by Chris Feil
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, one of the past decade's best examinations of the messy terrain between mental health and romantic entanglements, hilariously gave us a number called "Sexy French Depression". Skewering the French New Wave aesthetic, the song (co-written by recently departed genius Adam Schlesinger) spoofed not only our outsized self-perceptions, but a wan glamorization of female depression in cinema. It’s a trope you’ve seen before and will see again.
That vibe is very much at play in Drake Doremus' new minor key film Endings, Beginnings, where Shailene Woodley suffers from an actually rather sexy but very Los Angeles depression. Woodley stars as art programmer Daphne, in a rut after a recent breakup sends her (back, apparently) to her sister's poolhouse as she tries to find a job between art club sessions with Kyra Sedgwick and performing R.E.M. at karaoke. Woodley is solid, but in Doremus' hands, the most cliche version of Los Angeles plays itself.
It's the sexy part of the equation where Endings, Beginnings excels, once it eventually gets there. At a New Year’s Eve party, Daphne meets both the roguish, intense Frank (Sebastian Stan) and the more stable Jack (Jamie Dornan) and quickly stumbles into relationships with both. She’s torn not only between these two best friends, but her need to start fresh and the comfort of indulged lust. The film refreshingly accepts her impulse to pursue both without judgment, but also comes alive with the spark of lust. Once sex complicates things for her even further, we actually get to learn something about Daphne and what fuels and derails her. Are these lovers distraction or a mirror?
Horny malaise makes for an interesting take on this familiar kind of story, but Doremus dulls the impact by arriving at it slowly and being too tidy in its final revelations. While far less histrionic than his previous love stories Equals and Like Crazy, his directorial approach of creating a generalized mood rather than specificity still limits his material’s depth. Co-scripted with Jardine Libaire, Endings, Beginnings attempts a more thoughtful character study, but still begs for a clearer point of view of his characters beyond the emotional stakes. It’s humane and oddly soothing, but lacks a clear perspective to turn those traits into a satisfying whole.
Despite the film's nobler intentions than other films that trivialize women's depression by reducing pain to a mere aspect of their aesthetics, Endings, Beginnings doesn't ever come off as uniquely insightful. Or sometimes it allows its elements with potential to go unexamined. Jack and Frank’s two-sides-same-coin personas, not to mention similar looks, doesn’t develop beyond the archetypal - and that they are distinctly different lays. Woodley’s laidback energy and subdued authenticity as a performer is a natural fit to convey Daphne’s displacement (and it’s some of her best work), though the film doesn’t give her room for spontaneity.
Endings, Beginnings is ultimately an undemanding but mildly absorbing watch that could be much more, especially given that it gets a few key things right about not fetishizing depression onscreen. Perhaps at its best when Woodley and Stan get to share the screen with their palpable chemistry (not to mention sexual intensity), the film passes like the Angeleno breeze it captures.
Grade: C
Endings, Beginnings is now available on VOD and iTunes.