Cinematic Nightmares

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (2011)

(Note: this text was published 12 years ago on my former blog, Cinematic Nightmares)

This third film by director Lynne Ramsay was met with widespread acclaim from critics and audiences, especially at the festivals where it was screened. While it is better than the usual fare presented at similar events, it is far from the masterpiece that many rushed to call it. On the contrary, it falls well short of that mark.

The film follows Eva (Tilda Swinton), the mother of the titular character Kevin, who committed a horrific crime and is now imprisoned. Through flashbacks, we trace her struggle with inner demons, her interactions with the outside world, and her memories of family life when she tried to build a normal relationship with an extremely difficult (to put it mildly) child. The movie is based on a novel by Lionel Shriver, which I haven’t read, so I cannot comment on how the film compares to the source material.

Another entry in the “evil child” subgenre, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN attempts to be (anti-)thriller, drama, and horror film all at once, while addressing important issues of modern society – in this case, mass school shootings in the U.S. However, it fails to fully succeed in any of these self-imposed goals.

Regarding its thriller aspect, the film is structured as an anti-thriller. Early on, we learn of the situation of the main characters, which remain unchanged until the end, as the tragedy has already occurred. The focus is on the psychological struggles of the characters rather than specific events. Thus, the emphasis is on the “how?” rather than the “what?”. Survivors of the tragedy and the suffering of victims’ families are occasionally shown, but Ramsay is primarily interested in portraying the psychological turmoil of the main characters involved in the story, particularly the mother. The narrative unfolds through Eva’s flashbacks to Kevin’s childhood and their family life.

The fact that we see everything from Eva’s perspective and the way the characters are depicted suggest that the film should be viewed through the lens of an unreliable narrator. However, this aspect remains underdeveloped. The ambiguity around the truth of what we see weaves throughout the film. Still, the movie strongly suggests the tragedy occurred and that Kevin was most likely directly responsible. Even so, the element of unreliable narrator remains frustratingly underdeveloped. Without having read the book, it seems that the adaptation was not entirely successful here. Above all, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN strives to be a character study and an exploration of interpersonal relationships. Had it succeeded on this front, my impression would have been much more positive, but the film is also weak in this aspect.

Ramsay raises significant but conventional questions: Was Kevin born bad? Is it the influence of his family? Or perhaps a combination of both? It is clear that Eva was not thrilled about becoming a mother. Kevin senses this from his earliest childhood and seizes every opportunity to make her life miserable. However, the root cause of his behavior appears to go beyond his mother’s lack of enthusiasm for parenthood. Kevin seems fundamentally flawed from birth, and the film concludes that he wouldn’t have been much different even if his mother had been delighted about his arrival. Which is not a big problem in this case, it’s the cartoonish and grotesque portrayal of Kevin’s actions which bothered me the most.

Kevin is clearly manipulative and evil. Even when it appears he has formed a normal bond with his mother, subsequent events reveal this to be an illusion, a part of his game. His behavior is entirely different with his father (John C. Reilly, in a rather tepid role), who doesn’t believe Eva when she (justifiably) blames Kevin for various escalating misdeeds (he kills his sister’s hamster and eventually blinds her in one eye). The behavior of Kevin’s father and the activities he teaches Kevin, such as archery, are depicted as tools that psycho later uses to commit his crimes.

The part of the film that depicts family relationships is problematic, as Ramsay chooses to depict the characters, their behavior and their relationships in black-and-white terms. What is most problematic is the portrayal of Kevin’s evil, and the way his family respond to his actions. Without delving into the ideological implications of children being demonized on film since the early days of cinema, let’s try to play by Ramsay’s rules (with emphasis on “try”). The relationships between the characters are cartoonishly simplified to serve the director’s intentions. Some critics have seen this as Ramsay’s misguided attempt at feminism through a black-and-white portrayal of male and female characters and relationships. However, the film ventures so far into grotesqueness that this approach cannot be taken seriously. Even an analysis of the film through the unreliable narrator lens doesn’t help much, as the grotesque depiction of the characters and the overall sense of vagueness and emptiness prevent us from grasping any coherent thread or essence of the film.

