-wife and Pemberton is insistent that she become a major part of the business. Serena, however, turns out to be a little too driven and will do anything to get her own way. This causes problems for George as she turns eyes to his illegitimate son whom she fears is stealing George’s love away from her.

Serena is a mess. There’s no other way to describe it. It was actually exceptionally difficult writing a synopsis of the film because it tries so hard to have every depression-era story-line imaginable mooshed within its 109 minute confines and absolutely fails at every single one of them. Is it a love story about a man and a woman overcoming their own personal drama, is it about a woman trying to prove herself in the work place, is it a political drama about two people willing to do anything to succeed or is it a violent thriller about a crazy lady trying to kill a child? All of the above, apparently. It is a film that is clearly based on a sprawling romantic epic novel that just fails to hone in on the main aspect of its source material so that the film can actually work.

It’s not even solely the story that is the problem here. Sure, the film is quite beautiful at times and is based in a very picturesque landscape, but, the editing and internal logic of this film is absolutely baffling. It honestly feels like maybe they lost one of the hard-drives and decided to piece together certain scenes from some spare footage they had laying around. There are so many instances where awkward lines of dialogue will fade to black into an equally awkward sex scene that it almost felt like the film was actually making fun of itself. Besides this, the performances were probably career-worst for the two main stars. Bradley Cooper couldn’t decide on an accent for the majority of the film and poor Jennifer Lawrence, while absolutely stunning, looked completely awkward. There’ s a particular point where her character does a little wave which had the audience in unintentional stitches. So, there’s definitely entertainment to be had in this film. Just, you know, not the kind the film-makers were intending.

If you are a fan of failed Oscar-bait or simply enjoy films so awkward and bad that they actually become pretty damn hilarious to watch, then I would definitely recommend Serena to you. However, if you are after an affecting and poignant romantic epic then perhaps you’re better off looking elsewhere.