The father mostly behaves in a clueless way, unaware of Kevin’s actions, and indulges him. His mother consistently tries to be good to him despite her initial resistance towards motherhood, making every effort to move past his misdeeds. However, Kevin doesn’t believe in her love, he is convinced that she hates him deeply. As I mentioned earlier, the film portrays Eva’s coldness toward Kevin from the beginning as a constant theme running throughout the movie. It certainly isn’t hatred that she feels. This becomes a lens through which we can view certain scenes or even the entire film. In one scene, when Kevin deliberately soils his diapers twice to irritate his parents (despite being capable of using the toilet), Eva, in anger, pushes him, breaking his arm. Before this flashback, in the present-day prison scene, Kevin tells his mother that it was the only genuine thing she ever did to him. Kevin is wrong, as Eva immediately regrets her action and stays by his side throughout his recovery – this is also the only time Kevin shows an actual affection toward his mother.

As I mentioned, the portrayal of Kevin’s character veers into grotesque and unnecessary exaggeration. The excessive emphasis on proving his hatred for his mother is truly unneeded. Ramsay does everything to make the audience feel uncomfortable due to Kevin’s actions, but in many instances, I felt bad about how these actions were presented, with some scenes being outright superfluous. A realistic psychological depiction of characters is not the same as a simplistic black-and-white portrayal, which happens in most scenes here.

Ramsay also attempts to incorporate elements of horror, which introduces yet another issue, largely tied to the previously mentioned problems in character portrayal and the director’s misunderstanding of the genre. Kevin’s actions as a child are not directed in a horror key, nor are they genuinely unsettling, ultimately boiling down to exaggeration and grotesque moments, making you feel foolish for watching it in the first place. While there are a few intriguing scenes at the beginning, with a ROSEMARY’S BABY vibe, including a somewhat effective scene during childbirth – where we only see Eva’s horrified reflection in the mirror – followed by her catatonic state in bed as her husband holds the baby, these moments are rare.

In the present-day scenes, the director chooses to repeat the same actions and scenes over and over, aiming to create a disturbing and uncomfortable atmosphere for the audience. This mostly involves Eva’s attempts to cope with the aftermath of Kevin’s crime. Tilda Swinton delivers an excellent performance in some scenes, but in others, she slips into repetitiveness and boredom. Overall, this portion of the film is unconvincing, as it should have been shorter. Eva repeatedly scrubs off the red paint thrown at her house (okay, we get it – the point with color red doesn’t need to be driven home in every frame). The scenes of her solitude in the house, after endless repetition, become irritating.

I must also touch on the religious symbolism briefly explored in the film. Eva’s name alone suggests an archetypal female figure, and the early scene where she bathes in tomato juice/blood while posed in a crucifix Jesus-like pose frames her as a victim, symbolizing the oppression of women by the church and patriarchy. This is a valid and agreeable theory, but within the repetitive depiction of her present state and the portrayal of her development through family life, this aspect becomes blurred and remains underdeveloped. Instead of enriching the film with varied interpretations or deepening her motivations, it leaves the idea underexplored.

Ultimately, this film lacks genuine drama or horror, offering instead a series of occasionally effective scenes mixed with far too many superfluous ones. The director also aims to depict the victims and their suffering, but such scenes are rare and not particularly effective. The crime itself is framed within some kind of Kevin’s messianic fantasies, yet the depiction remains vague. Among the actors portraying Kevin, Ezra Miller as the teenage Kevin stands out the most, occasionally managing to convey a palpable sense of menace. However, even the script (Ramsay and Rory Kinnear) offers little support to the actors.

In the end, the film doesn’t present anything new or significant about such heinous crimes. The title likely suggests the need for broader discussion and concrete action, but the film itself doesn’t do much in that way. Was this a conscious choice – a desire to spark conversation and action? Perhaps, but we’ve seen all this before, depicted in the much better ways. As a study of parent-child relationships, the film feels weak, and it offers nothing new about human choices and rights. Eva initially doesn’t want a child, then changes her mind, then struggles with the ensuing problems – but all of this is portrayed in a simplistic black-and-white manner, ultimately leaving us nearly indifferent. The film’s ending leaves a certain impact, but does little to improve the overall impression.

Rating: 2+/5